@dgarretson - Yeah, I let them warm up for at least an hour, but that's not really my point. The Oppo is not fully broken in, so I'm expecting the low-level detail to improve. But my point was not to illustrate which was better, but to discuss the difficulty in A/B comparisons due to the adaptation and acceptance of what we are hearing by the human brain. I don't how old you are, but we used to listen to and enjoy music on tiny transistor radios.
The Difficulties in Component "Shootouts"
First of all, I hate doing component "shootouts" or "this vs. thats" as if it’s a wrestling match. I find it tiresome and generally unenjoyable. That said, I purchased an Oppo 205 a couple months back and I’ve been really enjoying it, especially with my Oppo PM3 phones, now that it’s a bit broken in. But last night I broke my rules and decided to compare it directly to my EAR Acute CD player, which costs about 5x as much. OK, first of all, it’s impossible to do a realistic test at home because it can’t be a blind test, I’m using different interconnects and power cords, although of equal quality and I’m comparing CD to SACD, which may not even be the same mix. So that said, I was still curious. So I decided to use the Opus3 disc and the first track is "I can’t get started" that features a very realistic live performance on tenor sax. So I listen on the EAR and it’s pretty great. The tenor sax is up front, very live sounding with a lot of air and space. On the Oppo, even with SACD, the space around the instruments is not there and the horn sounds more honky and kazoo-like. But that’s not the point. The point is this - as I listen more to the Oppo, it starts sounding just fine. Nothing seems missing and I think that’s because the human ear has a way of filling in the missing pieces when we listen to music. That’s why I can listen to a Beethoven symphony on my Tivoli table radio with a 3" speaker and find it totally enjoyable. The brain completes the sonic picture that is lacking in the source. After a few back and forths, my ear became more and more desensitized and the whole experience just became boring and meaningless. So look - if shootouts are your cup of tea, go ahead by all means. It’s not my place to criticize how someone should enjoy his bought and paid for property, but I would much rather just sit back and listen at this stage of the game. I'll leave that to BO1972, who appears to enjoy them very much.