Oppo BDP-105 Audiophile Universal Blu-ray Player

[detroit1]

FYI, I visited Toronto over the weekend and went to a store trutone dot ca

Without question, Sales guys are the biggest morons in history !

They had the Arcam Blu-Ray player[/COLOR] there and I asked about Oppo and the idiot tells me the Arcam "walks all over it" and it has the best video, big difference,etc

of course that same Arcam did NOT play my disc, which plays on every other Blu-ray player that I tried including an NAD in that same store in another area

does anyone actually believe these sales idiots when they say anything? the chances of actually seeing a difference when playing a blu-ray in the Oppo or Arcam is super super slim

both will look and sound good; of course the Arcam will not even play many discs that the Oppo will; the Oppo has way more features and is also a full media player

I think this is good info to relay to the Oppo owners as well as people thinking about Oppo about what store people are saying since they don't sell the Oppo

It is laughable that he would say the video is much better, the Arcam uses the Wolfson DACS just like the Cambridge Player

The Industry is a joke; you can't go into any store and get even 1 true statement from these sales idiots

I was going to ask him if in a blind test, using 10 blu-ray clips and betting $100/clip whether he can pick out the Arcam vs the Oppo but then he left the room and I also went into a different area of the store to view a PanasonicProjector

of course the same sale idiot told me Panasonic projectors are much better than Epson, even though Epson makes the panels for Panasonic and both look very similar after adjustments

this proves again for 10 millionth time that Sales Guys are a JOKE !

 

[rgallos]

Yes, I have had direct experience with Upgrade company. I had my Oppo-105 upgraded to their signature edition mod. I can only say the player was good before, but is now amazing in it's ability to convey music. I have heard a lot of great players in my time and none sound as analog as this. I now believe everything they claim is true. I had considered other mod companies like Modwright. I have not heard their mods, but I'm sure they are good. I decided to go with UPC, because I didn't feel comfortable with such a radical change in topology. The whole idea of extensive shielding and better wire and changing select keys parts made a lot more sense to me. Recently, my brother immediately order one after hearing mine on his system. He had a modified tubed Music fidelity dac as well as a stock Oppo-105. It blew them away. The service has been flawless. David Schulte has been consistent in returning phone calls and comes across as a sincere, humble person with a great passion for Audio. After experiencing the Oppo-105 SE , I can only say that I will be buying and upgrading my whole system through him. I that impressed with the Oppo.

 

[fuzz092888]

Yes, I have had direct experience with Upgrade company. I had my Oppo-105 upgraded to their signature edition mod. I can only say the player was good before, but is now amazing in it's ability to convey music. I have heard a lot of great players in my time and none sound as analog as this. I now believe everything they claim is true. I had considered other mod companies like Modwright. I have not heard their mods, but I'm sure they are good. I decided to go with UPC, because I didn't feel comfortable with such a radical change in topology. The whole idea of extensive shielding and better wire and changing select keys parts made a lot more sense to me. Recently, my brother immediately order one after hearing mine on his system. He had a modified tubed Music fidelity dac as well as a stock Oppo-105. It blew them away. The service has been flawless. David Schulte has been consistent in returning phone calls and comes across as a sincere, humble person with a great passion for Audio. After experiencing the Oppo-105 SE , I can only say that I will be buying and upgrading my whole system through him. I that impressed with the Oppo.

Hmm sounds like your brother should have ordered a regular 105 so you could have compared them side by side, instead of relying on acoustic memory, which is notoriously unreliable past like....2 seconds.

 

[gene]

Hmm sounds like your brother should have ordered a regular 105 so you could have compared them side by side, instead of relying on acoustic memory, which is notoriously unreliable past like....2 seconds.

Agreed. I've studied the design of the BDP-105 in great detail. I don't see how its possible to achieve better analog audio performance than what they've already been able to achieve. If it were possible, I'd like to do a quick a/b comparison with my ears and my Audio Precision

 

[rgallos]

Actually, he did have a stock Oppo-105 and we made a direct side by side comparison with the upgraded player. He then purchased the upgrade after he heard the difference.

 

[PENG]

Unless the comparison was done in a blind listening session, the claims cannot be taken too seriously.

 

[detroit1]

very true, it needs to be a blind test ; otherwise people will just pick the upgrade since they want that to be better

 

[gene]

Actually, he did have a stock Oppo-105 and we made a direct side by side comparison with the upgraded player. He then purchased the upgrade after he heard the difference.

