Oppo Vs Esoteric

I have no comments on esoteric, but after attending Axpona for 3 years and hearing oppo units demoed (in many rooms), each year I compare my  (10 -15 year old) wadia 861se to my oppo 105, and they are not even in the same county. My suggestion would be to by the single function device, and be amazed. 

Best wishes, 

Perfect_sound

Everyone of us has a different character, different taste, different point of view, so even if we will set up two sets of equipment and play them the same time . There is one more factor which might effect our entire test , because not every day we are able to hear what hear the same , for example due to mood, even physical pressure can effect our tests and many more factors which I don't even think about  So most time we ask others opinions, books , reviews that is the beginning where we usually start. But in my case I can listen oppo because I own one 95 and I turn it on maybe once every 2 years check if it still works, but accuphase I have to turn on almost every day I think I'm addicted to it. I bought it to quench desire, and I know I will never extinguish it, and I'll never find anything better than this 

The Oppo 205 is way better than any previous Oppo.....however, it is still a stock Oppo.  No way stock will it compete with any big Esoteric or whatever.  However, modified it is another story.  You can see from my website what I do to the Oppo Sonica DAC to turn it into a serious DAC.  These same things I will be doing soon to the 205 making it a very serious player (for a very reasonable price!).  I do think the modded Sonica will be a better DAC as some of the 205 DAC outputs are used for the headphone output and the regulators power a bunch of op amps, etc. and not just the stereo output stage.  The Sonica DAC also has wireless streaming and a good app you can use with your smartphone.

The Oppo UDP-205 is an **absolutely essential** piece of gear in any serious A/V system, regardless of how much better the Esoteric is.

My suggestion, buy both, a UDP-205 and whatever else.

During the visits to the 5-6 dealers, I did not find a single system using either Esoteric or Marantz or Ayre SACD players. Mostly it was CD players (MBL, Simaudio, Rega) or streamer/DACs (Naim, McIntosh, etc). I have not yet made up my mind on this one, but I do prefer a disc spinner over a streamer.