Oppo BDP-83SE or Sony SCD-XA5400ES?


Well somebody had to start this one. It may as well be me. I guess we're gonna have to base our selection on features, specs and reputation (at least as far as the Oppo is concerned). I'm mainly concerned with 2 channel analog playback with SACD and redbook. Anything else is just a bonus. The Sony has balanced outputs, is almost twice as heavy and build quality SEEMS better, has a 5 year warranty, ridiculous reviews and a the beginning of a cult-like following. The Oppo has a great rep, plays EVERYTHING, also ridiculous reviews (for every other model), ESS Sabre Ultra DACs (what does the Sony have??), seems to be upgradeable and WILL have a cult-like following. I cannot audition in my home. So I will be rolling the dice. Obviously you win whichever one you get. But which one would you go with and why?





sg69

Showing 1 response by jp1208

Here is something that I found on the web.
The ES9016 Sabre32 Ultra DAC is the latest addition to the world’s highest performance and critically acclaimed Sabre32 DAC family. With ESS patented 32-bit HyperstreamTM DAC architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator, the ES9016 SABRE32 Ultra DAC delivers spectacular music with an unsurpassed sound stage, with up to 128dB dynamic range and 0.0003% (-110dB) total harmonic distortion, and free from clock jitter common in digital audio systems.
So much for installing after market clocks which are pretty expensive and time consuming to do.

http://www.esstech.com/index.php?p=products_DAC