Oppo BDP-105D just for CDs?

Can’t speak for the 105D but I own an UDP 205 and I can only assume it’s as good as the 105D. The Oppo’s are very good but for Redbook CD there are a lot of CD only players only that will outperform a stock Oppo. I have a Cambridge 851C that is more refined and used sell for a lot less than my UDP 205. If 105D’s go for $800 or so I’d sell and buy a Cambridge 851C easily. If you can get a 105D for next to nothing that’s a no brainer obviously, so try it first to hear for yourself and maybe just enjoy it. At some point the prices on these Oppo’s has to drop, but for now they’re strong. Used CD players are going for great prices so it may be smart to sale the Oppo and pick up a much higher end player than even my Cambridge 851C but I suspect you’ll be spending much more for little gain.

The Oppo is a Swiss army knife. It does a lot of things and does most of them pretty well, including playing CDs and SACDs. It has a good DAC.  If you're getting it at the going prices, you might do better getting a purpose-built CD player although you could do a lot worse for about the same amount of money. If you're getting a great deal on it, snap it up. If nothing else it has good resale value if you don't like it.

Thanks guys. That helps.


George

I’m not sure, but you might need to connect to a monitor to access all controls?

The 105D has a remote, you won't really need anything else just to play CDs.  I controlled mine with a Harmony remote.  It also has buttons on the front to control eject, play, pause, skip, etc.  There's also an app you can download for your phone or table.  You may need a screen to get deep into the settings.  It's been a long time since I used the app and can't remember how much functionality it has, but I'm not sure there's anything you would need to fuss with just to play CDs.

I've been doing some reading about this unit. From what I can tell its DAC is quite good and can be used independently of the transport. That is definitely appealing to me since my current DAC is a Schiit Modi 2 which is okay but probably not stellar.

I have a Harmony remote which I can program if needed but the original remote is available so hopefully switching between CD play and DAC will be simple. Not sure if or how I will use its network capabilities but they seem to be robust. Would love to cut Apple TV out of my system as it is a serious weak link (I don't stream a great deal anyway but might start if I get this unit.

I use my 105 just for spinning discs; red book, DVD-A and SACD

It is common knowledge that its weak link is the OEM power supply module. The good news is its a relatively easy DIY as complete PNP modules are available on Ebay ($200 and up). Should you do that, also replace the IEC (power cord socket) with one of the many choices on Ebay. The one I bought also removes the 110/220 jumper and BAM killer player. Easy Peazy


It also has a built in volume control. Outputs straight into your amp

since my current DAC is a Schiit Modi 2 which is okay but probably not stellar.

I own an Oppo 95, not the 105, but I think this description will probably fit the 105 too. But, if you can get a good deal on a 105 you can try it and sell it if you’re not satisfied.

@tweak1 : "It also has a built in volume control. Outputs straight into your amp"

I have a nice AR tube preamp. Is there any reason to bypass it with the Oppo?

My dac/preamp has been turned off since I upgraded the Oppo

but it's simple, just bypass your pre and listen


YMMV

I own many CD, SACD and BluRay players. I use my Oppo 105D for CD/SACD listening only. It’s my least expensive player but I am very thankful that I listened to the rave reviews and bought the Oppo. You won’t be disappointed if you buy it. I play it through a Benchmark DAC1, then into Audeze LCD-X headphones, except for SACD which I listen to directly through my Stax 009s since the Benchmark doesn’t decode an SACD signal.

So you are just using it as a transport?

Yea I have a 105. Using just as a transport. Bypassing the DAC in favor on my Orchid DAC. Noticeable difference IMHO. 

Yes, right now I'm using it as a transport only with the Audeze LCD-XC headphones. Listening to SACDs, I plug it into the STAX SRM-T1S and use the DAC in the 105D.

I just picked up a 105 to use for strictly CD/SACD. I first hooked it up to my TV so that I could configure the settings and get it fully updated with the current firmware as well. After that I downloaded the app from the apple play store and hooked it up and it is an amazing player. You are able to access the settings on the app but you'll need to configure the wifi first, which I did when I had it hooked up to the TV. I'm using just the stereo outputs into my preamp then amps. The sound quality is superior to the Sony I was using before. I would say that if you can snatch it up and give it a try. Like other have said, if you don't like it then sell it.

@tweak1 do you have anymore information regarding the power supply and IEC upgrade? I'm very happy with the stock unit but if you say there are ways to make it better then I'm open to suggestions. 

