Oppo BDP-105 Audiophile Universal Blu-ray Player

[admin]

The Oppo BDP-105 Universal Blu-ray player is truly an audiophile’s and videophile’s dream machine. From the BDP-105’s impeccable benchmark performance to its excellent build quality and usability, this player leaves you wanting nothing. The BDP-105 not only raises your expectations of what all Blu-ray players should be like, but it also elevates what you’d expect from a high end transport costing thousands more. If you are fully intent on building a two-channel and multi-channel system of equal measure, I simply can’t make a higher recommendation than this product. Until Oppo builds a real world Star Trek holodeck, you will be hard pressed to better your A/V experience with any other source device. Live long and prosper and long live Oppo!

Discuss " Oppo BDP-105 Audiophile Universal Blu-ray Player" here. Read the article.

 

[avliner]

Wow Gene,

another killer review man!

IIRC, it's the first time ever that an almost 100% 5-star score card shows up on AH reviews (except for the BM, which got 4-star, though).

 

[mlknez]

I liked the review, but you skipped a couple of very important points. You didn't talk about Oppo no longer supporting .iso file playback nor what it's local file streaming playback support is/is not. Many people now download high quality audio files and would like to play them back. DSD file playback is not supported on this device either anymore. You can no longer call this device a "universal" player in my book.

 

[j_garcia]

My guess would be that bass management issue could be corrected via firmware. Nice review and glad it does that well. I saw this thing in person when I was getting my 83SE serviced and it is a LOT bigger than all previous models and looks like a very nice unit for sure. It was already my plan to pick one up in a few months, but this certainly just cements that plan Were the previous models checked for this bass management "issue"?

I am going to have to send Oppo an email because I noticed that it didn't seem to make any difference between the DSD and PCM setting on my 83SE; it always shows PCM. Not sure if that is just a problem with it reporting PCM all the time or if it actually does not change based on the setting. I am also going to say that we've had that PCM vs DSD discussion a few times here and my opinion is that I am not even sure the difference is readily audible.

 

[gene]

My guess would be that bass management issue could be corrected via firmware. Nice review and glad it does that well. I saw this thing in person when I was getting my 83SE serviced and it is a LOT bigger than all previous models and looks like a very nice unit for sure. It was already my plan to pick one up in a few months, but this certainly just cements that plan Were the previous models checked for this bass management "issue"?

I am going to have to send Oppo an email because I noticed that it didn't seem to make any difference between the DSD and PCM setting on my 83SE; it always shows PCM. Not sure if that is just a problem with it reporting PCM all the time or if it actually does not change based on the setting. I am also going to say that we've had that PCM vs DSD discussion a few times here and my opinion is that I am not even sure the difference is readily audible.

Every Oppo I've bench tested, I checked the bass management and reported on it in the associated reviews. All of them operated pretty similarly though the slopes were a tad shallow on the BDP-105.

 

[gene]

I liked the review, but you skipped a couple of very important points. You didn't talk about Oppo no longer supporting .iso file playback nor what it's local file streaming playback support is/is not. Many people now download high quality audio files and would like to play them back. DSD file playback is not supported on this device either anymore. You can no longer call this device a "universal" player in my book.

Per Oppo:

ISO playback was briefly available in the BDP-93/95 players although we never announced it nor officially supported it. However the studios requested through various channels that we remove ISO playback due to the concerns of playing backup movie discs. In a firmware release note dated March 6, 2012 we told the customers about it: “Per request from the studios, the ISO file playback function has been removed in this firmware version. The previous firmware had the ability to play ISO files, but it was an undocumented function and was never officially announced or supported. Future firmware revisions will no longer support ISO playback.” Being a licensed manufacturer we run into this kind of limitations. The BDP-103/105 never supported ISO playback so I don’t think it is relevant to the review.

The player can already support WAV and FLAC files up to 192kHz/24-bit and up to 5.1ch. These files can be played directly from an attached USB drive or an optical disc. With proper streaming software or local network share via SMB/CIFS, these files can also be supported over the home network.

