Denafrips Ares DAC has arrived... need help with Oppo connectivity

A further thought:  I just switched my DSPeaker Anti-Mode processor back into the signal path and it makes a remarkable difference.  It clearly attenuates the mid-bass hump and makes the sound more coherent and balanced.  It has been a very worthy component in my system.  

I am using a Oppo 205 at the moment and it sounds excellent.  Inserting the Denafrips into the system produces no sonic difference that I can discern.  My foray into upgraded DAC's has come to an end.  If if felt my Oppo was deficient, I would continue my search and consider much more expensive DACs, but the Oppo sounds fantastic.  I am keen to do further comparisons of the new 205 to my 103 to see if I hear any difference.  I can clearly state that the 205 sounds excellent in my system, but the Denafrips DAC adds nothing.  Cheers, Mark 

4hannons and stforh,

It is very odd that I don't hear at least some difference in the sound with the addition of a DAC.  I will borrow my pal's Oppo 95 which has the Modwright tubes mods for a comparison as well as a non-Oppo CD player.  

@stfoth  Thanks. Getting the upper bass right can be tough and when it happens, it is very rewarding in of itself and for the music as a whole. 

Give it time. You may find that it is actually the 'good' you are looking for!

And if you do decide on the Tektons, you'll find that they convey this part of the frequency range exceptionally well.

@whitestix   Perhaps try another source and then conduct the evaluation???

From the components you list in your system, I don't see the Oppo 103 at the same level. In my opinion, it appears to be an odd choice, again-- my opinion -- (BTW, I am a fan of Oppo) -- I mean, why leave Don Sachs' genius unrealized???

@stfoth  

the Ares was the most "different" sounding from the others I've recently tried/owned. Not necessarily better or worse, but different.

Can you elaborate? How so? Thanks.

Stforth,
I had Don Sachs upgrade all my Harman Kardon Citation gear (I, II, and V), but his preamp is vastly better than the upgraded C-I.  Don is a genius with both his tube preamp, based on 6SN7 tubes, and his KT88-based amp.  In my experience, his tube gear gives one a glimpse of high-end sound at a fraction of the cost of major audio companies.   Send me a PM and I will be happy to chat with you about the preamp.  

I have fooled around with a boatload of modestly-priced cables, but really like the Cerious Technology graphene cables, followed by Silnote and Shunyata.   I could hear more difference in SQ swapping the various IC's and power cords than I have with the 4 DACs I have auditioned.  Cheers, Mark

Stfroth and 4hannons
I agree, it does seem odd.  No sonic difference when trying 4 different DACs with my Oppo.  I did go in and upgrade the settings on my Oppo as described on page 61 and 62 of the Oppo manual. Still, I can't discern any difference after the setting changes.  With an excellent Don Sachs tube preamp, a Pass Labs amp, Spatial Audio M4 TS speakers, Cerious Technology power and IC cables, and Supra wire to my speakers, I am not sure where the shortcoming would be in my system.  It might be my 64 year old ears, but much younger ears fail to hear any difference either.  Still, it seems logical that I would hear some perceptible difference in SQ, but I hear none.  

Interesting you heard no difference. I've never heard two dac's that sound exactly the same. I've tried a few, including the Ares. I would suspect something is amiss in your setup, or  a shortcoming somewhere in your system that doesn't reveal the difference.

Update:   I had some audio pals over to join me with the comparison with the Ares in my system.  The clear conclusion was that the addition of the Ares to the signal path offered no SQ difference compared to connecting the Oppo 103 directly into my preamp.  No one was able to discern a difference between the two.    I will continue the comparison in the days ahead, but will be surprised if other CD's lead me to a different conclusion.  Cheers.

No idea what I did, but the stream from the DAC now functions.  Thanks for the helpful suggestions.  The music streaming from the Oppo into the Ares sound pretty nice from the get-go, but I need to do some critical listening.   Mark

When you get everything working a report on the Denafrips would be appreciated.

Are you playing CD, DVD, BR, streaming, or trying to feed the CATV signal thru the Oppo into your DAC?

Apparently you want to feed from the DAC too as you have a USB connection coming from the DAC to the 103.

Does neither scenario work? Feeding the 103, or using it solely as a disc spinner?

Every Oppo I’ve had just connected to whatever DAC via TOS or COAX and played without issues.

Incoming info on USB might require some Settings manipulations.

A simple thing to try is while playing into the DAC, press the AUDIO button on the Oppo remote control. This will cycle thru some of the various audio formats available during DVD or BR playback. It will default back to what it was before when you stop [playback and remove the disc. Or shut it down. I don’t thing it applies when streaming. Dunno.

The MENU button on the Oppo remote should put you into Settings. Previous models also allowed some of the info to be displayed on the Oppo front display screen.

If a LCD is not readily available unplug it and find one. Press the menu and look for digital output settings as has been said, PCM is what you need to find as output format.

You can Google for this issue. One can always call Oppo too.

Make sure to post back with the solution, your particular Oppo model.

Good luck.

@whitestix - You probably need to hook up the Oppo to a video display, go into the menu and change the digital output to PCM. It is likely set from the factory for DD5.1. At least that's what I've had to do with other DVD players in the past when I tried to hook them up to a DAC and play CDs.

Try the Facebook group. Alvin is a member there and he is pretty active. Did you hook up the DAC to a laptop or any other source to test that it works?