Oppo Vs Esoteric

gdhal,
From page 60 of the Oppo manual it states the following:

SETUP MENU OPTIONS61•DSD – SACD Direct Stream Digital (DSD) data is output over HDMI without any conversion. For the analog audio outputs, DSD data is converted into an analog signal directly by the internal DAC. If you use a receiver that supports HDMI v1.2a with DSD over HDMI, or you prefer the sound quality of straight DSD to analog, please select this option.

I read on Audiocircle that some folks have done this.

My MW Sony 5400ES has a similar HDMI audio output and I run it to one of my Onkyo HT processor’s HDMI inputs to play multichannel music from SACD. Works nice and the only way to pass a SACD’s DSD raw signal in digital form to another device for D to A conversion as the HDMI handshake provides copy protection to eliminate risk of copying the DSD files from SACD. Won’t do it via Coax S/SPDIF (only a converted PCM file from here).

HDMI DSD output is not I2S compatible so will not work with the Holo nor the Denafrips I2S input but should with BDA-3 and other HDMI compatible DACs as I previously stated.

Dave

Oppo makes a state of the art blu ray player. It makes an above average CD player that doubles as a blu ray player.  All for a little over a grand.  That's great value. However, I put it up against an older Bryston player and it lost, up against the parsasound cd 1 not even close. Luxman d06 not close. Ayon cd2 not close. Solutions 540. Not in the same building! 

lancelock . and of course anyone that wants to read ...  got the Modwright Oppo205 back... only had it for a few days / 8-9 albums of listening...  still breaking this thing in... not good at giving out a review but the first thing is the digital sound is much less if at all.... not sure if it has more detail but one time I was up doing something while listening and there was this one time this part of this song i know well where it made me turn my head in amazement or curiosity (lack for a better word).... this light guitar playing in the background seemed more pronounced...  I didn't remember it this way.. I wish I can listen to that song again with out the mod and compare... bass seems better than I remember too... anyway glad I did it... I don't know how you feed your Oppo music... i did some cd but mostly downloads sent via DLNA... sound is way more hi-rez with DLNA... ha ... you should try it... no software stepping on it (like USB does)...   anyway i'd like to compare 24/192 music thru my Oppo to what the Luxman/Esoteric 16/44.1 offers ...  by the way, i'm ordering some new tubes tomorrow from Upscale that supposed to be better sounding than what came with the mod for $40 each...  he says its awesome : ).....   hope this helps

Agreed.  I have both and the Esoteric is so much better.  OPPO is very good as a universal player (awesome on video) but it is a "digital" player with that distinct character.  The Esoteric is designed to deliver Cd's and SACD's with a wonderful "analog" character, which it does in spades.