DSD file playback has not been supported in any of our players so we cannot remove something that was not there. On the other hand, we are actively working on DSD file support and hope to have the BDP-103/105 support DSD files in the near future.

 

[PENG]

It was tough to give up my virtually new 95 that has the stacked DAC feature but I couldn't justify keeping both. In terms of sound quality I initially thought it sounded a little more transparent, but after having more time listening to it and my old Denon, I no longer think it sound any better despite the lower distortion measured in this review. To me the main advantages of the 105 are:

Fanless quiet, apparently better built, much more responsive remote (The 95's borderline on not acceptable). and Netflix 5.1 DD+. Of course it has a few more features such as 4K upscaling and USB Asynchronous, but I can't take advantage of those, not yet anyway.

 

[dmusoke]

No headphone section review

Gene .... Thanks for the great review:

But why did you skip reviewing the headphone amplifier? I'm most interested in this portion of the player. Also the USB DAC?

Thanks,
David

 

[mdanderson]

Thanks for the great review Gene. I plan on ordering the Oppo 105 in the next week or so. I did not know that bass management is not applied when using the xlr balanced 2 channel outs on the 105. My Paradigm Ref. 20 speakers are not full range so I guess I can't really use the xlr outputs but I assume bass mgmt is applied to the dedicated 2channel unbalanced rca outs. Thanks again.

 

[gene]

Gene .... Thanks for the great review:

But why did you skip reviewing the headphone amplifier? I'm most interested in this portion of the player. Also the USB DAC?

Thanks,
David

I did discuss the USB DAC. As for the headphone amp,, I just got tired of writing I will add in a followup about that soon.

 

[gene]

Thanks for the great review Gene. I plan on ordering the Oppo 105 in the next week or so. I did not know that bass management is not applied when using the xlr balanced 2 channel outs on the 105. My Paradigm Ref. 20 speakers are not full range so I guess I can't really use the xlr outputs but I assume bass mgmt is applied to the dedicated 2channel unbalanced rca outs. Thanks again.

Correct, the balanced outputs are pure direct, no bass management.

 

[dmusoke]

I did discuss the USB DAC. As for the headphone amp,, I just got tired of writing I will add in a followup about that soon.

Gene ...thanks. I understand the fatigue of writing till you feel your wrist is gonna fall off anytime! Look forwards to the amendments you'll add to the review. If possible, please do signal measurements(maily noise/frequency response) on the headphone amp at 32ohm and 300 ohms, the rated min/max impedance for the amp. Ofcourse, plus listening tests on standard and exotic headphones(Audeze?). I'm looking to see if it has enough ooomph for these headphones.

 

[gene]

Gene ...thanks. I understand the fatigue of writing till you feel your wrist is gonna fall off anytime! Look forwards to the amendments you'll add to the review. If possible, please do signal measurements(maily noise/frequency response) on the headphone amp at 32ohm and 300 ohms, the rated min/max impedance for the amp. Ofcourse, plus listening tests on standard and exotic headphones(Audeze?). I'm looking to see if it has enough ooomph for these headphones.

No time to do additional measurements but I will try the headphone amp with my Sennheiser HD 600 headphones which are 300 ohm impedance.

 

[PENG]

Gene, just on sound quality using the analog outs, how would you compare it to the 95? I traded my in so I cannot do a side by side comparison. Going by memory I would say they sound the same but would love to hear your take on this.

 

[gandharva]

XLR vs RCA inputs

Gene,
Great review. Thanks a ton.Couple of questions though.

1. Is there any difference in using XLR vs RCA outputs for stereo?
2. You said you kept front speakers as "small" is there any reason for that, I don't expect your fronts are small for this review.
3. Why did you write the review? A video review would have been easier?? ( unless you have to write to do video review)

 

[little wing]

Hi Gene,

I plan to purchase the 105 pretty soon. My current receiver does not have HDMI. Do you see any potential issues with running the HDMI out of the 105 directly to my monitor and running the 7.1 analog outs to my receiver?
Thanks,

 

[MikePS]

But what about DAC sound quality?

