Those of you who know me might recall that I decided to abandon digital audio a little over a year ago. I sold my DAC, unloaded my transport, and sold just about every CD boxed set that had any collector value. There were a number of reasons I made that decision, but it mostly came down to the fact that 95% of the time when I wanted to listen to music I was reaching for a vinyl record.
Why did I come back to digital? A fair question, to be sure. One thing I did not consider was the sizable collection of classical music recordings that I bought from High Definition Tape Transfers. Most of these are transcriptions of rare recordings from 4-track stereo tape to 24bit/192KHz PCM digital audio. I also have a number of classical recordings from HD Tracks in 24bit/176.4KHz digital audio. At the time I decided to go exclusively with vinyl I was on an extended jazz listening run, and I have jazz covered exceptionally well on vintage 50s and 60s pressings and many audiophile 180g and 200g reissues. However, now that I am back to listening to classical music I found that I missed not having access to the HDTT and HD Tracks high resolution digital recordings that I own.
So what I wanted was a transport and DAC rolled into one device. The Oppo BDP-105 sure seemed to have it all: a transport, a DAC with TOSLINK and Coaxial digital inputs, a network music player that could stream digital audio from a PC or connect to internet music services such as Pandora and Rhapsody. It struck me as a veritable Swiss Army knife of digital audio. The price is $1,199, and not unreasonable given all that it does.
So I placed an order for the BDP-105 with Audio Advisor and three days later FedEx was at my door with it. The player is well packaged in stiff foam. It includes a Wireless N USB adapter (that will also support wireless G networks), a remote control, a USB extender, a power cord, and a HDMI cable.
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Oppo105_1.jpg)
I purchased an inexpensive Samsung 24" 1080p TV to use with the Oppo. If you are going to use the media player features you will need a display for it. If you only want to use optical media and the outboard DAC features then you don't need a monitor. The menu system is elegantly designed from a navigation perspective. In terms of user interface, there are some pros and cons. On the plus side I found it very easy to use and set up with internet music services. Within minutes I was using Pandora and Rhapsody.
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Oppo105_2.jpg)
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Oppo105_3.jpg)
On the down side I found the UI rather inadequate for streaming files from my PC. There are a number of issues. For one, using Windows DLNA the Oppo was only able to see files that were encoded with lossy codecs over wireless. So I was only able to see and playback mp3 and m4a files. Since all of my classical music is encoded with FLAC this would not do for me. The Oppo also has 4 USB ports (two on the front and two on the rear panel). I first tested it with a USB thumb drive with some FLAC files loaded on it, and that worked great. So I attached a Western Digital external 1TB hard disk with a lot of music on it and sure enough I was able to browse the file system and play everything on it. But this revealed another glaring weakness of the Oppo as a network media player. The Oppo has to load the directory of every folder you open when browsing. So you will be staring at the hourglass for a few seconds every time you traverse a directory. This is not really that big a deal. The show stopper is that the Oppo is horrendously slow when you are scrolling through a directory that has a lot of folders in it. My drive had 890 folders, and it took me almost 4 minutes to scroll from the top to the bottom. In my view the Oppo is not very good as a network media player, and if you are buying with these features in mind then you should probably look elsewhere.
The Oppo can also be used as an outboard DAC, and this is mainly what I had in mind when I bought it. My plan was to use it primarily as an optical disc player (most of my hires content is on DVD-A and SACD media) and secondarily as an outboard DAC. One of the BDP-105's biggest selling points is that it uses the ESS Sabre32 DAC chip (in fact it has a pair of them). This was the main reason I bought it. So I plugged my M2-Tech HiFace USB to SPDIF media converter into my PC and then made a connection to the coaxial digital input of the Oppo BDP-105. After that I fired up J-River Media Center on my PC and was back in business. In retrospect it probably wasn't fair
to expect J-River Media Center like features from the integrated media player in the Oppo BDP-105. But it would have been great had Oppo Digital licensed the technology from JRiver. The software doesn't haVe a large footprint and could have been embedded in the Oppo firmware. Even if it added $50 to the price of the deck it would have been well worth it given Media Center's terrific feature set.
