Oppo as transport

I agree about mods to Oppo and have gone pretty far with EVS digital and analog mods, OPPOMODS toroidal transformer/power supply, damping/isolating printed circuit boards, WA Quantum Chips galore, damping the transport, damping the toroidal transformer and installed an Audio Magic Pulse Gen ZX.

As an FYI, some simple mods to the Oppo make it a killer transport. I did it and like it better than all other CD transports I have owned included CEC and other very expensive ones.

Lampizator mods are a must, power supply mods, better and larger caps, BNC connector, bypass fuse, damping throughout the chassis......a true high end transport.

The Lampizator mod involves going directly off the leg of the chip that sends out the SPDIF digital signal and connecting it directly to the Bnc or RCA out! Bypass all those surface mount caps and resistors, circuit board traces etc....direct!

Jedinite - I use the Oppo 980H as a transport into a NOS DAC (so non-jitter reducing). I'd be interested in hearing comments on the DTU Pro32. Any other standalone jitter reduction equipment recommendations or commentary would be welcome.

I'm actually fairly annoyed at the 980H but let's leave that aside for now.

I used my Oppo dv-970 into a Benchmark DAC-1. From memory, the results bettered my more expensive Cary CD-308 cdp I owned just before the Oppo/Benchmark combo. The Benchmark does such a fine job removing jitter that an additional equipment was not necessary for me. A good sign of digital done right is the subtle micro-dynamics come through yielding a deep and wide soundstage w/superb instrument placement. Room acoustics of the recorded space and a you are there in the recording was another aspect that was so revealing. This combo had it all for me.

Greetings everyone.

I have an Oppo DV 980H and I'm going to use it as a CD transport to a McCormack DAC-1. I just wasn't fond of the sound of the stock Oppo. To anyone who has used or uses the Oppo DV 980H as a transport do you use a jitter box in between the Oppo and your outboard DAC?

I have an Audio Alchemy DTI Pro32 and could use it in between the Oppo and the McCormack but don't know if it is necessary of will yield and SQ benefits. I have not taken pocession of the McCormack yet so I can't test it in my system with or without the DTI Pro32.

Thanks so much and advise when you can. JD

I bought mine direct from oppo new.

thanks!

Audphile1 asked:

"What's the best place to get the Oppo from?"

New, at Amazon or direct from Oppo.

Dave

Thanks Sthomas12321.

I had very good experience with Virtual Dynamics Master(original) digital RCA interconnect, so I placed an order today for Master 3.0

We'll see.

What's the best place to get the Oppo from?

Im tried both my Canare 77s 75ohm w/ 75ohm connectors, and my ps audio resolution digital. As always, I find the Canare to be unbeatable.

Sthomas12321, thanks for the update. What digital cable are you using?

I think the oppo 981hd makes a fine transport. There are little things here and there I dont like, but its a solid performer that leaves little else to be desired. I happy with it. And to me, I cant see investing any more money on standard dvd player with Blu ray looking so amazing at $300-$600 for most players.(PS3)

For the record, the PS3 is a amazing transport all around. I dont know if its because the transport of the PS3 is stationary, or what, but this thing is a force to be reckon with in dvd,cd,blu ray performance!!

In my system the Oppo sounds very good when run through the Playback Designs MPS-5's DAC.

It's a little clunky getting it to read the right layer of an SACD or DVD-A, but pretty faultless otherwise. I prefer my Pioneer Elite DV-58AV, mainly because it's faultless at finding the two-channel hi-rez layer (my preference).

Dave

Sthomas12321, so what's the verdict on the Oppo sonics as a transport? Like it or not?

07-24-08: Undertow
Jorgeparrapuppy
Right, well you should be able to just push the DVD player back quite a bit on the shelf and close the door still. I would just open the drawer and then push it back until you can clear the door to close it. Then you can leave the drawer open door closed or not...

seams like a logical idea, dont see why this wouldnt work.

Jorgeparrapuppy
Right, well you should be able to just push the DVD player back quite a bit on the shelf and close the door still. I would just open the drawer and then push it back until you can clear the door to close it. Then you can leave the drawer open door closed or not...

undertow. give me your cel phone number in private message, if you'd like, and i'll send you a pick from my cel phone. I see we have the same problems with our cabinets. Mine also has no back because of the cable routing issues.

Ha, I have the same problem, however the oppo machine is SO shallow in depth, I simply set it back further in the cabinet, it closes with over 1" clearance from the drawer still open and door closed :-) And with Glass doors you will still see it just fine set back a little like this.. By the way I don't have glass but metal grate and wood, but standard depth of most of these units are at least like 17.5 " or something and the oppo should still clear easily setting it back about 6"... Also this is easier if you have no back on the unit or reasonably sized holes for your cables not to get bound up.

undertow: although a great idea, that wouldn't work for me because mine is behind a swinging glass door, and i hate looking at the cabinet
with open doors. i'm full of peculiarities, man.
i drive myself nuts. but i appreciate the suggestion.

