My Oppo is a bit too bright

Glad you are getting better results.  I mentioned to you about Vibrapods making a big difference with the Oppo and you seem to be experiencing a similar improvement with the pods you tried.  I would still try the Vibrapods if you have some lying around.  Amazing how changing the footers on some components can make such a difference and sometimes nothing.  Same with cables.   

I rarely use my OPPO which is in a back up system with a TV. It did not sound that great with CD’s so I mainly streamed from a pro iDSD. I had an extra RCA High Fidelity cable from my main system so I decided to use it on the OPPO yesterday. Made a significant improvement and CD’s with the OPPO now sounding better (not bright at all) than streaming QoBuz & Tidal with the pro iDSD. I use these same cables on the pro iDSD & use a High Fidelity MC-6 hemisphere power conditioner in that system. 

So here's another question: I'm in negotiations for a Lyngdorf 2170. How does that deck inside compare with the Oppo? Should I run a coaxial cable from the Oppo to the link dwarf and essentially use the Oppo as a transport?

I got a good deal on a Silnote reference coaxial, which arrived yesterday and which I subsequently hooked up between the 2170 and the Oppo. It definitely improves the balance, but only when I ran the 2170 in bypass mode; that is, bypassing the room correction. 

If you want the same functionality in digital music playback, swap the OPPO for a Cambridge Audio 752BD or CXU.Same basic transport but with upsampling DAC. Sweeter, smoother, more musical playback. I have both units, OPPO for home theater, Cambridge for music.   :)