Has anyone bought the OPPO 105 and has an opinion

Since I replaced the Cary Cinema 11a with a Parasound JC-2 analog stereo preamp, I recant much of what I wrote in my 3/24/13 post. The pairing of the XA5400ES with the JC-2 is as though a veil has been lifted, revealing a detailed wide and deep soundstage. I've concluded either the Oppo and Sony can sound superb with either SE or XLR connections. The Oppo may be less system dependent.

The JC-2 connects to Proceed HPA amps that drive KEF Reference 107.2s.

db

Oldears:

This may have been answered in another thread, but do you consider the 105 a huge upgrade over the 95, or a marginal? I've got the 95, and I think it's an awesome box. I'm not going to sell my Wadia 121/Mac Mini, but the 95 is a great little box!

The 105 is not a huge difference, but the small things it does
(better imaging, tighter bass, more precise & delicate treble)are hard to get, and for me significant. Plus..I have a quiet room and it gets rid of the fan.

The 105 has a rear HDMI input which enables its use as the analog section of my DirecTV HD-DVR. It also has an asynchronous USB port for my Mac Mini. IIRC, the 95, which we use in another setup, has neither.

db

I own an Exemplar eXpo T-105 which is based on the Oppo 105. It has a tube analog amplification stage and is considerably better than the stock Oppo. It is considerably better than my old Weiss Dac202. I have been doing without any universal player for a long time, so I am enjoying the new freedom with new software.

I must say that I fully expected my music server to outperform the Oppo playing cds or even sacds, but that is not the case despite the careful ripping done by my server. My biggest complaint about the Oppo is that when you turn it off your input selection is cancelled. The USB input is the last on the menu.

I have never used it with video as I watch none, but the owner of Oppo is a videophile, I'm told.