I'm sure the burning question on the minds of most is "How does it sound?" In short, it sounds plenty good enough. It reminds me a lot of the Eastern Electric Mini Max DAC that I used to own. This is probably no accident since the EE Mini Max DAC also uses the Sabre32 chip. Perhaps if I had them both here and compared them side by side I might notice some very minor differences, but I doubt it. The sound is certainly more than good enough to satisfy me with the highest quality digital content that I have. Here are the titles I have done some critical listening with so far:
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Oppo105_5.jpg)
24bit/176.4KHz from HD Tracks
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Oppo105_6.jpg)
24bit/192KHz from High Definition Tape Transfers
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Oppo105_7.jpg)
24bit/192KHz HDAD from Classic Records
I have not tried the Oppo BDP-105 with any Blu-Ray audio discs.
I did have occasion to try the headphone jack with my Sennheiser HD-598 phones. Volume is controled from the remote. I was able to get nice sound levels out of my cans with the volume set to 80 percent. But I have no plans to use the headphone jack on the Oppo with phones since I have a Woo Audio 2 that is much better.
The reasons to buy the Oppo BPD-105 are:
- Excellent two channel sound quality from SACD and DVD-A sources
- Works superbly as an outboard DAC. Up to 24bit/192KHz with USB
- Works well with internet music services
Some reasons to steer clear depending on your needs:
- Network Media Player function has issues with lossless formats
- Some issues connecting to SMB servers (though DLNA is ok)
- Unacceptably slow browsing with locally attached USB hard disks
- Outboard DAC function is limited to 24bit/96KHz with TOSLINK and Coaxial
That last item turned out to be the only real disappointment that I have had with the BDP-105. I read a number of reviews of this player before buying and not one of them mentioned this limitation. After searching the manual, it does state that TOSLINK and Coaxial inputs are limited to 24bit/96KHz...but the USB input will support up to 24bit/192KHz. Unfortunately I don't have a USB cable long enough so I will need to order one.
I'll also add that if you have a big buget and are looking for a statement piece then this isn't it. The Oppo BDP-105 is a no-frills univeral player that has excellent performance. But that really is all it is. The front panel display is spartan. You won't see any fancy DVD-A or SACD logos light up with the bit depth and sampling rate of your source. The build quality is good, but it is not massively overbuilt and is not likely to impress people who think players like the Denon DVD-5910CI are barely adequate (the thing is built like a tank if you have never seen one). Oppo Digital put the product development costs into the areas that matter the most, video and sound quality. They left the overengineering and stratospheric pricing to the boutique brands out there. Oppo has produced a high quality player for not a crazy amount of money.
--Jerome
Nice write Jerome. Another reason to buy is OPPO customer service. My buddy recently sent back the player as it was not reading discs. Oppo discovered Green paint flakes caused the laser to malfunction . Mt buddy painted the edge of his Cd's with green Marker. Well it came off during play and destroyed the laser.
Oppo replaced the laser and no charge. It was customer abuse yet they still came through. Kudos to Oppo.
charles
Well, this player did not last very long. I did a firmware update this morning and it failed. So now the player is dead.
This tells me that the Oppo does not do protected firmware updates in Nvram. This is really a poor design as far as firmware security goes.
--Jerome
Quote from: jsaliga on May 05, 2013, 06:19:36 AM
Well, this player did not last very long. I did a firmware update this morning and it failed. So now the player is dead.
This tells me that the Oppo does not do protected firmware updates in Nvram. This is really a poor design as far as firmware security goes.
--Jerome
Sorry to hear that Jerome. :(
Yeah, me too. There is really no excuse for this. Every device I own with firmware (including my router, firewall, motherboard, and smartphone) all have enough Nvram to hold two copies of the firmware. After an update is applied successfully a pointer is changed in Nvram to bootstrap with the new firmware after a restart. This protects the device from a bad update.
