Oppo Nuforce BDP-93NE

3 questions:

1. Has anyone actually had the chance to compare a stock 95 vs a Nu Force 93 (I'm interested in both cd & SACD/DVD-A)?

2. Has anyone had the chance to compare the standard Nu Force 93 vs the "Extreme" Nu Force 93?

3. Does anyone know if the Oppo BDP-95 region free firmware (DVD only, doesn't make Blu R free) on ebay will also work with the Nu Force's?

I've actually emailed Nu Force 2x with no reply. There local dealer was kind enough to respond, but they are not providing him with demos of the Blu's so he hasn't heard them!

I hope the reason Nu Force hasn't replied (it's been several weeks) is spam filters & not crummy customer service!

Does anyone have any additional comments on the sound of the stock BDP-95 vs the 2 Nu Force 93's in 2 channel analog mode for music? Curious about both CD & SACD.

My current digital front end is an an Esoteric P-10>Illuminati Cable>PS Audio SL3 D/A.

To those who have heard the Oopo & NuForce units, will SACD on either likely sound better than CD on my current rig? As strange as it sounds, in my very limited experience, i have not found a Uni player that does SACD as well as my current rig does red book cd.

Part of the reason I am gun shy is I recently had the chance to hear the Oppo 983 with high res source material. While it was in a bright system (Krell, Dahlquist & cheap cable) IT WAS AWFUL. Extremely bright. I have heard a Xindak cd player in the same system that was pretty musical sounding, so while I suspect there was a system mismatch involved, that wasn't the entire issue. And this was their flagship player just 3 years ago!

@Bluenose IMPORTANT: It was the Oppo 983 DVD I heard, NOT the BDP-83 Blu.

Any more specific sonic comments on the stock BDP-95 VS either of the 2 Nu Force 93's?

I so wish I could a/b the 2 of them with my own ears!

I emailed JA at Stereophile & he said there will be a more in depth review of the stock 95 soon, but nothing on Nu Force (he didn't say why).

Has anyone found any in depth magazine reviews of the 95, NF 93 or ideally stock 95 vs all the modded versions out there?

Thank you, it must be a new one since I last looked!

Finally got around to reading the Stone review, thank you very much for the head's up. It was very useful to me; I'm 2 channel only so based on his review I'd want a stock 95 rather than a Nu-Force 93.

Their are 2 other comparisons I wish he would have made: SACD & DVD-A vs cd, & the 95 (his 2 channel winner) vs top rated 1-3k cd players.

Hopefully Stereophile will soon do the more through 95 follow up JA promised me months ago.

I bought a stock 95 yesterday due to 2 year same as cash financing at a local store that now carries Oppo (I was also able to demo it at the local store, another big +). It obviously needs several weeks of burn in before judging the sound, but I'm already blown away with it's sound on 96/24 flac files. Hoping cd will be equally impressive once it burns in, but I'll be reasonably content just to get quality on hi-res source material.

Bluenose, I tried the USB drive tonight. All I can say is................ WOW.

4 days out of the box, & in h-r with the usb drive, it's already the best sounding digital I've ever heard.

Sorry, I just saw your question. With my better than average 54 year old ears (better than average for my age, that is!), I need to be standing pretty close to the BDP-95 to hear the internal fan. It's in a cabinet. With the door shut, I don't hear it at all. With the door open, I can only hear it within 3 feet or so, & than only if no music is playing.

It is not a problem for me. I find the background hum of my burglar alarm much more irritating.