@dustin_collman There are many power supply options out there in varying complexities. Some are DIY, some are done by specialists. I’m currently looking for a used 105 and after looking around and researching, it appears that Modwright offers the most extensive upgrade options and even received an award from Absolute Sound for his 105 mods. (I have not owned a Modwright, nor do I have any connection to, nor interest in the company - just sharing my research.) It can get expensive, but probably worth looking at even if you aren’t interested in buying every option so that you can get an idea of what is available and gauge prices asked by others for similar work. http://modwright.com/modifications/oppo-bdp83-and-bdp83se-mod.php

There's one for sale here for $950. I would hook it up and see what it sounds like first it has a pretty good DAC in it . 

Way over priced. One sold here a few days ago for $625.  They sold for $900 a few years ago, but now that 4k and other features have come out, they've dropped. Lots of guys ask that much because that is what they paid, but they just sit for 28 days until the listing expires at that price..

There is one on eBay with bids up to $800. In any case, I have no idea what they are worth, only what I see them for sale for.

However, the less it is worth the more likely I will hold onto it since that would mean that much less of a CD player I could afford with the money from it.

And again, I can only assume the DAC will be better than a Schiit Modi 2 and the transport has to be better than the Toshiba DVD player.

In all probability this unit will either be free or not available at all so I won't have to decide if what I would be willing to pay for it.

dustin

Just go to Ebay and search 105 power supply. You should find both portions as there are quite a few choices. I went with the least expensive LPM, and a expensive Furutec Rhodium IEC with silver wire tail. I doubt you need to spend that much

hth

Another question. Can this unit be used as a streamer? Can it use my home wireless signal (or hardwired to the the router) to play Amazon Music, Tidal, etc. I was assuming it could but not sure.

@n80, if your getting the unit for free, what’s your downside?

It'll stream Tidal and Pandora. You can also stream files from your network. You might need to do a firmware upgrade for tidal and you'll need the oppo media control app. 

n80,

As gelle said, you really have no downside. Take the 105D if it's still available. I doubt if you will be disappointed, but if you are you won't have any trouble selling it.

Sorry if I was confusing but I have never been concerned with there being a downside. My primary concern was whether the Oppo would be as good a CD player as its value could buy in a dedicated CD player. In other words, if it is worth $600 would I be better off with a $600 dedicated CD player?

That equation changed a little when I realized that it had a high quality DAC that can be used independent of the transport AND now that I understand that it can work as a streamer as well. That means I could ditch my Schiit DAC as well as crappy AppleTV which I have been streaming through.


So the question now is: Would $600-$700 dollars buy a better CD player, a better DAC and a better streaming option than what comes in the Oppo as a package. That seems unlikely and the Oppo is looking ideal.

If it comes my way.

@n80 Yes, it has a good DAC, 2 in fact (iirc) ESS Sabres, but a good DAC is just the beginning, there is a lot of programming that needs to be done after a builder chooses a DAC and that's where the magic happens and one downside with the OPPO is that the technology is 10 years old.
I was also looking at the 105 to use as a streamer. However, I'm less excited after learning the selection is limited. No Spotify or Amazon Music (where I stream HD) or youtube/google. You can make it work by hooking up a laptop to the USB input, but then you have a shitty source which kinda defeats the purpose of a dedicated streamer. Since Oppo killed its disc player business, there is no support or software updates coming down the pipe to add new services.

I hope this helps answer your final question - which is a difficult one, BTW! I've been going back and forth for a couple of months on what route to take, whether to get the Oppo or a modern all-in-one like Marantz offers on the cheaper end ($1100), or  a Cambridgr CXN V2, a Yamaha or a Bluesound Vault, an Auralic, or NAD. I have yet to find anything under $3,000 that can do everything I'd like  (streamer/NAS/WiFi or bluetooth/CD player and ripper/DAC/digital inputs/variable outputs), so it's a debate over compromises, number of components to accomplish everything, and price. It's frustrating because I'm guessing there'll be a lot more options in 3-4 years.

@oside, that is all good information.

I am disappointed that it will not stream Amazon Music as that is my service of choice.

That narrows its desired capabilities for me down to two (DAC + CD).

I mostly stream to find/research music rather than serious listening so this is not a deal breaker.

And again, if I get this thing it will be free....so there is no significant downside no matter what. Even if the only benefit I get is improved CD playback over my DVD player then I am still ahead of the game.

It may be months before I know how this is going to play out as it is related to an estate and currently all the probate courts are closed due to the pandemic. Even when things get back to normal I'm sure the courts will be backlogged and this particular estate is complicated. 