Try connecting both players to the same preamp using either unbalanced or balanced analog outs from each player. Make sure both players utilize the same type of connections as it's not fair to use unbalanced for one and balanced for the other. Have two bit perfect copies of the same music playing the same song perfectly synced up. Then have a 3rd party switch between inputs on your preamp to see if you can with good confidence always pick the modded player as the better sounding unit. It's also important to determine if the volume levels are the same between players and somehow the modded player isn't playing louder than the stock player.

 

[fuzz092888]

Try connecting both players to the same preamp using either unbalanced or balanced analog outs from each player. Make sure both players utilize the same type of connections as it's not fair to use unbalanced for one and balanced for the other. Have two bit perfect copies of the same music playing the same song perfectly synced up. Then have a 3rd party switch between inputs on your preamp to see if you can with good confidence always pick the modded player as the better sounding unit. It's also important to determine if the volume levels are the same between players and somehow the modded player isn't playing louder than the stock player.

Doesn't sound like they have an unmodded version anymore. Oh well, TUC strikes again.

 

[huber13]

Does anybody have a work around to get bass management through USB audio in? I just found out that there is no bass management for that input and really makes the DSD decoding sound a little weak with no sub. I have B&W N803's and a Velodyne DD-12 sub they sound very good but not as good with out the sub, it takes a lot of the dynamic punch out of the sound. I'm using J River 19 on my PC and there is no way on their end to get the sub to work. My only thoughts are to get a sound card for the PC that has SPDF or Toslink outs. Anyone else try this and how does it sound?

 

[huber13]

Does anybody have a work around to get bass management through USB audio in on the OPPO BDP-105? I just found out that there is no bass management for that input and really makes the DSD decoding sound a little weak with no sub. I have B&W N803's and a Velodyne DD-12 sub they sound very good but not as good with out the sub, it takes a lot of the dynamic punch out of the sound. I'm using J River 19 on my PC and there is no way on their end to get the sub to work. My only thoughts are to get a sound card for the PC that has S/PDIF or Toslink outs. Anyone else try this and how does it sound?

 

[philstars]

Yes,unlike the BDP-95 player that utilized a ventilation fan on the back panel, the new BDP-105 player utilizes passive cooling only. This was accomplished in two ways: reducing heat generation and improving heat dissipation. The new dual-core SoC produces less heat than the previous decoder chip thanks to its advanced semiconductor fabrication process.

Oppo added a separated winding to the new Toroidal transformer so they could get +5V and +3.3V power for the analog section from low voltage drop regulators instead of from the +15V rail. The BDP-105 chassis is taller so it has more volume for air space and is slower to heat up. The ventilation grilles on the top, bottom and back of the player complete the passive cooling design by allowing cool air to come in and warm air to escape. This was a welcome improvement as I was sometimes able to hear the cooling fan turn on in the BDP-95 in my acoustically controlled theater room.

 

[Muzykant]

I would like to share my brief experience with BDP-105. I wanted to get the best player I could afford to compliment my new speaker and TV setup. After reading pro and user reviews it was clear to me that BDP-105 was the one to have. Upon connecting I immediately tried one of the DVDs from my substantial collection I acquired over the years. I was expecting a clear picture and sound. Well... the sound was okay, but the picture was incredibly grainy with poor unnatural colors (it was apparent on my 8500 series 64" Samsung plasma). Every image had a shadow around it and moving objects we pixelized. I thought it was that particular DVD, so I tried another and another... same story. I tried every picture and format setting, but it only added to frustration. What's worse, in my room with a known electrical interference problem, the tracks kept skipping by themselves due to button-less design of the front panel. Needless to say, I boxed up this machine and sent it back the next day. Got a Denon player instead for half of what I payed for Oppo, and it was a vast improvement in picture quality, with similar audio (anyway I use external processor, so I only needed transport in the first place).

