Magnetar

IMO the Oppo 205 is still the king. The Magnetar 900 does not have as many digital inputs as the 205 and the dac chip for the surround domain is a lower quality one than in the 205. Very similar players other than that. 

@arnold_h 

thanks for the input.  Your point about the different chips for the surround domain intrigues me.  Do they use a separate chip for each channel?  Or one chip for two vs another for multichannel?

The Oppo 205 uses a 9038Pro for the stereo outputs and a 9038Pro for the surround sound outputs. The Magnetar uses a 9038Pro for the stereo outputs and a 9028 for the surround outputs.

Yes that is correct, they both use Sabre dac chips but the Magnetar uses a lesser version for the surround output. Also one review I read on the Magnetar was that the volume level does not show up on the units display, only if headphones are plugged in or if the tv is on then the volume level would show on the tv screen. I use my Oppo 205 as a dac preamp and the volume display is a must for me. 

The surround channels are less important, mainly for ambience and movie effects like helicopters flying, so one could justify using a lesser chip in those channels, but it seems chintzy to do so, especially considering that this is not a budget player