Oppo 105 Blu ray player

mantis

Whats up everyone?
I got my hands on a 105 and I gotta tell you I was very impressed. Built quality was top notch but what surprised me was the internal USB DAC.
The Oppo 105 has a built in USB DAC so you can play your Computer music. The Oppo has the B side which is typical of a Standard USB input. Most USB in's on devices are A which is common for USB sticks and iPod cables.
Whats pretty cool is the Oppo acts like a Preamp as well with Variable or Fixed volume out. Pretty cool if you ask me.
I listened to the USB DAC for a while and was very very impressed. It's clear and punchy with the ability to replay everything it gets meaning it doesn't seem to miss anything. I'd go on to say this will compete with very High end DAC's on the market.
I used a Carbon USB cable along for analog I used Red River 1m to a Adcom Preamp and Amp combo. Speakers used where Spendor S100's which by the way are fantastic. I wired them with Rocket 33 bi wires with a Mid bass to bass Audioquest 14/2 Jumber( speakers are tri wirable)
I think anyone who wants to get into Computer music , needs a new Blu ray player is one of those who hasn't gone Blu ray yet , likes streaming music and Video this oppo is the one to get.
Looking over the menu system , it's very well laid out. I don't think there is another Blu ray player on the market that has this much flexibility and performance. I'd have to say there is no equal. Oppo killed it with this player which I'll have to say this player owns it's market. Cd playback , Blu ray playback is all top notch.
I have a few pic's I'll post later

zane77

I'm using mine for a preamp and I have to agree with you it is a fantastic piece of equipment.

gudnoyez

I'm happy with mine. It does everything very well, do you still have your Cambridge? If so how do they compare with one another?

vmaxer

May be about time to move the BDP 83SE to the bedroom and get one??¿

mantis

gudnoyez wrote: »

I'm happy with mine. It does everything very well, do you still have your Cambridge? If so how do they compare with one another?

For pure features alone it kills my Cambridge. Performance wise I have really no idea unless I did a side by side in my personal system but I'd go as far as saying it's probably at least as good if not better. the Internal DAC really takes it over the top for me as I feel it is it's best feature.

It's also very refreshing to see such a beautiful piece of equipment especially since so many of todays blu ray players are built so cheaply.

Toolfan66

I love mine...

nspindel

Can it actually replace a preamp though? Does it have analog inputs?

AsSiMiLaTeD

nspindel wrote: »

Can it actually replace a preamp though? Does it have analog inputs?

There are no analog inputs, digital only.

nspindel

Bummer.

nspindel

You answered your own question. I listen to records all the time. Would be interesting to just plug a phono stage in here and not need a separate preamp.

GlennDog

There is no volume control, so how do you connect as a pre amp for Variable output . . . Please be specific, cuz I tried it . . . ONCE

and super loud full volume came screaming out. Scared the sheet outta me!! Luckily zero damage

cnh

If I told my wife I was going to spend over $1000 on a BDP, she would probably take out the frying pan and you know what. The series of questions that came from her would pepper me like rapid fire from an automatic weapon. lol

There is NO way I could ever explain why such a player was "necessary", no way! Especially since we already have a PS3, a Sony ES BDP and the Pioneer I use mostly as a CDP.

When Oppo gets all that good audio into a sub $500 player then we can say "they've done something".

cnh

BlueFox

Tell her the truth. You are buying three components built into one chassis. It is a Blue Ray player, a CD/SACD player, and a DAC. It will be a long time before you see that level of versatility offered at a lower cost. If so then one, or more, parts have been compromised.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Yep, once you factor in all the functionality and how good it sounds, the $1200 for the 105 is actually quite a bargain.

steveinaz

Are any of you playing flac via an external Hard drive thru this pup? If so, how's the interface?

Polkie2009

Way to go Dan , sounds like you got one hell of a great unit there with the oppo 105! I have heard that folks have had success with using the 105 as a preamp. I thought about trying to use my 103 as a preamp, but many others have mentioned when they attempted it with the 103, there was a slight amount of noise introduced in the signal. I might just have to go up to the 105.

AsSiMiLaTeD

steveinaz wrote: »

Are any of you playing flac via an external Hard drive thru this pup? If so, how's the interface?

That's exactly how I play music on mine, portable hard drive attached via USB and the sound is spectacular! The fact that I'm still this enthused and excited about the sound a year after owning this player says alot, especially for those of you who know me and how often I tend to rotate gear elsewhere.