Jorgeparrapuppy
the way I have solved the little in-conveinence is even better than the stop or back, luckily one thing the oppo does have is a remote controlled drawer, I got in the habbit of simply using the remote to open the drawer before going up to the unit, then drop in the new disc, leaving it open all together, then when ready hit the close drawer button or play.. Now I would just simply forget to even hit the close button on the unit all together anyway so it works out, I always use the remote drawer option at this point as it is...

It's annoying to me for undertow's reason, but i just hit the "stop" or "back" buttons on the remote.
annoying, either way.

Well the autoplay for an audio guy is a problem as you can sit down adjust volume, or walk off do something come back and hit play when your ready to do some more critical listening vs. auto just blasting out of the speakers and your not even sitting there that’s all..

The auto play doesnt bother me, I like it. Theres no reason for me to put a dvd/cd in and not play it right after. It does bother me on my PS3 which does other things besides playing discs.

I can't state how good the Oppo 970 is as a transport or not, but the reason this lowly source gained a lot of good press when it came out was that it had a smooth non-digital sound for $150 dollars. Incidentally, the discontinued HD970 sounds better than the newer Oppo 980 and their other models as a stand alone source according to reviewers because of its smooth non-fatiguing nature.

Obviously a good DAC will make a big improvement. Using it as a transport will suffice until a better transport can be had.

I bought my Oppo as an interim product for music while my system was in change, and kept it for movies too. At its price it is good to have around while my system changes. I'm currently using its variable output into a tube power amp until I decide my next move.

Audphile: I've had the Pioneer PD-65 and Sony ES 555 changer hooked up to the Adcom 600 DAC. The Oppo 983h
sounds better than both. I even tried the same DAC with
the Oppo. Oppo sounds better on its own.
Hope this helps!

Sthomas,
The most annoying thing about the oppo is the Autoplay function on the unit, even if you turn it off the encoding on like CD's and DVD's still make it play as soon as you close the drawer, add that to the feature's gone bad section.. but for

The 981 is only about 75% of the audio performance of the 980 the 980 was built with audio in mind, the 981 was not, so look into that the info is available...

I want to add, there are more things I do not like about the oppo. None of which take away from sound/picture, but troublesome none the less. Why not have a disable option in the menu for the volume control on the remote. Also why include those horrible sound effect modes and buttons on the remote? All this can lead to accidently pushing one of those buttons and hearing aweful sound. They are useless, and I cant believe there isnt a way to disable them if you arent going to use them, its to easy to press one of those buttons on accident. I also didnt like the delay selection process. You dont have feet, you have inches, and its you input the difference in inches from the main speakers-lame!

Goin back and forth between my Anthem avm 30's DAC's and the the oppo's with direct mode, its almost like anthem built the oppo.For the first time Ive came across, switching back and forth between the two pieces lead to both sounding so closely the same, I couldnt consistantly tell which was which in a blind test with my wife changing inputs at will.Something I have never not been able to do in the past. The oppo was slightly preffered in the end I guess, but just ever so slighly with 2 channel. Thats really saying alot. Is Anthem's 2 channel the very best out there? Maybe not, but its very very good! And to get the same sound out of a $225 player is crazy! Im going to order a ps audio $49 power cord for it, and also buy some preffered RCA interconnects(I never use rca anymore and only had some rca mit terminators laying around to use) and see what happens.

Ive found some good bargains lately with component sources.

-PS3 BLU RAY/upconversion
-OPPO 981hd cd/dvd/dvd audio/sacd

981HD. Bought it new from oppodigital.com Website.

Audphile1
Not sure what you mean? No second hand info here, I owned them all! The 970 was a decent silver dVD player and thats it... The new ones are a whole different animal and sound great. I had a wadia CD player by the way while having the original 970, no competition, however the new 980 is 95% of the wadia and even better being its universal and great DVD on top of it, and thats without an external DAC.

Undertow, I don't mean to doubt what you're stating here, but where did you find this info on a old vs. new Oppo players? Thanks

Sthomas,
We know there is no Oppo 871.
Could you please let us know which model you purchased please?
Thanks.

slbenz I have stated in another thread somewhere the 970 was horrible as a cd or transport...
The new oppos are not even remotely close in performance to the 970, they are excellent transports and were designed now for the purpose 3 to 4 years later... Way better and very different machines so those looking at old reviews of these DVD players first generation like many are not too keen on believe me the current machines are not even the same animal especially on audio, the 980 or the 983 might be the best representations anybody has as a universal transport now.

