A DAC for the Oppo 105

We had a power surge recently that ‘stunned’ my Bryston DAC-3. It ultimately responded to a factory reset and is working fine, but while I spent an hour or so messing around I listened to the Oppo 105 with its native DAC for the first time in years and was pretty impressed, considering that the DAC section of the Oppo probably cost about 10% of the cost of the Bryston

Look for a BelCanto 3.5.  It takes any output from the 105.  And sounds better and more musical.  Also can match levels of other inputs to your preamp.  And used price is not at all offputting.

ps. This is my setup, has been for several years, and will be for several more (at least).

Go to a dealer who carries Luxman. Bring a few cd's, and try the D-03x. I think you will be surprised. I had an Oppo UDP-205 for years, even had it Modwright modified. It was really good. This is much better.

I’ve had the Oppo 105 for years and although it is not at the level of my current digital rig, I never found it to sound thin or fatiguing. Perhaps not as transparent as something better, but still a good sounding multi format machine. I had a Marantz K1 Ruby for SACD play, and it did sound great, but sold it and kept the Oppo for both its sound quality and versatility. If you can find one with relatively low miles at a fair price you can’t go wrong, even given its age. Some things simply stand the test of time. Sure wish I had bought a 205 when they were still in production. Who knew how that would play out.

@dtorc like usual it depends. For one it depends on the quality of the tos transmitter and receiver. Oppo and Ayre both have great ones. Many won't pass 24/192 reliably. They don't have enough bandwidth. Oppo/Ayre does it well.

A top toslink cable is required. The best use real glass fibers - not plastic. Top rated optical cables tend to be DH Labs, Wire World, and Lifatec. Optical cables have a big advantage over spdif. They break the ground connection between components and can't transmit electrical noise. 

I asked Charley Hansen (R.I.P.) why Ayre didn't make a DAC with RCA spdif. He wasn't a fan. At all. Felt if USB source was noisy that well done optical gave the isolation advantage. Like everything Ayre does there are reasons they offered optical instead of spdif.

I also like the Ayre sound. No one else has the tweaked Ayre filter. 

Good luck,

aldnorab 

OP, I was just reading up on Ayre products...pretty nice/expensive.  I guess the essence of my posts is that an I2s input port on a DAC will usually provide a step up in sound quality over USB/SPIDF/AES connections...YMMV.

Just out of curiosity, have you tried your Sonore to the Oppo using the USB cable?  That would be a good way to see if there is a difference between the transport in the Oppo vs just its own DAC.  I just tried this myself.  I also have Sonore stuff.  I compared a CD playing in my Denon DCD A-110 to the same file ripped onto my hard drive into the Oppo via USB.  The Oppo still has a bit drier sound, could be harsh on some systems.  But I think it sounds better than playing the same CD through the Oppo.  

BTW, the Denifrips USB port from a new MacBook Pro can also provide just as good sounding Hi-res binaural downloaded files as the I2s CD/Blueray connection.  The Pontus handles all the buffering/oversampling and re-clocking functions you need regardless of source...sounds notably better than e.g great CD quality streams from RadioParadise.

   I've repeated this post a few times...here's the article that was published Jan,2021, that describes using an OPPO player to output SACD content via an HDMI cable to a cheap I2s breakout box and on to the I2s port on the Pontus II.   I duplicated the setup a year later, buying a Pontus II (with I2s) and a $50 I2s breakout box from China via E-Bay (1 month delivery)....This provides the very best CD/SACD sound to my KTE Holo Bliss amp and Susvara HPs....bi-passing the OPPO ok, but old, DACs.   Now even cheaper because the Denifrips lower models now have an I2s port.  (The I2s pins were already set compatible in the Pontus)

  https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/at-long-last-listen-to-your-physical-sacds-through-an-outboard-dac-r971/

Thank you to the second wave of contributors. I wish the D.BOB did output USB! Oh well...

I think that a used Codec could be an interesting approach. I seem to like the Ayre house sound. I've always understood (like it was a given) that Toslink was a lesser thing compared to a 75ohm connector. Was that a myth, too?

The possibility that the Oppo fails as a transport never occurred to me. I suppose that can be at the pickup, or in the SPDIF output. I've never used it as a transport only. Though others here have had some success using it as a transport.

Again, thank you for all the sharing...

I made a mistake on my D.BOB post. It is SPDIF that goes into the DAC from the D.BOB, not USB.

jl35

Nice upgrade. I would like to add a Primare CD32 to my system.

Happy Listening!

I have the Oppo BDP 105 hooked to an Ayre Codex DAC. This should have a similar sound to your Ayre DAC. The toslink input plays 24/192 from the Oppo with ease. I use a very good toslink glass cable. The DH Labs Glass Master. This is a very detailed cable - not the normal toslink dreck. 

Codex has both toslink and USB inputs and single ended and balanced outputs. I use balanced out. The Codex reproduces greater detail, larger soundstage, and has more body. It eliminates the synthetic sound of the Oppo DAC. Codex runs little over $2k new and about $1,200 used. 

I have the Oppo 105 and Aurender N200 hooked to the Ayre. It is easy to switch between the two inputs. I also plan to use the headphone amp with my grell OAE1 headphones. Even though they are 32 ohms the efficiency is low and, in single ended mode, the Ayre designed Pono player struggles a little.

Thanks,

aldnorab 

Look at my posts on the D.BOB. I use this with a low end OPPO and either a great Schitt Yggi+ DAC or a good Benchmark DAC3B. Many other DACs will work. Now the beauty of this solution is that DSD and PCM are output from the HDMI cable coming out of the OPPO. The D.BOB takes that in and converts to USB, which then goes into the DAC. 

There is a review on Stereophile for this device. I paid under $700 for mine. 

