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Oppo 105 D vs. DAC-transport combination.

To my great dismay, the more I listen, I’m finding my Oppo 105 is outperforming a very well thought of DAC and transport combination for which I paid 3x the price.  Basically the sound stage is wider and better defined.
Both the DAC and transport are less than a year old.  I thought I was upgrading.
Played by itself, the DAC-transport combo sounds great.  Until I compare it to the Oppo. 
I can’t understand it!
128x128rvpiano
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,708 posts
 
Interestingly, when I stream Tidal through the Gumby DAC, it sounds a lot better than streaming through the Oppo, even though the opposite is true with CDs.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,708 posts
 
CDs through the Oppo though sound better than the same CD performances through Tidal.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,708 posts
 
If you hear a lot of noise with clean records, you probably need a new turntable/cartridge setup. My records generally play with little or no background noise.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,708 posts
 
Sorry for so many posts in a row, but I made a discovery.
After finding that Tidal sounded better through the Gumby, I did as mahler123 had suggested and hooked up the Oppo with the Gumby.  I A-B ed the two setups and, Voila, the Oppo/Gumby combo sounded better than the Oppo by itself.
It’s hard to believe the Cyrus transport is inferior to the Oppo transport, especially considering the cost.
 I’m sending the unit back to them to check it out.  It just doesn’t make sense.
mahler123
3,434 posts
 
@melm 
stick and stones....Just out of curiosity, what is the “quality of the musical experience “ that you missed with the Oppo compared with vinyl?  I will assume that it isn’t the joy of cleaning dust bunnies from your stylus, or the tactile pleasure of hearing the walls of the Lp groove being shredded by the sewing needle attached to the cartridge.  Is it the limited dynamic range of lp playback compared to digital that floats your boat?  Personally, if I want to listen to Music with restricted dynamic range, I opt for MP3, because at least it’s quieter.  But hey, enjoy.
@noble100 
Thank you for the kind words...at least you perceived that I was attempting to be humorous.  And I agree with you that the gift of music emerging from a silent background is something to be treasured.  Vinyl aficionados apparently prefer some of the background noise inherent to lp replay, and isn’t it great that we listeners are able to choose for ourselves which option we prefer?
@rvpiano Don’t be shocked that the Oppo bested Cyrus ( a product that I have no direct experience with).  Oppos are well engineered machines, and just because another product is more expensive doesn’t make it better. Oppos have been known to be terrific values 
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