Steve, you have a couple options for the interface. There's an on screen interface assuming you have the 105 hooked up to a TV, that interface works fine and is organized well. If you have an iPad there's also a free app that you can download and you can control the Oppo from there, it basically emulates the on screen display so that you don't need to have the TV on to control things. Both of these interfaces are basically a 'Windows Explorer' style, where you have a list of folders and you drill into those and access your music. They are not as 'pretty' as something like iTunes or JRiver where you have all the artwork and such, but theey're very functional and work well, even for someone like me who is spoiled on JRiver and iTunes.

There is also some type of library system on the Oppo called Gracenote and I think reads your files and builds a library interface, but I've never used it and don't know much about it.

Playing FLAC files directly from a hard drive or over the network is the way to go IMO. You can set up the Oppo as a zone in JRiver, and as much as I love the JRemote app I prefer the sound quality playing straight from the FLAC file. The difference is subtle and hard to notice on alot of recordings, but once I heard it I know it's there and that's how I listen these days.

TNHNDYMAN

AsSiMiLaTeD- could you expound a little more on the setting up the oppo as a zone thru JRiver. I'm using JRiver now with an iPad and sending music to my Peachtree Dac iT but don't remember setting up any zones. I read some about zones and setting up to play music in other rooms ect, but I'm not following what is different with using the Oppo's Dac just like the Dac iT. If it's not difficult to set up and use then that would be the way I go if I ever upgrade to the 105. I'll sacrifice the last bit of quality to have the convience and artwork of JRiver.

AsSiMiLaTeD

The connection will be entirely different than your current connection to the Peachtree. I'm assuming you're connected now thru either a USB or digital cable from the computer to the Peachtree. You could make that same kind of connection to the 105 as well, but since the Oppo can act as a media streamer you have another option as well, a network connection. That connection can be wired or wireless, I've used wireless and it works fine for me.

That network connection is what I'm referring to when setting up the Oppo as a zone in JRiver. As long as the Oppo and computer running JRiver are on the same network you can set up the Oppo as a zone in JRiver. You'll get better sound using this route instead of a direct connection because you remove the USB to SPDIF conversion from the audio chain. The only requirement is a pretty decent network so if you have a spotty wireless network or even a subpar router you could run into bandwidth issues especially playing high resolution tracks or DSD files.

Are you on a Mac or a Windows? I'm on a Mac and for me it was really simple, when I turned the Oppo on JRiver automatically found it and added it as a zone, I don't recall any real setup to make it work once they are both on the same network.

stretchl

DSkip wrote: »

It also serves as a wireless music streamer...

So it could replace the Squeezebox Touch?

AsSiMiLaTeD

stretchl wrote: »

So it could replace the Squeezebox Touch?

As long as you don't want a touchscreen, the answer is yes, with some caveats.

The SBT also has support for alot more online streaming content than the Oppo does. The Oppo has support for some services, but the Touch supports basically everything out there.

If you're using it to stream only local content and don't care about the touchscreen then the answer is a definite yes, and it'll provide a much better sound. I actually like the AKM DAC in the Touch, but it's no match for the Oppo. If you need support for services like Spotify or MOG then you'll need to do some research and see if the Oppo will support your particular services.

FWIW, I traded in my SBT for the Oppo last year and have not looked back.

steveinaz

Thank you for the info! I'm looking for a solution should my Squeezebox croak on me. I've been trying to break my panasonic Bluray so I can get an Oppo, but that Bi$#%^ won't die. LOL

AsSiMiLaTeD

The thing to keep in mind is how damn good the Oppo sounds. You may end up preferring your current Benchmark DAC / preamp still, but the Oppo will at minimum be competitive. The difference won't come down to sound quality, it'll come down to personal preference.

TNHNDYMAN

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

The connection will be entirely different than your current connection to the Peachtree. I'm assuming you're connected now thru either a USB or digital cable from the computer to the Peachtree. You could make that same kind of connection to the 105 as well, but since the Oppo can act as a media streamer you have another option as well, a network connection. That connection can be wired or wireless, I've used wireless and it works fine for me.

That network connection is what I'm referring to when setting up the Oppo as a zone in JRiver. As long as the Oppo and computer running JRiver are on the same network you can set up the Oppo as a zone in JRiver. You'll get better sound using this route instead of a direct connection because you remove the USB to SPDIF conversion from the audio chain. The only requirement is a pretty decent network so if you have a spotty wireless network or even a subpar router you could run into bandwidth issues especially playing high resolution tracks or DSD files.

Are you on a Mac or a Windows? I'm on a Mac and for me it was really simple, when I turned the Oppo on JRiver automatically found it and added it as a zone, I don't recall any real setup to make it work once they are both on the same network.

That makes a little more sense to me, but still not sure how much quality is lost in the conversion aspect. Right now I'm running 20' usb cable out of Widows PC to the Peachtree X1 Spdif converter, with dig coax out to the Peachtree Dac iT. It sounds great to me, but it is my first and only experience with a DAC. I really do love the novel (for me) ability to scroll thru my music collection on the iPad while sitting on the couch and playing anything I want.