I'm in the process of figuring out how to use my Oppo 205's DAC to stream music.  Looking for a few steps up from a Bluesound Node 2i. Currently researching the Cambridge CXN V2. Debating on whether I want storage/ripping capabilities or not. Price range of $1000 or so.

FYI If you connect a ROKU stick into the front port of the 105D, you can get Amazon Prime video and music along with the other ROKU features.  Of course, I'm not sure of the quality of the ROKU streaming you'll get. 

I suspect the ROKU stick wouldn't be any better than the AppleTV I'm using with my Schiit Modi but I could be totally wrong....it seems that AppleTV is pretty bad at this particular task.
If the Oppo can't play Amazon Music with its own streaming capability then for now I'll stick with AppleTV but at least it will run through the Oppo's DAC rather than the Schiit although I guess that won't really improve things.
I do hope running my music server through the Oppo's DAC will be an improvement over the Schiit though.

I tried and tried to want the 105D to be the one.   I compared it side by side to several players in my room with regular CDs. countless times .    Marantz 8005, Rega Saturn, Sony 333ES 5 disc , Marantz UD 7007 UD, Denon 2012 last two blue ray players.   Tried different cables and power cords.  I will say the Oppo is well built and does  sound good as a CD player but the sound is more grey,.  The background is not as black    For example on the Marantz  and Denon units everything has more body and dimension. More real  The oppo may have been slightly more open.  If some on is looking for a do everything player that is it but there are better choices for just CD playback in that range

I thought my 105 sounded amazing. Just for an experiment I bypassed the internal DAC and connected it via CoAx to my Orchid DAC. CD’s sound twice as good. 

Well, if CDs literally sounded twice as good through another DAC I expect that CDs will sound a THOUSAND times better through the Oppo than they do through my Toshiba DVD player!

I got the Oppo.

CD sound quality is far better than the thrift store Toshiba DVD player. Fantastic really.

I have not found the remote or the wifi stick that came with it. Cannot change settings without those so I have not been able to use its DAC for playing off my music server but suspect it will sound much better than the Schiit Modi 2.

The remote and wifi stick are likely in a box somewhere in a storage building. Needle in a haystack but I’ll find them eventually.

I can hard wire it into my router and plug it into a TV and work on settings that way with the iPhone app which is still available.

If it could stream Amazon music this would be a complete (and completely free) solution for me.

But, even if it won’t and even if I only use it as a CD player then it is still a huge step up from what I had.

PS: I also got a pair of Aerial Acoustic 6T towers and 5T bookshelf speakers with Transparent cables.

There was other stuff in the estate. High end home theater stuff which I do not want. Bryston amp, Classe pre amp, gorgeous JL audio powered subs. I'm an selling that stuff for the executor.

Update: Using universal remote to run the Oppo and it works fine.

Got my music server plugged into the Oppo and I believe its DAC sounds superior to the Schiit.

Will probably get a long ethernet cable and hardwire it into Oppo from my router to test if I can run Amazon Music through it. This will also allow me to use the Oppo app on my iPhone but if it won’t run Amazon Music then that is fairly pointless.

Good to hear you are enjoying it. If you are running it as a strictly CD/SACD player there are several settings that you will want to change. All of which can be done using the cell phone app. 

I have been through the various menus and I think I made the appropriate changes but are there specific ones or typical ones that you suggest?

I had a 205 for about a year and I found that putting a #3 Vibrapod under each foot really improved the sound.  I am not one to put aftermarket feet under everything out of habit, but I had the Vibrapods sitting around and thought I would try it.  Really made it sound much richer and harmonically complete.  Worth a try, IMO. 

Check out upgrading the 105 oem power supply. There are excellent PNP modules available from Ebay ~$20- up, also get the upgraded IEC and 110/220 jumper

Not sure where to post these questions.

I have questions about connecting the OPPO MediaControl app. Does anyone know how to connect the 105D to this app?

It's asking me to enter the IP address to connect to the 105D but when I enter my home IP address, I get a "Connection unsuccessful".

What IP address is it asking for?

I am just trying to connect this OPPO MediaControl app on my iPhone to the 105D player.

Thanks for any advice!

@systemdecor 

Go to setup menu-network setup-connection information. The ip address info you need should be found there.

n80 - if you want to apply mods to your Oppo 105D, it can sound better.

I own both an Oppo 105, and an Oppo 205 which have been modified by Ric Schultz at EVS. 

tweak1 mentioned power supply upgrade.  That is what Ric does for the Oppo, and it makes a difference.  My unit also included a hand-built analog output stage.