Buy an Oppo 203?

[cppavlo]

I have a 120 watt per Channel Technics surround receiver from the 90s and a pair of Infinity Primus p363 loudspeakers. I own about 500 CDs and a few SACDs. I own some Blu-ray discs.. I have a standard HDTV. Is there anything comparable to the Oppo that offers the sacd and analog audio outputs? You don't see any inexpensive sacd players. The Cambridge Universal player doesn't seem to offer analog audio outputs. Is the Oppo the only way to go for my needs? Is there a budget CD player that would offer the sound quality as the Oppo?

 

[Verdinut]

I recommend you the OPPO UDP-203 without any reservation. To my knowledge, apart from the UDP-205, it's the only universal 4K Blu-ray player on the market which you can obtain with a region free module as an option. It's built like a tank and there's about nothing on the market at any price that can do better except the UDP-205, which has characteristics which you might not need.
Since OPPO have discontinued production of this player, if I were you, I would not waste more time and get one as soon as possible. You won't regret it.

https://forums.audioholics.com/forums/threads/oppo-udp-203-udp-205-ultra-hd-blu-ray-players-review.109846/

 

[lovinthehd]

If you need analog output from the player your options are shrinking rapidly....I bought a 203 on the day they announced stopping production but haven't tried the analog output yet as I don't generally need it or use such...but not much else out there has that functionality (but there are some, believe Sony and Panasonic both have units still?). Since I only use digital connections I could even perhaps be convinced to part with the 203 someday....as long as it's what I paid for it, lol!

 

[j_garcia]

I wouldn't sit on the fence about this one. Since they are no longer in production, the next shipment is likely to be the last.

Your other options would be older, used players (Oppo too lol). The days of the relatively inexpensive SACD players are gone.

 

[2channel lover]

I have a 120 watt per Channel Technics surround receiver from the 90s and a pair of Infinity Primus p363 loudspeakers. I own about 500 CDs and a few SACDs. I own some Blu-ray discs.. I have a standard HDTV. Is there anything comparable to the Oppo that offers the sacd and analog audio outputs? You don't see any inexpensive sacd players. The Cambridge Universal player doesn't seem to offer analog audio outputs. Is the Oppo the only way to go for my needs? Is there a budget CD player that would offer the sound quality as the Oppo?

Post #2 nailed it.

With the size of your physical library, the 203 is a perfect fit. Source recording, source playback and speakers are the live blood of good audio...we can be picky, but we can't control the quality of the recording...but given a good recording, we can effect the final output with the playback choice and of course the speakers.

In a few years when other manufacturers follow the same path as Oppo, you'll be glad you invested in a good machine.

 

[TheWarrior]

Yes.

 

[sterling shoote]

OP,
I pondered both the 203 and 205; and, I'm glad I went with the 205. It has a usb DAC, which allows me to play music stored in my computer's music library, from mp3 to 24/192, through my home theatre speakers. In experiments between this method of delivery to home theatre speakers and Airplay to home theatre speakers, there is no doubt about the usb DAC sounding best; and, in fact, this means of music enjoyment rivals my use of the 205 for SACD playback, even playing lowly AAC files. I now find myself using the 205 more for its usb DAC function than for its disc playback function. BTW, since your receiver only has S/PDIF digital inputs from which you can enjoy 5.1, you will not be able to play SACDs, since no SACD player delivers stereo or multi-channel SACD from its IEC958 or Optical S/PDIF outputs. You will only be able to enjoy SACD from the players RCA outputs to your receiver's RCA inputs, which in your case means stereo only SACD. If you buy a new surround sound receiver it will have an HDMI input which can be connected to the OPPOs HDMI output for multi-channel SACD pleasure. And, using HDMI connection there is no reason for the 205, unless you want a great DAC. You could instead buy a Sony UBP-X800 for about $300 and get about the same functionality as the OPPO 203, which would save you about $300 you could apply to a newer HDMI surround sound receiver to be able to enjoy multi-channel SACD, as well as stereo SACD. Do remember however the Sony has no RCA output, meaning if you keep your current receiver you will not be able to even enjoy stereo SACD.