What about a used digital convertor to change usb to coax and use your dac?

I concur on the 105. It’s really pretty good and a diminishing returns exercise (like all things audio) as transport and DAC to improve upon. But I have a number of SACDs that i won’t live without so the Bryston and 105 make a good combo, albeit compromised. 

I thought the 105 was a great DVD Player, never really liked it as a CD Player or Transport...sold mine and found a used Primare CD35 which I like very much...

I have a much different take. I own a 105, and I believe the DAC in the 105 is not bad at all. I feel it is the transport in the 105 is not good. I’ve had many DACs over the last few years, and without fail they all sound worse when using the 105 as a transport with the SPDIF out from the 105. (The HDMI out to something like the Bryston may be a different story, not sure). What’s more, I think the 105 playing CDs sounds better than using it as a transport only. I would recommend finding a CD player that matches your taste. Good value CD players, especially used, I would recommend Denon, Marantz, Luxman…

That said, it is possible the DAC in the 105 is also a bad match for your system; it can sound a little dry and brittle or etched at times. But if you get another DAC, I still think you may not get the best out of it using the 105 as a transport.  

Looks like you have a great dac.  Have you considered a new player?  I have a Denon DCD-1700NE sacd player and I think it's excellent for the money. I could run it through my dac, but I like the internal dacs in the player. Denon may not be a brand that you associate with high end, but it's a really nice sounding player. 

I had the Cambridge cd transport under 1k. It does not do it. It took the Jay's cdt2-mk3 to get a sound similar to my streaming  setup. Sorry, but in this case, I wasted money hoping a 1k cd transport would do it. 

Thank you all for your insights and suggestions. I appreciate that I now have a list of potential DACs, along with sound characteristics, on which to do some research. 

I also appreciate the insights on support and cabling. I can try the support things now, cabling when/if I get a new DAC. 

This place is so helpful...

David

I’ve been using a 105 for years.  I have had 2 external DACs with it.  The first was a Mytek Manhatten, and currently a Bryston DAC 3.  I especially value the HDMI inputs on the Bryston and output the DSD layer of SACDs with the 105.

  The internal DAC is pretty good but a dedicated external DAC will be an improvement.  I would look to spend at least $2K

Interesting and timely question.

I have a 105 and recently compared a few different DACs using it as a transport.

I a/b going back and forth but using different cables - coax and Toslink -simultaneously  vs balanced outs of the OPPO. Amp is McIntosh, speakers B&W 801, pre/pro Emotiva.

The DACs were:

Dangerous Music DAC 2

Bryston BDA 2

Emotiva native

Oppo native

The differences were not significant to my ear (YMMV). Bass was bit bloated on the Oppo. The Dangerous DAC threw a wider but less deep soundstage. The Bryston was the smoothest overall but the main difference was not the sound but  the number of inputs including USB, which for my rig was very helpful.

The initial  conclusion reached was that I would have to spend considerably more the $1-$2k these DACs represent to achieve a noticeable difference. As always YMMV

There are a lot of very good dacs in your price range which I’m sure will be mentioned here and are in many other threads if you search. Denafrips Aries for one. But before you buy, may I suggest placing a Vibrapod footer under each foot of your Oppo. In general, I found virtually no use for Vpods, but they worked very well under my Oppo 205. Really added a richness of tone. For $25, I thinks it’s worth a try. Good luck. As I recall, I used the #3. 

I also have the Oppo BD105 Blu-ray player  It's connected to my Exogal Comet Plus DAC ( no longer made) and I love it's presentation  I really like the Oppo flexibility as I connect my 2 sub via pre outs in stereo for my 2 channel stereo rig 

I've heard really good things about the Orchard Audio DAC and it's reasonably priced 

https://orchardaudio.com/what-is-a-dac-and-why-do-i-need-one/

The new Denafrips Ares 15th DAC is said by the company to perform at the level of its Pontus 12th at a lower price and I’d think would yield a significant improvement from your Oppo.  As an R2R DAC it will likely sound fuller and more organic/analog than the Oppo and why I think it could well be more up your alley.

https://www.denafrips.com/product-page/denafrips-ares-15th-r-2r-dac

However, don’t discount the importance of the digital cable as that could easily compromise performance if you skimp there.  I’d recommend something like this DH Labs D-750, and you can get a 10% discount from their website if you give your email.

https://silversonic.com/products/digital-cables/d-750/

Just one idea and hope this helps.  Best of luck. 

Fair question. For this occasional enjoyment, I was hoping that $1000 or so could do the job. 

I bet Qobuz would have maybe 75 - 80% of my CD's. And that's pretty darn good. But a substantial part of my CD enjoyment comes from the "mix tapes" on CD that my friends and I have made for each other over the decades. I have hundreds of those. And I could rip those, and then enter the data by hand, but again, realistically, I'm not likely to do that. 

I don't know how close my streaming set up is to my vinyl set up. I know that I almost always prefer the same recording on vinyl to listening to it streamed. In fact, I use streaming as I'm sure many vinyl practitioners do - to audition music for obtaining on vinyl. And when I do have it on vinyl, I find it engages me more in the listening, I don't find vinyl onerous at all - it is a simple joy. 

But I am grateful to have, and to enjoy streaming. I think it is great.

@soix +1

And realize that with some effort and investment and your streaming can sound as good as your vinyl… and suddenly the whole world of music opens up. At least consider that investments in a good streamer can result in satisfying sound.

FYI I use an Ayre QB-9 twenty in my headphone system paired with an Aurender N100 streamer. Not sure if that will get you to the level of your vinyl. But my main system is equal to my great vinyl leg and so, I never use it any more.

What to you is affordable for a DAC?  Can you not find the majority of your CD content on Qobuz?