Universal Players vs. Dedicated CD/SACD Players

It depends if you are using them as transports.

Jafant:

What player(s) are you running?

Jafant:

The mods were done by an Oregon-based company called Jena Labs. You may have heard of their cables. My player was done a long time ago, and a lot has happened in the interim, so I've forgotten a lot of the details of the mod, unfortunately. But I remember she cleared the signal path of a bunch of crap and did a lot of damping, among other things. She left the Marantz HDAM output stage in place, because she really likes that particular design. Some other modders strip it out and replace it with something fancier. 

The result was really eye-opening. After many comparisons over the years, I think it can hang with some of the big boys. It's pretty good, IMHO.

Sorry I couldn't provide more technical info on the mods. The 'ol noggin' ain't what it used to be!

Jafant:

It's a modified Marantz SA-7S1. Not at all a fair fight between it and a stock Oppo, I realize. As I said, I just did it for giggles--to get a baseline on the Oppo. A buddy of mine is bringing his 105D over for a comparison next week. We're gonna stack it up against the Marantz and my 103D. 

No contest. A quality dedicated CD player will annihilate the Oppo/Cambridge universal players on redbook playback.

Personally, I prefer keeping things separated. I have a dedicated CD/SACD player in my main rig and an Oppo 103 universal in my second system (for the rare DVD-A and Blu-Ray Audio disc I own). I put the Oppo in the main stack for giggles, but as decent as it is, it couldn't hold a candle to my Marantz player on either redbook or SACD. Then again, the Marantz cost many times the money of the Oppo, so it didn't come as a terrible shock to me.

Thanks! for sharing- dave_b.

The Modwright Sony XA5400ES OR Oppo 105 are world class.  I prefer the Modwright XA5400ES...as close to vinyl as it gets without the clicks and pops!

As a purist, I too, prefer my Audio separate from my Video spinners.
Keep me posted & Happy Listening!

((Ayre produces some beautiful sounding gear, a little out of my league though...))
 Your bell is ringing at 1795
 If you listen to the New Ayre Codex Dac taking the Dig out of your Oppo
 would put you where you need to be.
       Good listening JohnnyR 

People seem to really like the Schiit DACs, especially the multibit versions. The Bifrost might be a good fit.

http://www.schiit.com

Ayre produces some beautiful sounding gear, a little out of my league though...

I think my Oppo 105 sounds superb playing DTS-HD MA or Dolby True-HD BDs, but I much prefer my Ayre C-5xeMP for playing CDs and SACDs.

Interesting option, thanks!

In my experience, dedicated CD players have better redbook performance than similarly, or even somewhat more expensive multi-format players.  I haven't tried very expensive (10K+) multi-format players, which may well have better CD performance.  If you listen to a lot of regular CDs, I would try adding a good DAC to the Oppo, say something in the $1K+ price range, which should be a significant improvement over the CD performance of the Oppo, IF you are sensitive to the improvements better CD replay will render.  

I have an Oppo BDP-103 and use an Ayre C-5xeMP for music. I tried the Oppo with music, but it sounds flatter and less dynamic than the Ayre. Not terrible, but not terribly exciting either.

I would say just enjoy the music. Hi-enders like to spout on about interference, internal crossover, etc.which is more imaginary than reality, with marginal improvement. Also, people often like to justify their purchases, with owners of 10k CD players compelled to state that is the only way. I have a sub 2k universal player from years ago, and I don't find the audio lacking. Video is horribly outdated!

Thank you all for the input. I didn't know if I was splitting hairs with this or if indeed a universal player might compromise the audio side which is most important to me. 

The Oppo 95 and later are good units (I have the 105D and have heard others in the past) but they are engineered to a price point which they've done the best to maximize ROI at that price. Owning the 105D I can tell you it excels at video and does a good job of CD and SACD playback, ability to leverage its DACs from an external source, etc...(XLR sounds better than RCA) BUT there are Universal players out there that are better at audio.  Shop around, listen extensively, etc...before you buy. Esoteric will definitely 'crush it' to use 68pete's words but my opinion having owned several generations should be taken as exactly that.

I went from the Oppo 95 to the Esoteric line and the Esoteric crushed it. Oppo is good in its price range. But does not come close to a good SACD/cd player. I did find using the XLR outs bettered the RCAs on the Oppo.
enjoy

They can minimize it but not eliminate it

I would think so. My thoughts are kind of "jack of all trades and master of none?" when it comes to universal players. 

Isn't this why Oppo has the 95/105 with direct 2 channel out?  They recognize the possibility of interference and have tried very hard to minimize that.

Hmm, interesting...

Love the Lexicon RT-20 as a CD transport though...

I prefer a dedicated audio player ( have used Lexicon and Oppo universals), also prefer a CD player for redbook, as opposed to cd/sacd