The Oppo obviously doesn't do this so any time you update firmware there is a risk that you will trash your player. If a $100 device can support firmware protection then a $1,200 device should too.
I will be on the phone with Oppo Digital tomorrow.
--Jerome
Since I am within the 30 day return window I am seriously thinking about sending it back for a refund. I like the player but this firmware issue is a serious design flaw and I don't know if I want to deal with it.
I might be better off with a good outboard DAC and inexpensive transport.
--Jerome
If ya do send it back consider a Tranquility DAC using your computer as the source.
charles
Thanks for the suggestion Charles, but $1,500 for a DAC is too rich for my blood, especially for one that is limited to one single-ended RCA output.
I'm thinking about the Eastern Electric Tube DAC + for $1,100 or the Schiit Gungnir for $750. I used to own a Eastern Electric Mini Max DAC and liked it a lot. On the other hand, the Schiit Gungnir has balanced outputs and two single-ended RCA outputs. So I can use it with two amps at the same time. I will be adding a Woo Audio WA6SE tube headphone amp soon so having the extra output connectivity on the Schiit is a big plus.
Still kicking it around at this point and I am in no rush. I have another week to decide whether or not I will return the Oppo for a refund. I'm leaning strongly in that direction and will probably have my mind made up by tomorrow.
--Jerome
I've decided to send the Oppo back for a refund. If I send it back for replacement then I will have to pay shipping to return it, and then pay again for shipping of the replacement. So I'll be out about $60 or so. It will be cheaper for me to return it for a refund.
And there is no getting around the fact that I consider the lack of firmware protection a deal breaker. So I could get a replacement and be right back where I am the very first time I try to update the firmware. That's unacceptable.
Not sure yet which DAC I will buy but I am leaning strongly towards the Schiit Gungnir.
--Jerome
I have a Schiit Bifrost and just upgraded it to "uber" status, which uses the same analog output section as the Gungnir. It is seriously impressive... and I haven't upgraded to the new v2 USB board yet either, which Jason (co-owner of Schiit) says is a major upgrade as well. The upgradeability of the Schiit is a definite plus... it sounds like I just got a new upgraded DAC for a $70 PCB board and 10 minutes of my time installing it (which was super easy). I'd definitely give the Gungnir a try.
Thanks for the suggestion Dave. I'm fairly certain I am going to buy the Schiit Gungnir. It gets consistently great reviews and the connectivity options are really hard to beat. I found only one other DAC for less than $1,000 that has more than one set of single-ended RCA outputs.
--Jerome
Quote from: jsaliga on May 05, 2013, 08:09:49 AM
Thanks for the suggestion Charles, but $1,500 for a DAC is too rich for my blood, especially for one that is limited to one single-ended RCA output.
I'm thinking about the Eastern Electric Tube DAC + for $1,100 or the Schiit Gungnir for $750. I used to own a Eastern Electric Mini Max DAC and liked it a lot. On the other hand, the Schiit Gungnir has balanced outputs and two single-ended RCA outputs. So I can use it with two amps at the same time. I will be adding a Woo Audio WA6SE tube headphone amp soon so having the extra output connectivity on the Schiit is a big plus.
Still kicking it around at this point and I am in no rush. I have another week to decide whether or not I will return the Oppo for a refund. I'm leaning strongly in that direction and will probably have my mind made up by tomorrow.
--Jerome
Had the EE DAC as well. A VG DAC but no Tranquility . In direct comparison the EE DAC was lean and Hi Fi sounding.
Budget is budget. Maybe a used Metrum Octave instead.
charles
Thanks Charles, but I have already ordered a Schiit Gungnir DAC. It is well thought of and has two sets of single-ended RCA outputs and one set of balanced outputs, all for $850. It was an easy decision to make.
--Jerome
I hope it doesn't have an issue with seeing the flac files, that would be a deal breaker for me.
