Oppo 103 worth upgrade?

H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
I have almost finished upgrading my HT. The last cog is the Bluray player. I have a Samsung BD-D6500. Use it mostly for movies... some CDs.

Read lots of good stuff about the Oppo 103. My question is: will I really tell any difference between the Oppo and Samsung? Audio? Video?

My new receiver is a Denon AVR-X4000.
New amp is Emotiva XPA-5.
Aperion Grand Towers for fronts and sides.
Aperion Grand Center.
Rythmik FV15HP sub.
A couple small KEFs for rears, and 10" KEF second sub.

I'm not enough of an audiophile for the Oppo 105, and really don't have any serious complaints about the Samsung. But I've spent enough on the other stuff, I hate to think I could get another noticeable difference for just a few hundred more bucks. So do ya'll think it would really be noticeable?

Edit: Sorry, TV is older Samsung UN55D8000... 55" LED 3D, (though we rarely/never use 3D), 240Hz 1080p. Seats are ~12 feet from the TV.

Thanks,
 
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Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
You might see a difference on upconverted DVDs, but I doubt you will see any difference for BDs. For the sound, if you are using HDMI (as you should), I doubt you will hear any difference. Of course, if you believe you will see and hear a difference, the placebo effect can make you think you do, but I am presuming you are interested in actual differences in the thing, not differences in your mind.

By the way, the Oppo 105 will look and sound the same as the Oppo 103 if you are using HDMI connections. The 105 is better with its analog outputs, but most people do not and should not use analog outputs on their BD players.

See:

OPPO Digital - Knowledge Base

In my case, I am basically waiting for my old BD player to die, and then I will buy an Oppo, because they play SACD and DVD-Audio and PAL formated DVDs, and people on eBay sell hardware hacks for them to make them region free for DVD and region changeable for BD. If you need any of that, then you might want to buy an Oppo. But otherwise, I recommend that you save your money for now, and use it later for upgrading speakers or whatever.
 
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j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
The 105 is better with its analog outputs, but most people do not and should not use analog outputs on their BD players.
I will add a caveat to that - the should not depends on what you are using it for. For music listening, which IMO would sort of be the real reason to get the 105, you WOULD use the analog outs. I agree that via HDMI, you aren't going to see large differences in video and definitely not in audio.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
For music listening, which IMO would sort of be the real reason to get the 105, you WOULD use the analog outs.
Now I'm gonna show my ignorance.

Looking at the back of the Oppo 103, I see single RCA outputs for each channel of 7.1 audio out.
I see a single RCA labelled "DIAG", and one "COAXIAL".

I don't see where I would connect them in the Denon X4000, or the Emotiva XPA-5, without first unplugging the outputs from the AVR.

So if I got the Oppo, and wanted to use HDMI for movies, and analog outputs for music, (as recommended), how would I do that?

Thanks,
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
You would just connect both analog and HDMI to different inputs on the receiver so that you can switch between them. The XPA should be connected to the receiver only. This would be in stereo only in your case as the X4000 does not appear to have a multichannel analog input.

 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
Thank you so much. For example, I would simply run the FL and FR analog outs from the Oppo to the L & R inputs of CD on the X4000? Then I could swap between HDMI and Analog by simply selecting Bluray or CD on the AVR, (with proper setup). Right?
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
Thank you so much. For example, I would simply run the FL and FR analog outs from the Oppo to the L & R inputs of CD on the X4000? Then I could swap between HDMI and Analog by simply selecting Bluray or CD on the AVR, (with proper setup). Right?
That's correct and you can do the same with the Samsung right now as it has stereo analog out. I was actually kind of surprised at the quality of analog sound I got out of my former Panasonic BD-65 for $99.
 
P

pwwaring

Audiophyte
That's correct and you can do the same with the Samsung right now as it has stereo analog out. I was actually kind of surprised at the quality of analog sound I got out of my former Panasonic BD-65 for $99.
If you stick with the Samsung it may be better to go with the optical digital out instead of the analog - not sure but it would be surprising if the X4000 doesn't have a better DAC than the Samsung.
 
j_garcia

j_garcia

Audioholic Jedi
If you stick with the Samsung it may be better to go with the optical digital out instead of the analog - not sure but it would be surprising if the X4000 doesn't have a better DAC than the Samsung.
In which case it would make ZERO sense since it would already be connected via HDMI. I would expect the X4000 does have better DACs vs. the Samsung.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
I would just trust Denon's X4000 Dac, one connection from bd player to avr be done with it. After your speakers (and their positioning) the biggest impact on your home audio quality would be room treatments
 
P

pwwaring

Audiophyte
In which case it would make ZERO sense since it would already be connected via HDMI. I would expect the X4000 does have better DACs vs. the Samsung.
Very true. I actually do have mine set up that way (both HDMI and optical), but simply because I wanted to assign separate sources for CD and BD on my AVR (Denon 3312ci), and I can't assign the HDMI input as the CD source, but the way I have it is totally unnecessary....
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
I will add a caveat to that - the should not depends on what you are using it for. For music listening, which IMO would sort of be the real reason to get the 105, you WOULD use the analog outs.

