“Oppomod” linear power supply

I had that mod done to my 103 - astounding difference...air, life, ease, extension, clarity in spades.

I had done it to my BDP-103 and the improvement was worth it. It wasn’t OPPOMOD but something similar. If you want something that some would consider higher quality, check out Clones Audio. Funjoe makes a very high quality LPS and has a nice YouTube tutorial showing all the necessary steps to do it right.

https://www.clonesaudio.com/accessories-1

All the best,
Nonoise

I did it to my 105 to excellent effect, but now only use it to spin SACDs DVD-As...Maybe 5 months ago I bought a Audio Alchemy DAC/PRE just for the pre, but eventually tried the internal dac and was blown away by how much better it is than the 105s 

I tried one that was > $350, but had fitment issues as  well as getting it to work. I sent it back and replaced it with one for ~ $115, it is a huge upgrade, but if you listen to music you need a much better dac circuit than the 105 has

Very interesting tweak. I’m actually thinking along those lines. My AC power conditioning allows the lower noise floor of the 205 to be fully revealed; also the fact that finer detail can be much better. I’m thinking perhaps of a Berkely Alpha 2.  Do you know how it would compare to your new unit?

The 205 does have the linear power supply for the audio stage. That being said, upgrading the switching power supply of the digital section to a linear power supply will definitely increase the sound quality. In my experience, switching power supplies will create a glare (can be described as a "digital glare") to the sound even though it it only used for the digital "transport" section. A linear power supply will always allow the digital clocks to operate smoother without noise in the circuit. This can definitely influence the sound quality achieved by the DAC/audio board. I did a really long write-up of LPS here:
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https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/musings-on-switching-power-supplies-lps-for-oppo-directv-radiance

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The OPPOMOD power supply is extremely well built and designed with large capacity Nichicon KW capacitors. The "Clones Audio" power supply looks very nice as well. It appears that the Clones Audio uses a discrete regulator section (as opposed to the monolithic LM78xx/79xx regulators on the OPPOMOD). The Clones Audio also uses a Mundorf electrolytic cap, but only at 10,000uf. I think the OPPOMOD will have a large capacitor bank (probably around 40,000uf for 5V section). Both will probably do well, but knowing what I know about digital sections, I would go for the larger capacitor bank to ensure the smoothest DC voltage.

Thanks auxinput. What’s the difference between discrete vs monolithic regulators as it relates to sound quality? 

For Ivan and nonoise - were you using any AC isolation / conditioning prior to and with your 205? I’m using Equitech, Sound Application and mit Oracle p/c’s. 

I had the OPPOMOD linear power supply installed in my already modded Oppo 103 by EVS. EVS also upgraded the many generic caps to Pannies. I think the OPPOMOD LPS should be viewed as a somewhat expensive item that has the unwanted side effect of producing quite a large amount of vibration and magnetic fields that both affect everything in proximity including all the circuit boards. Now, there are measures to deal with those side effects that can be employed (such as decoupling the transformer from the chassis and isolating the circuit boards) but then you’re talking about a lot more mods. In the end I can’t say it was worth it as the total cost gets to be rather high, looking back.

Thanks geoffkait. I would use sorbothane to isolate the vibration and a mu metal wrap to contain the magnetic field. 

I also suggest not (rpt not) tightening the bolt holding down the transformer and wrapping the transformer *twice* with mu metal, maintaining a 1/2 inch separation between layers with cotton or whatever. Off the top of my head one layer is 73% effective and two layers are 90%. Cork works well to isolate the circuit boards and to damp the capacitor bank, weaving a serpentine strip through them.

Not sure if my response is on point, but I had a $375 proprietary mod done on on my Oppo 103 by Stereo Dave's Audio Alternative and it was totally amazing.  The improvement in SQ was apparent from the first measure of the music.  The noise level was substantially lowered and sound stage was vastly more expansive.  I have had a dozen mods on gear over the years and none have been more worthwhile... nor more cost-effective.

It is clear that mods to the stock Oppo CD can be extremely worthwhile.  At any rate, the stock Oppo players, to my ears, are the best bargain in the audio world.  

@ptss , mine was the 103 but I'm not then, or now, using any kind of isolation or conditioning. One thing I have to advise is that there are two versions of the OPPOMOD. The first one generated lots of heat and they went to a "cooler" version. The one I got wasn't from OPPOMOD and although the audio and video improvements are commendable, it does get hot on the longer movies.

Supposedly the Clones has always been on the cooler side of hot. I'd never dispute what @auxinput advises but more capacitors aside, I'd contact Funjoe over at Clones Audio for his take as well. He's an honest guy and he'll get back to you.

All the best,
Nonoise

My only experience with discrete regulators has to do with analog audio stages. I’ve used the Sparkos Labs discrete voltage regulators (which are ran in "Class A" and based on the same circuit in their op amps). The result is a faster and higher resolution sound to the audio. Smoother with less noise from the "A/C" line. I suspect they would improve digital sections too.
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The heat from the OPPOMOD power supply comes from both the power supply diodes mounted onto larger fin-based heatsinks in air and the voltage regulators mounted on an aluminum L-bracket. The L-bracket makes flat contact with the bottom of the Oppo case and distributes heat that way. The Sparkos discrete regulators I have used are direct swap-in replacements for the monolithic LM78xx/79xx and they will still generate heat, which means you need to bolt them to some sort of heat sink as well.
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The Clones Audio does have their power supply diodes bolted to a 1/4" thick piece of metal. However, it looks like their voltage regulators are floating in air, so i"m not sure what they are doing with this circuit. Maybe the discrete elements are circuits placed around the regulators to help them become more efficient (and possible generate less heat as a bi-product). I can’t be sure here without asking them directly (which you could do if you wanted).
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That being said, the new 203/205 models have switching power supplies that are about 2/3 the size of the older 103/105 models. I suspect they did not need as current since they dropped the FPGA chip that was required for Darbee and also dropped all streaming services from the firmware.

@ptss

I did indeed have nearly $8k’s worth of a power treatment and grounding solution (Alan Maher Designs) at the time the OPPO MOD was added to my 103...have added even more since.

The 103 is not well ventilated but I’ve had no issues with heat retention at all and my install was also done at EVS and is similar to what Geoff describes above.

@ptss
Yes, you can clearly hear the difference even with excellent conditioning and ancillary components.  With my 203, I'm using a Shunyata 6000/S line conditioner, VH Audio Airsine PC, MIT Oracle digital cable to my EMM Labs DA2 DAC and the unit is sitting on four HRS Nimbus Assemblies, and the difference between the stock SPS and a LPS was pretty amazing.  Not only improved audio - particularly a huge drop in the noise floor and removing glare, but also a more natural presentation of video for BDs. 

I wasn't really sold on that Oppo mod LPS given that it had no heat spreader and was way more expensive than other models without explaining why.  Since I only use the 203 for BR, I got a digital only LPS and disconnected the analog board (which also helps).  The LPS cost around $150 on ebay and is amazing.  No complaints.  I ended up also changing the IEC and internal cabling of the 203 which brought further improvements but the LPS was the game changer.

@bar81 . Thanks for input. I believe the investment in ac power conditioning is extremely worthwhile. Enjoy the music! 

@bar81. I was looking at the MIT Cables site today and noticed they’ve gone to very aggressive power conditioning units.$$$.  To me this validates the benefits of power conditioning in our ever noisier digital environment, as you and I have experienced. I will definitely go to a linear power supply if for no other reason than to eliminate the noise emitted by the smps. Just evaluating options.