New Oppo BDP-95 better than the McIntosh MVP-881?


For the money, the 29 lb. McIntosh MVP-881 Universal Blu Ray player is one of the biggest rip offs in Blu Ray DVD history.
Looking inside the unit reveals not much under the hood for
$ 8K. The power supply is skimpy and it has three cooling
fans. One on the bottom, one on the rear, and one on the inside. Very, very hot! What I call Scrooge engineering.
The Mac uses the Sabre32 ESS9016 24x Dacs. Five total. The new Oppo BDP-95 coming out in February uses the Sabre32 ESS9018's 32x Dacs. Two total with a beefy power supply, selling for $ 1K. I hope the Oppo knocks the hell out of the McIntosh, Marantz, Denon, Ayre, and Lexicon Universal players selling between $4 and $10K. For McIntosh to put out a player that is hotter than any other high end player
on the market, is a sign that their engineering has gone down hill and their glory days are over.
audiozen
Just got my replacement BDP-95. This one does output Component Video like it should and has a much fuller sound right out of the box. So I believe my first one was defective.
Can't comment on this player vs the MVP-881. But FWIW, I'm using mine as a 2 channel player only, connected via the analog unbalanced outputs as well as S/PDIF coax to my DAC. It sounds great either way. Midrange is a little more forward with the S/PDIF->DAC connection. A little more detail in the high frequencies via the analog stereo outs.

Associated equipment:
McIntosh C22 60th Preamp
McIntosh MC275 Amp
Wyred4Sound DAC2
Harbeth Compact 7ES-3
Just tried some SACD's and some CD's though the Balanced outs on my Oppo 95.
With little or no break in, the Oppo 95 has a very wide soundstage with a nice center image.
The frequency extremes are a little weak, but that is usually the last to break in.
after all week breaking it in it seems much closer now. I have a friend coming over so we can do some blind testing tomorrow. I am pretty happy with it at this point..... sucks that I aint going to get jack for MF if I sell it though.... :(
My 95 has about 255 hours on it and when the bass (as clear as snare drum in its tracking with power and substantial weight!) and mids finally decided to fill in, They did so in such a way I was not expecting, the sheer accuracy and clarity are an under statement and with out loosing that gorgeous, wide sound stage and pinpoint accuracy, IT was still in tact, but also better defined as well. I'm not saying it's the last word in digital playback but something is going on here I really can't explain.Here are some reference points on it's burn in 60-70 hrs, 125-160hrs and the big one 235 hrs ( bass and mids) keep posting so I wont think I'm nuts. LOL!