Oppo, great video reviews,, but good transport????

Hi Chad,

I tried my Oppo with my Monarchy M24 DAC and got really ho-hum results. My original Rega Planet was considerably better as a transport. And I've now found that the Rega Apollo makes a great transport when paired with the M24. That combination provides more musical detail and nuance than the Apollo by itself and seriously outclasses the Oppo/M24 combination.

My feeling after having tried the Oppo is that it has a little more potential as a stand-alone player than a high-end transport. But again, other more expensive stand-alone players will outclass the Oppo in that regard.

For the money ($150) you can't knock the Oppo, but in my view it doesn't challenge more expensive transports or stand alone CD players.

Comparing the Oppo 970 to my Cary 303/200 as a redbook cd player, the Oppo comes across as extremely enjoyable, but not in the same league as the Cary in terms of detail, liquidity, base control, etc. However the Oppo is so enjoyable that I've decided to build a really nice office music system around it.

That said, I can't directly answer your question in that I've not tried it as a transport. And, you already know that it does not FEEL extremely sturdy. My suspicion is that the electronics are quite sophisticated and so the transport plus power supply must be at least part of the reason that it falls short of the Cary. I cannot be sure.

Of course you cannot use high end power cords in that it uses the smaller appliance oriented plug connector (looks like an "8" in cross section, with one side flat).

Art

But following up on Plato's comments, then there are mods available that take the OPPO to a new level... check out Reference Audio Mods. After having a universal player modded by Electronic Visionary Systems (EVS), I am a convert.... don't think I'll ever go back to a transport-DAC system.