I'm not sure if you are replying to me, Gene. If so, the Schiit Gungnir is a DAC, not a media player. I will be using a PC as my source with J-River Media Center. FLAC encoded files will not be an issue with this setup.
--Jerome
Cool Jerome enjoy.
charles
yup - that was for you.
and got it - DAC not a 'player' like the Oppo.
Quote from: jsaliga on May 08, 2013, 06:44:20 AM
I'm not sure if you are replying to me, Gene. If so, the Schiit Gungnir is a DAC, not a media player. I will be using a PC as my source with J-River Media Center. FLAC encoded files will not be an issue with this setup.
--Jerome
Quote from: rollo on May 07, 2013, 06:37:48 AM
Had the EE DAC as well. A VG DAC but no Tranquility . In direct comparison the EE DAC was lean and Hi Fi sounding.
Budget is budget. Maybe a used Metrum Octave instead.
charles
Charles,
I thought Tranquility was NOS only and limited to 44.1k files only. Reading through the original post that Jerome made he is looking to play his 24bit/192k files, which the Tranquility will not handle.
I ended up ordering two DACs. The Schiit Gungnir should be here today.
I also ordered the Teac UD-501, for $849, and I will have it on Friday. It is the only DAC costing less than $1,000 that supports DSD playback (both 2.8MHz and 5.6MHz).
Here's a review on Positive Feedback...
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue67/teac.htm (http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue67/teac.htm)
Here's another take on the Teac...
http://archimago.blogspot.ca/2013/05/initial-impressions-teac-ud-501-usb-dac.html (http://archimago.blogspot.ca/2013/05/initial-impressions-teac-ud-501-usb-dac.html)
I will listen to them both for about a month and keep the one I like the best.
--Jerome
Jerome the TEAC has some good reports coming in. My buddy in Colorado has one. He is very happy which is a good thing as he is very hard to please.
I would be curious to know the outcome when compared to the Schiit.
charles
Cool, the Teac looks interesting and DSD may become more important in the future... hopefully it will get a lossless compression format and tagging. Right now, I don't have any DSD files and from what I hear it is an expensive format to buy music in.
For now, a huge majority of my music is 16/44.1 with some hi res vinyl rips...
Anyway, Teac is made in China so I am rooting for the Schiit to come through, I would much rather own products made in the USA.
You're correct Dave that there isn't a lot of DSD available. However, there is a growing catalog of classical music titles at Channel Classics and 2L Records.
http://www.channelclassics.com/dsd.html (http://www.channelclassics.com/dsd.html)
http://www.2l.no (http://www.2l.no)
I agree that they are expensive but there is at least a dozen titles I would buy. So if the Teac passes muster then I have no doubt that I will keep it. If not then I won't spend more money to get DSD compatibility. I have plenty of classical music titles in PCM 24/192 and am perfectly happy with them.
I have very little interest in 16/44.1. The vast majority of the digital music I will be listening to is 24/88.2, 24/96, 24/176.4, and 24/192.
--Jerome
Quote from: jsaliga on May 15, 2013, 03:37:22 PM
I have very little interest in 16/44.1. The vast majority of the digital music I will be listening to is 24/88.2, 24/96, 24/176.4, and 24/192.
--Jerome
That's great! I would definitely prefer my music to be 24/96+ :)
It didn't take me very long to pick a winner. Both the Schiit Gungnir and Teac UD-501 sounded very similar (not very surprising to me). On sound quality alone I could have been very happy with either DAC.
To the Gungnir's advantage it had two single-ended RCA outputs and one balanced output, and all three are active. So I could have connected it to three amps/preamps at the same time. It was one of the main reasons I bought it.
However, the Teac came in first due to its winning feature set. I don't want to make too big a deal of DSD support, but it was one feature that swayed me a bit. Another was support for PCM 24/384. Granted, there is not a lot out there in these studio master quality formats, but since the Teac supports them now I felt that it was the more compelling choice.
--Jerome
Schiit may be coming up with a DSD upgrade for their DACs in the near future... might be worth asking about.
And it is made in USA.
