Electrocompanient EMP-2 vs. Oppo BDP-103

I`d listen to the components before drawing any conclusions based on visual inspection alone. If the two players differ in their power supplies or analog circuit quality this would result in significant differences of levels of performance.

I read somewhere that part of the issue is that smaller manufacturers like Electrocompaniet cannot afford the high Blu-Ray license fees for small production volumes.

So they turn to larger manufacturers and source the base parts and in effect buy the license for a much cheaper price.

I have not listened to the units in a side-by-side comparison, but EC does add a balanced output stage and upsamples both PCM and SACD. I think the Ayre DX-5, also based on Oppo, does the same thing.

For some, Electrocompaniet's improvements, its quality reputation, and its house sound are well worth the price over the Oppo. For others, not so much.

What you are paying for in the Elecrocompaniet is a very different high quality dac board which is what Electro is adding the dac board is a $2k dac, hence the difference in price is the superior case and analog board.