Given that the enhanced analog section is the main (though not only) difference between the two Oppo players, it would probably be a total waste of money to buy the more expensive one if one were only going to use the HDMI connection.

One can use the HDMI for music listening as well; then, the receiver/processor's digital to analog convertors are used. Either way, the preamp section of the receiver is being used for the audio (because the analog inputs go into its preamp section), so the likelihood of much improvement with the analog with his receiver is small. And he lacks multichannel analog inputs, which makes using just the HDMI even more of a good idea in his case. So I really would strongly advise him against buying the 105, given his equipment. (Of course, he was not planning on buying it anyway.)

For most people, the 105 would be a waste of money. However, it might make sense if one wanted the extra features, or if one had a high end system that lacked the appropriate digital to analog convertors for dealing with the signal coming out of the player. But that does not describe most people.


I agree that via HDMI, you aren't going to see large differences in video and definitely not in audio.

According to Oppo, there is absolutely NO difference in performance between them when using HDMI:

... the BDP-103 and BDP-105 are identical in performance when it comes to audio and video over HDMI ...


OPPO Digital - Knowledge Base

If one is going to use the HDMI only, very likely, buying the 105 will just be a waste of money. The 103 is what I would buy, if I were buying a BD player now.
 
Pyrrho

Pyrrho

Audioholic Ninja
Very true. I actually do have mine set up that way (both HDMI and optical), but simply because I wanted to assign separate sources for CD and BD on my AVR (Denon 3312ci), and I can't assign the HDMI input as the CD source, but the way I have it is totally unnecessary....
Yes, one might want to do that in order to use different surround modes for different purposes. I used to have a player hooked up with analog connections to just run it straight, and used the digital connection to run it through a surround processor. The player I had hooked up that way is no longer in that system, and I rarely ever listen to CDs on my home theater (I have other systems in my home), so it isn't important for me to have that convenience. It is for such convenience that it can make sense to hook it up multiple ways; but just using HDMI is fine.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
Thanks guys. That all makes sense, and thanks for explaining it in a way I can understand. It seems that buying the Oppo for an "upgrade" over the Samsung would not make a noticeable difference.

I do have the Samsung analog outs connected to CD In on the receiver so I can use wireless headphones via Zone 2 and don't have to pause a movie my wife and I are watching when I go out on the porch to smoke... (yeh, I know, I know). So the comments about the Denon DACs likely being better than the Samsung are relevant. It means my quality is likely better for CDs using the HDMI Bluray connection rather than the analog CD connection. I suspect it would hold true for all but the high-end CD players.

I appreciate all the help!!
 
P

pwwaring

Audiophyte
I do have the Samsung analog outs connected to CD In on the receiver so I can use wireless headphones via Zone 2 and don't have to pause a movie my wife and I are watching when I go out on the porch to smoke... (yeh, I know, I know). So the comments about the Denon DACs likely being better than the Samsung are relevant. It means my quality is likely better for CDs using the HDMI Bluray connection rather than the analog CD connection.
You could also assign one of the Denon's optical inputs as the CD source and use that instead of the analog, but any difference in sq may or may not be noticeable.
 
H

herbu

Audioholic Samurai
You could also assign one of the Denon's optical inputs as the CD source and use that instead of the analog, but any difference in sq may or may not be noticeable.
Thanks, but Zone 2 ONLY works w/ analog input. Don't know why, but it was so on 2 previous Yamahas and current Denon. To walk out on the porch, watch the TV through the window, and hear through the wireless headphones, in addition to HDMI I have analog from satellite box to AVR, and Bluray to AVR. The HDMI feeds the home theatre, and the analog feeds Zone 2 for the headphones.
 
P

pwwaring

Audiophyte
Thanks, but Zone 2 ONLY works w/ analog input. Don't know why, but it was so on 2 previous Yamahas and current Denon.
Interesting - didn't know that. Learn something new every day!
 
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