Oppo Vs Esoteric

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.

I've only seen a couple responses here answering the OP - comparing a Oppo "205". The 205 is a very different beast than previous Oppos. I wish I could say I've compared the 205 to an Esoteric, but I can't. I do, however, own a -205 as my dedicated digital player, feeding my Rowland gear in balanced mode with Cardas XLRs, and I love it. It was pretty bright for for the first 10-20 hours. Definately change the output to 'variable' and set to 85 or 90. Full '100' output seems to further the brightness (no doubt driving the output stage of the Oppo hard). I did play with the 5 digital processing algorithms a bit, but have since settled on 'Brick Wall', the default but I could see someone with a different system than mine opting for a "slow linear" or one of those which further tames/rounds the far treble. My older Tannoys w/Rowland gear is pretty 'smooth' so much more rounding of the treble and things aren't natural anymore. The 'Pure Audio' mode is something I'm still playing with - a friend says he hears a differende - I don't; it just turns the video off. Maybe that is the difference.