? about oppo


what is all the hype about, are they really that good? and if so , why would anybody buy a thousand dollar player? has anyone used one with powered speakers? if so , which ones? thanks doing research on a small system to do video and music in a 10 by 10 room...
dwhitt
My 970h sounded really good, very very enjoyable, but it was no match for my $3000 Cary cdp. The Cary had way more authority, larger soundstage, and a more saturated sound.

I traded up to the 980 to get 1080p upconversion for my new Panasonic plasma. To my surprise, the 980 does seem competition for my Cary player (now a $2500 Cary 308T). The Cary sound is still meater, richer, and still the king, but the 980 sound is saturated, very realistic.... and I can definitely see building a high end system around it.

I was caught off guard at the improvement in the Oppo sound.

There is some possibility that the improvement is in part due to my taking extra time working with the menu's of the unit, making all the settings appropriate for audio (e.g. turn off the HDMI output since I'm using just the analogue outs for the moment, etc.). I had never done that with the 970.

Art
By the way, you can get a refurbished 980 direct from Oppo for only $135.00. They even offer the 30-day money back guarantee. Also, if you're in the Bay Area, you can pick it up in their Sunnyvale offices.

When I got mine they told me that they were looking to launch a Blu-ray player by CES next year, but for $135 I went ahead and for HDCD, SACD and DVDA is sounds awesome -- better than my DAC. For CD's It also makes a great transport. Not as good as my Theta David by far, but shoot, for the price difference it's tough to quibble.