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Oppo as transport

Looking to hear from those who have tried Oppo DVD player(any model) as a dedicated transport to feed an outboard DAC.

1. How is the performance of this DVD player as a transport?
2. What DAC are you using with it?
3. What have you compared the Oppo to?
4. What is the reason why I would need to go with a dedicated transport instead of the Oppo.

In addition to the Oppo, I will also be running a Squeezebox connected to the DAC3(or whatever dac I decide on).

I've been contemplating to put together a digital front end consisting of Oppo(probably their mid-line model) as a transport with most likely Marigo or Virtual Dynamics digital cable, into Bel Canto DAC3. Just looking for ways to have more flexibility than I have now with a dedicated CD player.

I used to have Bel Canto DAC2 with Sony DVP-S7700 dvd player as a transport. I liked that combo and Sony was a very good transport.

If anyone did any comparison between Oppo and any other dvd player, or a dedicated transport, please share your thoughts.

Thank You.
128x128audphile1
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
07-17-08: Lngbruno said:
"This weekend I visited a friend and had a Bel Canto DAC 3 and Rega Apollo (for transport use)with me. He has the universal OPPO and when we did a comparison the OPPO sounded weak in every aspect of the listening experience. It was very noticeable and didn't require and straining to hear the differences. My friend is now looking for another option for his 2 Ch listening experience."

So, let me get this straight, you used the Oppo as a transport running through the DAC 3 and it wasn't even close to the Rega through the DAC 3?

Dave
phill
38 posts
 
According to Doug Schneider at Dagogo it makes for a poor transport, he mentions the Oppo in his Cambridge 840c review.
tgrisham
1,291 posts
 
I have discussed this very question with several Audiogon members in private messages recently. My experience was the comparison between a modified Jolida 100A, stock Oppo 980 through a PS Audio Digital Link III, and the Jolida through the DL III. The Oppo alone was good, the Jolida alone was better, the Oppo through the DL III was even better and the Jolida through the DL III was the best. Each step was noticeable. I don't know for sure why the Jolida was a better transport but I suspect it has to do with the large power supply. What the Jolida-DL III combo brought to the table was spatiality, soundstaging, articulation and realism. So far, it is the best I have experienced in my home and I am content (for awhile!). I suspect that the Oppo is a decent transport but you can certainly improve upon it. The PS Audio Digital Link III is simply superb. The DAC makes all the difference. The transport helps get it to a higher level.
acab's avatar
acab
5 posts
 
While I appreciate all the things the Oppo does reasonably well for a very cheap price, I wouldn't recommend it as a transport. I recently compared the Oppo 970HD with an old Rotel RCD-971, both feeding a California Alpha DAC through the same coaxial cable, and the Rotel was the obvious winner, with better focus, clarity and weight; the Oppo signal sounded leaner, more artificial and less relaxed.

I can't understand why someone would want to use the Oppo as a transport in a high quality rig, like some Stereophile review suggests.

Well... to be true, the reviewer used the Oppo to feed high-rez material to a 24/96 DAC (something the old Alpha can't take); anyway, I wasn't particularly impressed about its performance with 16 bits material.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Yes, I think that the higher the quality of the DAC the more it makes up for any shortcomings in the transport. My discussions earlier in this thread were all about feeding a signal to an upsampling to DSD DAC, with a very robust output stage and a zero-jitter clock (claimed by the maker and I'm waiting to see the test results).

Dave
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