 

[j_garcia]

I would like to share my brief experience with BDP-105. I wanted to get the best player I could afford to compliment my new speaker and TV setup. After reading pro and user reviews it was clear to me that BDP-105 was the one to have. Upon connecting I immediately tried one of the DVDs from my substantial collection I acquired over the years. I was expecting a clear picture and sound. Well... the sound was okay, but the picture was incredibly grainy with poor unnatural colors (it was apparent on my 8500 series 64" Samsung plasma). Every image had a shadow around it and moving objects we pixelized. I thought it was that particular DVD, so I tried another and another... same story. I tried every picture and format setting, but it only added to frustration. What's worse, in my room with a known electrical interference problem, the tracks kept skipping by themselves due to button-less design of the front panel. Needless to say, I boxed up this machine and sent it back the next day. Got a Denon player instead for half of what I payed for Oppo, and it was a vast improvement in picture quality, with similar audio (anyway I use external processor, so I only needed transport in the first place).

Did you ask Oppo about this? My PQ is pretty much flawless so far with DVDs, and even my former 980HD ($100 Oppo back in the day), DVDs were already ridiculously good. Did you try it with and without the external processor?

 

[Muzykant]

No, I would have if the tracks were not skipping, but I am sure that that particular issue can't be fixed due to the front panel design. You know, I really wanted this player because I believe in buying quality products, but it just did not live up to its reputation.

 

[j_garcia]

I am not a fan of the touch controls on the front panel either, but it sounds like you might have gotten a bad unit and Oppo customer service is top notch. I told them I had a disc that wouldn't play on my 83SE and that I was local. They said "Bring the disc over so we can see the issue." I showed them and they released a firmware update to fix it. Try that with Sony

 

[Muzykant]

That does sound like a good customer service. Maybe in the future I can give them a try again in another room with no interference. Or they can upgrade their products by adding buttons!

 

[wlmmn]

Here's a list of features I'd like on a new Oppo that would actually make me buy one:

-The eSata port brought back; I already use the back USB port for the wireless adapter, it's nice to have a high-speed hard drive connection like the eSata right next to it to connect my external hard drive for high-resolution playback of flac and wav files. For some unexplained reason, Oppo got rid of it. Surprised Andrew's review made no mention of this.

-Fixed bugs in the firmware that currently make my Oppo BDP-93 turn off when inserting a new Blu-Ray disc half the time (seems like a persistent storage issue), or freeze up when I'm browsing the hard drive interface and I click on a inside folder that has one album's files full of wav files, or sometimes freeze the functionality of the eject button, causing me to hard reset the unit all the time

-Better Netflix interface that the one the Oppo uses that's completely blown away by the one Sony uses on their PS3, or even the cheapo Sony BDP-S790 player in my bedroom

So far I don't see Oppo has addressed any of the gripes I have with my current model in their new one. Why should I bother buying another Oppo player? Really, I only wanted this unit because it plays SACD, DVD-Audio along with Blu-Ray without being über expensive, but I'm tired of all the bugs. And yes, I already sent it to Oppo about a year ago with these issues, they said they worked on it but all of the above issues persist.

 

[IrishLord82]

Just two issues with the BDP105D that I own. The first is with the connection of my DirecTV Genie to the HDMI input on the 105. The Oppo would not correctly process signals from HBO, Cinemax, Starz or Showtime. I called Oppo about this and they confirmed that the signal from those channels can not be processed. Removed the HDMI and plugged it into my Yamaha RX-C5000. Liked the effect of the Darby on DirecTV channels other than the pay channels but not worth switching every time I wanted to watch a movie.
The other issue is a bit more esoteric. The player will not play higher level DSD recordings, 128fs or 256fs. According to Oppo, 128fs will play but only with the asynchronous USB input on the back of the player from the source. Again, this is a little convoluted for ease of use so have restricted my DSD downloads to 64fs.

 

[GeordieM]

I'm very interested in the 105 for my first nice hifi stereo system. I'm looking at the Parasound Halo integrated amp and probably some Monitor Audio Silver 8s. Because I'm new to a setup such as this I've got a few questions about how the Oppo will function and actually play my music. Currently, most all of my music is stored in iTunes in Apple Lossless format. I have an iMac and my music library is stored on a Western Digital 3TB external. So, will the Oppo play my Apple Lossless files? Can I get another external drive and simply plug it into the back of the Oppo and have all my music right there? I think not because I need some sort of organization software, correct? How will I best get my music from iTunes into the Oppo for playback with the best fidelity? This gets a bit confusing for me. I'd love some advice and explanation of how i would best migrate my current iTunes setup over to the new Oppo/Parasound setup. Thanks in advance for your time and help!