A very well written and informative article, and, yes, you did a great job on describing the DAC's layout, but what about the actual sound quality of the DAC (especially USB)? How does it compare to stand alone DAC's (sub-$1000? Sub-$2000? etc.)? Afterall, given the rapid decline of the spinning disc for computer/file-based audio (are people still holding out?), the DAC has to be one of the main reasons to purchase the 105 over a 103 plus a DAC. For instance, how does it stand up to Wyred4Sound DAC-2? Wadia 121? NAD M51? Mytek? Schiit Gungnir? Musical Fidelity? Bryston? Rega? Benchmark? etc.... THANKS!

 

[j_garcia]

A very well written and informative article, and, yes, you did a great job on describing the DAC's layout, but what about the actual sound quality of the DAC (especially USB)? How does it compare to stand alone DAC's (sub-$1000? Sub-$2000? etc.)? Afterall, given the rapid decline of the spinning disc for computer/file-based audio (are people still holding out?), the DAC has to be one of the main reasons to purchase the 105 over a 103 plus a DAC. For instance, how does it stand up to Wyred4Sound DAC-2? Wadia 121? NAD M51? Mytek? Schiit Gungnir? Musical Fidelity? Bryston? Rega? Benchmark? etc.... THANKS!

It is a review not a shootout

YES there are a LOT of people who still buy physical media still too. Last time I looked vinyl was still alive and well and if that is any indicator, the CD/DVD/BD (yes they are somewhat different crowds than vinyl) won't be going away anytime soon either. Yes, it will happen; eventually.

 

[sterling shoote]

I'm fascinated with computer audio but with a recent computer crash and trying to learn to navigate Windows 8 on my replacement computer, not to mention the frustration of getting my back up files on to the new computer, I am taking a new look at physical media. I think concepts like the OPPO make a lot of sense. The bottom line there's just too much need for pointing and clicking for me to be comfortable with computer audio/video

 

[gene]

Headphone Amp Listening Tests

By request, I added the following addendum to my review which can be found in the Listening Tests section:

Headphone Listening Tests
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Another nice audiophile feature of the BDP-105 is the dedicated headphone amplifier which is tied directly into the ESS Sabre Reference DAC and incorporates a high quality headphone amp chip. Its published frequency response is 20Hz to 20kHz +-0.3dB into a 300 ohm load which just happens to be the impedance of my Sennheiser HD 600 reference headphones. The BDP-105 headphone amp has ample drive to handle low impedance headphones too. It is capable of delivering 34 mwatts into a 300 ohm load and 187 mwatts into a 32 ohm load. My Sennheiser headphones are speced at 97dB with 1 mwatt drive level so the Oppo has plenty of juice to pump them beyond ear damaging SPLs (112dB). Let’s see how it sounds. In one word, “GREAT”! I replayed the Gloria Estefan and Pat Metheny reference material I used in my critical two-channel listening via the BDP-105’s headphone jack connected to my HD 600 headphones. I did my best to directly compare the Oppo to my Headroom Micro Amp/Dac combo ($600 retail) and felt that the Oppo edged it out in detail and smoothness. There was no doubt in my mind of the superiority of the DAC’s in the Oppo. The Headroom amp did seem to have a bit more drive level but the Oppo was more than capable of hitting high enough SPL levels for my ears. When I cranked it to 90dB (100dB is max setting), I was measuring over 105dB SPL. That’s too loud for steady safe listening. Thankfully Oppo incorporated an independent volume control and a preset power up level for the headphone amp. I recommend setting this for 50 just to be on the safe side each time you begin a listening session.

With the type of fidelity I was hearing from the Oppo’s headphone amp, I just may have to start doing more headphone listening in my theater room. Luckily I built a bar right next to my theater rack so I wont be too far from refreshments.
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