Had an Oppo DV-970HD paired with a Channel Islands Audio VDA-2 with matching VAC-1 power supply. With the CIAs on board, it greatly helped the Oppo but when I ran them with my Sony CDP-CX240 CD megachanger, it sounded better. More detail, richer bass and mids, more depth and less digital harshness over the Oppo.

thanks for the update! As you keep getting used to this player, please keep us posted on how it progresses, especially in its usage as a transport.

The 2 channel out is awesome. I dont expect anyone to trust this review completely, but this is my new reference player, it is amazing!

Oppo 871? is this a foreign version or something, never seen this one!

Well, Ive been playing with my new OPPO-871 all day now. Ive only used it as a cd/dvd transport thus far, and have not played with sacd or dvd audio yet. That being said, so far the DVD picture is as clear as I have owned or seen on my TV set in standard definition. The colors look fantastic. The only complaint's I can possible think of, is perhaps a better menu system, with a cleaer read out. Its not a big deal. You will set this once and never enter it again, however the words arent as clear as they could be and Im not sure the layout is ideal.Also, the transport itself is a little flimsy. I would want to pull on it, or mistreat it.

Now, as a cd transport, so far I think it has done absolutely wonderful. The signal is as clean as I could hope for, easily as good as my Ayre cx-7 with digital output being used. I also think it has a great front panel look. No, its not constructed like a tank, it is very light, and reminds you of a mass market player. But it really looks fantastic, and is very small and unoticeable, and best of all sounds and looks fantastic.

I'll do a follow up after a while with the unit. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a cd transport, or dvd player. I now know for myself this player is as good as the reviews in the above regards. Now to try out dvd audio/sacd/ and 2 channel performance from the analog output of the player. If you are using a prepro to do the digital processing, this player should be on the top of your list as a cd/dvd transport!

Audphile - It was DAC3 that Stereophile reviewed in November 2007. Read below:

Against the benchmark Benchmark
The Benchmark DAC1 has set the standard for affordable D/A processor performance for three years now, and has recently been updated to add a USB input. I will be reporting on the new version in a Follow-Up, but for this review, I compared the Bel Canto e.One DAC3 with the original version of the Benchmark DAC1, which I had purchased after writing about it.

To permit instantaneous comparisons, I fed the Ayre C-5xe's AES/EBU output first to the Levinson No.30.5, then from that processor's two AES/EBU data outputs to the two DACs under test using identical lengths of Madrigal AES/EBU cable. Levels were matched to within 0.05dB at 1kHz by keeping the Bel Canto's output at its maximum and reducing the Benchmark's with its analog level control.

No doubt about it, the Benchmark DAC1 is still an excellent-sounding product, with well-extended, well-defined lows, a natural midrange, and clean highs. And, of course, it doubles its utility by having two pairs of headphone outputs. But the Bel Canto DAC3 scored with its slightly silkier high frequencies and its wider, deeper soundstage.

Thanks for the follow-up Lngbruno. That finding is VERY interesting to me. My Playback Designs has an Esoteric VOSP transport, reputed to be one of the very best available and the Oppo gives me roughly 90% of what I get using the PD's internal transport. The difference is some added solidity in the bass and a slight increase in image size going to the PD transport.

I'm not disputing your finding, just observing that with the PD's DAC the diffences caused by transports seems to be greatly reduced. There's a jitter correction process in the PD's DAC that may account for this. PD claims zero jitter using the internal transport, but I haven't read anything about jitter correction from other sources. If they're accomplishing that with external sources, then that could explain the small difference.

Don't get me wrong, it's not so small that I wouldn't use the PD at every chance. However, it is small enough that if I hadn't heard the PD with it's internal transport I probably would have been with the PD's DAC driven by an Oppo.

Dave

Sorry for the late response, but Dave aka Dcstep wrote, “So, let me get this straight, you used the Oppo as a transport running through the DAC 3 and it wasn't even close to the Rega through the DAC 3?”

Correct.

Audphile1, IIWY I would find a different transport to use than the Oppo, seriously. You must know someone who will lend you one of their spares...we all have back-ups. LOL

I'll give Oppo a try if I can't find a cd player I can use as a transport.

Sounds like a great plan to me, and the transport will be....?

