Oppo 103 comparison with an Ayre Codex


I have a new Ayre Codex DAC, a pretty good DAC.   I connected my Oppo 103 to my preamp with RCA cables and also connected the Oppo via a decent Toslink cable.  I could switch back at forth RT between the analogue path vs the digital path > Ayre DAC and I will be damned if I can perceive any difference, not even in SPL.  The Codex was a bit of any improvement over my Ayre QB-9, a much-heralded DAC, which itself was a demonstrable improvement over the five sub-$1K DAC’s that preceded it streaming music from my iMac.  The QB-9 acquisition prompted me to sell my TT, it was that good.  The Codex is slightly better.

Two observations:
1.  The DAC in the Oppo 103 is very good.  
2.  Knowing that my $20 Toslink cable is as good as the RCA connection, it frees up the $350 Cerious Technology Graphene Express IC cables to be used elsewhere in my system.  

While I am moving to have all my music on an external HD and playing the music through the Audirvana software, with its error correction, etc., I will always have use a CD player.   By far, the great valued-component component in my sytem has long been the Oppo 103.  It was the best $550 I have ever spent in an audio purchase.  I did hear an Oppo 205 and it was slightly sonically superior to my Oppo 103, which makes sense.  I have no clue why Oppo discontinued their sales of the Oppo CDP’s.
whitestix
Hello dbphd,

     Excellent points! 
     While the Oppos ending with a 3 are very good units with very good dacs, the Oppos ending with a 5  provide better audio because they have even better dacs and are specifically designed with the goal of providing better audio.  
     They both have exactly the same parts and design quality levels for video performance for their model years.  The sole difference, and the only reason the 5 models were consistently priced just a bit over twice the price of the 3 models for their model years, was the increased parts and design costs involved with providing their significantly improved audio performance.  They were marketed emphasizing they were exactly the same video wise and with the 5 models targeted to those desiring even higher audio performance quality.
     I believe Oppo's decision to exit the market was a purely financial one based on forecasts of returns on investments (ROIs), with the forecast of reduced physical disc usage being an important factor.   Basically, I think they just determined they would make higher profits investing their resources elsewhere and producing other products. 
     5K cell phones? New expanded home automation products and other products and services connected to the soon to arrive 5K phone networks? Who knows but, knowing Oppo, I bet it's going to be very good,exciting and make boatloads of dough. It should be interesting.

Tim   
I use an Oppo 103 as a video source that can also play just music, connected with an HDMI cable to a pre/pro.  Is HDMI as good as Toslink for music?
Hello jameswei,

     The best way to learn and gain experience in this hobby is to try both and discover which you think sounds best.


Tim
jameswei, IIRC the DSD layer of SACDs is available only from HDMI for copy protection reasons.
Yes, dbphd, I followed Tim’s advice and tried it myself. Not only is the SACD blocked, but the signal is also processed/degraded before it goes out the Toslink. Here’s a quote from the manual:

"Due to bandwidth limitations, high resolution audio formats such as Dolby Digital Plus, DolbyTrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio cannot be sent through the coaxial or optical digital audio output. A reduced resolution version of the same audio track will be output instead. To listen to high resolution audio formats in their best quality, please use the HDMI connection if you have a receiver that handles HDMI audio (see page 11) or use the multi-channel analog outputs if you do not (see page 16)."

And I could hear the difference. So HDMI is the way to go.

(Now I am scratching my head about the OP’s conclusions comparing Toslink to RCA.)