Oppo 95: Burn-in...and Fan

The 95 has lots of fans. When I first saw the picture at the dealer I realised why. Could only barely hear the fan from very close. Should be fine in most environments from that pespective. Great machine. It wont compete with upper end dedicated CD players but i guess it can probably challenge a few lower down.

It sure will compete with the upper end, in fact it is the upper end!dedicated or not.

Awesome Jdub39 - extremely helpful...just what I was looking for! I just got the Oppo 95 today (replacing an Oppo 970 which has been one of the absolute best values I've encountered) - was hoping to give my analog some competition (it's not an easy life being the digital front end in my system - just look at my user name)...'listenable but restrictive' describes exactly what I'm hearing now (but I am aware of the importance of 'burn-in').

I think I've set it up for maximum 2-channel audio only performance (basically what it says in the manual) - do you guys have any 'not so obvious setup setting' recommendations here that you've A/B:ed (listening comaparisons)?

While I'm at it I just have to recommend experimenting with some small myrtle wood block supports under the components (I use 3 under each - one middle front and one in each 'back corner') - it always surprises me that it makes such a noticable difference...it's cheap and you might like it too.

I tried the pure audio "trick" at the start of my listening session today and within 30 min the fan kicked in. I am fortunate that I am far enough away from the unit it does not affect the music. As info there is about 1.5" clearance above the unit and it rests on blocks made of cork & rubber - maybe another 3/4" clearance underneath it...

I went a couple of rounds with vibration control I tried BD #3 cones with and without there new carbon fiber disc and also Herbies tender feet, in the end I found better results with the stock feet and an upgraded VTI rack asymmetrically filled with 75% stainless steel bb's and 30% sand. I used some of Herbies grunge buster dots between the rack and shelves.I do have a question though are you using xlr or rca's? My first round with the 95 was with the rca's and could have lived with them not knowing any the better. I went balanced outs 3 months ago and it took about another 400 hrs to settle back in and to be honest at first I felt the overall balance was thin in comparison to the wonderful sounding rca's. To be sure there would be a difference in sound quality after adjusting the gain and such, I used the same cables both where AQ Columbia's rca and xlr. Now for awhile there the xlr's where about to go back but cooler heads prevailed and as I type this the beautiful brass from Bruckner's 9th Paavo Jarvi sacd via xlr was well worth the wait and I now use xlr exclusively for 2 channel playback. But back to the myrtle wood blocks I may have to check it out and try again.

Thanks for the tip!