But yeah, the Teac is hard to beat for it's features/price...
Jerome,
I know your primary goal for getting the dacs was hirez music but can you provide your impression on how it sounds with simple red book cd? I have been eyeing the Teac initially for red book and using it with dsd/hirez as I start acquiring more of that material.
Thank You
I should be able to post some listening notes for you sometime tomorrow. Are you using a computer as a source or will you be using the DAC with a transport?
--Jerome
Quote from: jsaliga on May 19, 2013, 05:42:35 PM
I should be able to post some listening notes for you sometime tomorrow. Are you using a computer as a source or will you be using the DAC with a transport?
--Jerome
I will be using a computer with jriver
Ok, that is what I am doing. Had a couple of challenges since I need to drive two setups: my speaker rig and a dedicated headphone set up.
I wanted to avoid having to buy two DACs, which is the main reason I was interested in the Schiit Gungnir. But I felt the Teac had a stronger feature set for the same price. Unfortunately this means I have to buy a second DAC for my headphone setup. I did not want to spend a lot of money for this second DAC. I looked at the Audioquest Dragonfly DAC, which is a DAC on a USB stick. The price was right at $250 but it only supports 24/96. Then I found the M2Tech HiFace DAC, which is also a DAC on a USB stick, and it supports up to 24/384. The price was $295 so I ordered one today.
(http://audiofi-net.zippykid.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/M2Tech-a.jpg)
--Jerome
Thanks Jerome. Looking forward to your impression. I thought Teac also support headphones? I do not use headphones so I am ok with it not having any support :thumb:
I listened to three different CDs that were ripped to FLAC and played through the Teac UD-501 using JRiver Media Center 18.
Beethoven Symphony No. 5, Otto Klemperer & the Philmarmonia Orchestra, EMI
Gene Ammons' All Stars - The Big Sound, Original Jazz Classics
Santana - Abraxas, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
I picked these recordings for two reasons. The first is that I know them very well and know that these particular CDs are well mastered. Secondly, I have them all on vintage vinyl. I have the Klemperer Beethoven recording on a minty original Columbia/SAX UK pressing that is hard to come by these days.
I won't go so far as to say these CDs sound as good as the vinyl originals, but I will say that I have no complaints whatsoever about the Teac's performance with good recordings that are well mastered at 16bit/44.1KHz.
--Jerome
One other thing I would like to add. DSD is not a panacea.
In my opinion the greatest determinant of sound quality is the source recording, mixing, and mastering. If that is bang on then 16/44.1 will probably suffice and it will sound good.
The reason I chase after high res content is because CD quality audio has become the format that is optimized to sound best on a portable device. So I really try to stay away from 16/44.1. Doing so doesn't guarantee that I won't end up with a stinker, but I think it improves my odds -- even if just a little.
I bought the following from Channel Classics yesterday, in DSD64.
(http://www.indierockfan.net/pics/Dvorak_Cello.jpg)
Frankly, I was unimpressed by the Ivan Fischer/Pieter Wispelwey. Setting the performance aside for a minute, the quality of the recording did not inspire me with confidence. It sounded almost sterile, and some instruments were very hard to hear. Quite frankly, on sound alone (performance too) the RCA Living Stereo 1957 recording on Redbook CD of the Munch/Piatigorsky performance of the same work simply trounced it.
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xzDAhFtkL.jpg)
But then again I tend to live in the past where my musical preferences are concerned. I don't think the modern digital recording age has been very kind to music, and I find that most recordings made between 1950 and 1970 have fuller, richer, more 3 dimensional sound than contemporary recordings made today. So I am not without my biases.
Most of my hi res digital content is from older recordings made during the analog era and transcoded from analog tape or vinyl.
That said, if you do end up with a DSD compatible DAC then you should check out 2L music's web site if you are a classical music fan. They do offer a number of free samples that you can download and try. I was very impressed by a 10 minute snippet of a Mozart Violin Concerto and I most likely will buy that one.
--Jerome