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Universal Players vs. Dedicated CD/SACD Players

Greetings all. I'm curious what other's experiences are listening to Universal Players vs. "dedicated" cd/sacd players. I have an Oppo BDP95 based on the reviews and convenience of the "one-box" solution. However, I've been wondering if I'm missing some audio performance this way. I'm more into sound than video BTW. I have an audiophile friend who says he doesn't like audio and video in the same box. I've entertained thoughts of purchasing a dedicated audio cd/sacd player. Your input is appreciated.

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theothergreg
222 posts
 
I have an Oppo 105D and sent it to ModWright for their complete upgrade. I auditioned an Audia Flight CD One M and it blew the modded Oppo completely out of the water when playing red book CDs.  Audia Flight comes next week and the Oppo gets relegated to server and streaming duty.
dave_b's avatar
dave_b
3,159 posts
 
Found something better than the Sony Modwright XA5400ES...The Kell Cipher!  It's da bomb Dadeo...like, far out man..yeah!!
theothergreg
222 posts
 
Agree that the Cipher is an outstanding player.  Hope you have a sturdy rack - that thing is a monster!
213runnin
914 posts
 
jafant, the Nad C565BEE is indeed a fine spinner! I’d forgotten to try the Sample Rate Converter with compressed files. With the Nad, they don’t sound compressed at all, the air and detail has me grinning from ear to ear. By comparison, the Oppo 95 could sound somewhat tinny or one dimensional with mp3’s.

But with redbook, the Oppo still lags behind what this Nad can do as well. They were pretty close to the same price back in 2011 when I was looking, but the 565 wasn’t even on my radar as Oppo was all everyone was talking about. I didn’t need or want a bluray player, I just wanted something for cds.

Don’t get me wrong, the Oppo does a lot of things well, but I think I agree with you that they are not the last word in audio quality.
mahler123
3,402 posts
 
 An interesting thread.  I have an Oppo 105 in my two channel system that I don't use for video at all.  I play many SACDS, a few DCD-A and Blu Ray Audio and DTS Audios
and some High Res downloads but primarily it's Red Book CD.
   It's a highly resolving piece of equipment.  I have had some problem with glare (I started another thread on this) and I think it may be a function of some poorly recorded or transferred CDs; I think the player is just revealing the inadequacy of those particular recordings.
   I have an older Universal Player in an HT System but it's a Pioneer Elite that has an "i link"--a firewire connection to a matching Pioneer Elite receiver.  Amazing audio, but the video is horribly outdated, as someone else noted upthread.
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