Thanks K.
I auditioned Bel Canto DAC3 at home and really liked its sound. Also, the Benchmark I tried was several years ago and it wasn't the newer version. May be I'll give the new version a try if they offer home audition.
BTW, I don't recall Stereophile reviewing Bel Canto DAC2. i think they just did a review of DAC1. DAC2 and DAC3 to me are totally different animals. DAC3 offers versiatility that DAC2 did not. Also, DAC3 is balanced, which is improtant for me because I run the system balanced. I just think that the DAC3 fits the bill. Both performance and price wise.

Audphile - Benchmark should not be sensitive to cables at least in theory. Early Benchmark used Phillips OP-Amps before factory burned down. After that Texas Instr. bought license and started making them with increased die size. Phillips OP-Amps sounded tiny while TI amps sound rounder. Early Benchmarks had way to high output impedance on RCA outputs. I'm not advertising Benchmark - according to review in Stereophile newer Bel Canto DAC sounds a little better (more organic) but costs twice more. I think I heard something as well about built-in jitter suppression. Be sure that you take this into account. Dual PLL and FIFO buffers won't help if internal clock has jitter.

My Benchmark serves as preamp as well driving power amp directly - it saves a lot of money (preamp, ICs) and simplifies - less is better.

Kijanki thanks. I don't like Benchmark dac. Tried it. Not to my liking.

I know about cables. I've experienced a big difference switching from Acoustic Zen Silver Bites to Virtual Dynamics Master when I had the Bel Canto DAC2. That was something I wasn't ready for.

Anyway, if I decide to proceed with the plan I had in mind, I think I will give Oppo a try.

Thanks

Audphile - let me answer point number 4 of your original post. Dedicated transports, often very expensive, offer very low jitter of digital signal. Average cheap player exhibits up to 3ns peak jitter what corresponds to about -85dB in sidebands it creates. Sidebands are very audible in-spite of extremely low levels, because they are not harmonically related to root frequencies. It creates "fuzzy" sound.
Many modern Dacs like Benchmark DAC1 have jitter suppression built in and almost completely ignore jitter (Benchmark has 3 Hz jitter bandwidth). Other than jitter and better mechanics I don't know of any other difference between expensive dedicated transport and cheap DVD player as long as it is bit transparent. DVD player might even have better tracking.

Audphile - Your are right. I won't mention cables again.

Yes I've heard similar arguments about super $1/ft cables from Home Depot and diabolic secret arrangements between reviewers and manufacturers. Somebody even suggested that millions of audiophiles enjoying expensive cables must be under some kind of hypnosis. I can only say that I had $10, $100 and $1k speaker cables and there is a huge difference. What is happening inside of the cable is extremely complicated and I don't know what makes sound "silky" for example or why some interconnects add bass extension.
As for reviews in Stereophile - nothing is bad in absolute terms but they are pointing to differences between different brands like "This speaker has better extension but is more forward and has less precise imaging". I'm not saying that puting $1k into cables is better than into speakers but it's wise to put about 10% of total value into cables. There is a difference.

Sthomas12321, I don't mean to be rude, but let's please stick to the subject. You're about to start a whole new discussion here. That's not the purpose of my post.

What people fail to realize is the tonal differences, dont make a player better or worse as long as its acurate and has a flat response. Remember 2 different components can have flat responses and sound completely different. A few +-2 here and there changes the sound completely. Also less bass makes speakers appear to have better imaging. All equipement sounds different, that is why some love a component, someone hates it. And regarding cables, take a simple good Canare cable, put a Neutrik end on it, or even a 75ohm Canare end, you are getting a top of the line cable that will loose little to no loss or change in the signal(tiny bit in LONG runs). How will you beat this? A cables job is to get out of the way. The best cable is no cable. the Canare also features GREAT sheilding. Take the extra $1k that is spent on wire and put it into a better speaker. I know everyone has there opinion on this, but I honestly feel, someone puts a cable in that changes response, and makes there system sound brighter, warmer, what ever and its looked at as the cables awesome. Guess what, IT JUST PLAYED WITH YOUR FLAT RESPONSE! Is this better? Not if it sounds much different then the Canare/ Van damme cables. They are built to get out of the way, so you would have to wonder, why the big sweep in frequencys? This is the same as bass, added bass isnt better, neither is subttracted bass. You want a nuetral cable or you will be changing them everytime you change a component.

I know I mentioned Stereophile, but if theres one truth to high end audio nobody wants to admmitt its, Dealers and audio magazines have to make money. When is the last time you read a review that said this speaker sucked, dont buy it? Thats one thing that stuck out in the oppo transport. This is not a high dollar product by any means. Its actually priced/marketed to lower audio listeners(even that of best buy products). yet even Stereophile couldnt say bad about this player. Thats why Im giving it a shot. It may stink. I will now it looks like on Monday what to expect. Ill do my best to say exactly how it does, with no suger coating.