My collection is 99% flac rips from cd's so for now not much hi rez stuff to play though I know that will probably increase in the future. For other media, I have been quite happy using Roku boxes to stream Netflix or Amazon Prime movies. I don't have any desire to rip blu rays to a server and stream. When I buy certain movies, I know the quality is there in the oppo but I'm more concerned with music playback.

Right now I am pretty happy with the Peachtree, but I may be upgrading my preamp to a Parasound P5 this year to take advantage of the HT bypass function as well as the onboard DAC. I hoping to find a way to compare the onboard vs the Peachtree before committing to purchase though. As much as I'd love to have both, I think the pre might give me a better bang for my buck improvement in my dual system for now.

AsSiMiLaTeD

Well I owned and really liked the Peachtree DAC-IT for a while, and while it's a very good DAC it's simply not in the same ballpark as the Oppo 105. I've not yet heard the P5 but it uses a TI chip and I generally prefer the ESS chips over the TI, though there's alot more to it than the chip. It's difficult to say how much quality you're losing wth a USB to SPDIF conversion in the chain, but I'm a general believer in 'the less conversions and items in the signal path the better'

TNHNDYMAN

Mantis- Didn't mean to threadjack. I'm glad you are enjoying the 105 and was surprised you had not tried it earlier with all the gear you get your hands on.

AsSimilated- Thanks for the info. It's nice to have a comparison from someone who's heard both. I agree the less in the chain the better. I'm sure the newer Dac iT with the converter built in would be a notch better than the old version, but it's not enough of an improvement for me to justify since I'd rather take a step up than just sideways. There's a forum member not too far from me in middle TN that I hope I might be able to talk into letting me get my ears on the P5 at some point this summer and go from there.

AsSiMiLaTeD

I've actually tried the DAC-ITx and the improvements over the DAC-IT with the X1 were very slight indeed, not worth the hassle or price of going to the newer model. If you want a real upgrade on that DAC then do the power supply upgrade.

stretchl

I wonder how the DAC in the Oppo compares to the Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-09.

If comparable, the Oppo could take the place of three pieces of my gear. Four if u count the DVD player.

mantis

cnh wrote: »

If I told my wife I was going to spend over $1000 on a BDP, she would probably take out the frying pan and you know what. The series of questions that came from her would pepper me like rapid fire from an automatic weapon. lol

There is NO way I could ever explain why such a player was "necessary", no way! Especially since we already have a PS3, a Sony ES BDP and the Pioneer I use mostly as a CDP.

When Oppo gets all that good audio into a sub $500 player then we can say "they've done something".

cnh

As loud and clear I hear you I gotta retort. As far as the wife thing, I'm over that. If I want to buy something for my system or anything for that matter, I'm truly tired of lying, sneaking and not being able to live my life as I see fit. I feel all men should stand their ground and not bend to the wife unless of course she is making total sense and your spending money you don't have. Ok then you should listen but if you have the money and this is something that brings joy to you , then I say go for it.

The Sub $500.00 price tag well maybe thats asking to much. I see blu ray players hit rock bottom prices and rock bottom quality follows. You really get what you pay for in this world with very few exceptions.

mantis

TNHNDYMAN wrote: »

Mantis- Didn't mean to threadjack. I'm glad you are enjoying the 105 and was surprised you had not tried it earlier with all the gear you get your hands on.

AsSimilated- Thanks for the info. It's nice to have a comparison from someone who's heard both. I agree the less in the chain the better. I'm sure the newer Dac iT with the converter built in would be a notch better than the old version, but it's not enough of an improvement for me to justify since I'd rather take a step up than just sideways. There's a forum member not too far from me in middle TN that I hope I might be able to talk into letting me get my ears on the P5 at some point this summer and go from there.

I start these threads for a good starter conversation. If it goes slightly off topic and no fighting, I'm cool with that.
I played around with the older models and didn't think it was a nice as the Cambridge back then. This is the first time I got to dig into the 105. It's one hell of a nice player and I got it on my mind.

mantis

stretchl wrote: »

I wonder how the DAC in the Oppo compares to the Grant Fidelity TubeDAC-09.

If comparable, the Oppo could take the place of three pieces of my gear. Four if u count the DVD player.

I've played with many DAC's and the Oppo 105 really impressed me. Whats hard is when you don't have it in your personal system to really get a feel of differences between DAC's but I can tell you from what i heard out of it , It's amazingly impressive considering what you get for the price. Full retail for this baby is truly worth every single cent and more. If you think about that this can do and do very well, it's a steal.