 

[sterling shoote]

I have a 120 watt per Channel Technics surround receiver from the 90s and a pair of Infinity Primus p363 loudspeakers. I own about 500 CDs and a few SACDs. I own some Blu-ray discs.. I have a standard HDTV. Is there anything comparable to the Oppo that offers the sacd and analog audio outputs? You don't see any inexpensive sacd players. The Cambridge Universal player doesn't seem to offer analog audio outputs. Is the Oppo the only way to go for my needs? Is there a budget CD player that would offer the sound quality as the Oppo?

You do see inexpensive SACD players, they're from Sony; and, they are sold as Universal Players. The best is the UBP-X800. It outputs stereo SACD and multi-channel SACD from HDMI output. This unit however will not output multi channel SACD to your surround sound receiver via its S/PDIF IEC 958 connection; and, since it has no analog outputs, you will not be able to listen to stereo or multi-channel SACD until you get a new receiver with HDMI input. See my previous post for some more details.

 

[little wing]

Per the Oppo web-site, they are sold out of the 203. Crutchfield doesn't have any either. They say they may have some 205s to sell in August, but I don't think I'll make good use of the upgraded DACs and analog outs of the 205 to justify the expenditure. So it looks like the 203 is out of the question now?

i didn't pull the triger on the 203 iniatally because IMO it was a glaring omission not to include the same streaming features as they did on the 103 and 105. Assuming I want to keep the 105 in the system for SACD or DVD audio, can someone recommend a good quality 4k Ultra HD player?

 

[lovinthehd]

Per the Oppo web-site, they are sold out of the 203. Crutchfield doesn't have any either. They say they may have some 205s to sell in August, but I don't think I'll make good use of the upgraded DACs and analog outs of the 205 to justify the expenditure. So it looks like the 203 is out of the question now?

i didn't pull the triger on the 203 iniatally because IMO it was a glaring omission not to include the same streaming features as they did on the 103 and 105. Assuming I want to keep the 105 in the system for SACD or DVD audio, can someone recommend a good quality 4k Ultra HD player?

Just a little while back they had some 203s for sale on the Oppo site, now the button is "register for potential availability" so perhaps one more production run/shipment coming in? Maybe?

 

[afterlife2]

I have the older Oppo 980H(No bluray) which does a fantastic job with SACD, DTS and DVD-A. I don't see any on ebay. They were going for $100-150 before Oppo went out business.
This one looks good though: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oppo-DV-983H-DVD-Player/153040740720?epid=70700660&hash=item23a1f06170:g:T1gAAOSwYK1bDL4l
Make an offer:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Oppo-BDP-83-Great-Condition-All-Accessories-Included/282982712371?epid=77206414&hash=item41e3158433:g:DAIAAOSwhHJbCbbx

 

[little wing]

Just a little while back they had some 203s for sale on the Oppo site, now the button is "register for potential availability" so perhaps one more production run/shipment coming in? Maybe?

Yeah- I did that and received an e-mail response but when I clicked on the linked it said "Sold Out" with no date of potential availability. So who knows.....

 

[snakeeyes]

You do see inexpensive SACD players, they're from Sony; and, they are sold as Universal Players. The best is the UBP-X800. It outputs stereo SACD and multi-channel SACD from HDMI output. This unit however will not output multi channel SACD to your surround sound receiver via its S/PDIF IEC 958 connection; and, since it has no analog outputs, you will not be able to listen to stereo or multi-channel SACD until you get a new receiver with HDMI input. See my previous post for some more details.

I have the Sony x800 and it is great with my hdmi2.0a Yamaha 2060. Before I had it directly to my Samsung KS8000 tv. I will get a second one soon for my bedroom Yamaha RXV681 since the new x700 won’t do dvd-a like the x800. On the other hand the x700 will get a firmware update for Dolby Vision which will not happen on x800. Leaning towards a 2nd x800...