Oppo as transport

Thanks for the follow-up Lngbruno. That finding is VERY interesting to me. My Playback Designs has an Esoteric VOSP transport, reputed to be one of the very best available and the Oppo gives me roughly 90% of what I get using the PD's internal transport. The difference is some added solidity in the bass and a slight increase in image size going to the PD transport.

I'm not disputing your finding, just observing that with the PD's DAC the diffences caused by transports seems to be greatly reduced. There's a jitter correction process in the PD's DAC that may account for this. PD claims zero jitter using the internal transport, but I haven't read anything about jitter correction from other sources. If they're accomplishing that with external sources, then that could explain the small difference.

Don't get me wrong, it's not so small that I wouldn't use the PD at every chance. However, it is small enough that if I hadn't heard the PD with it's internal transport I probably would have been with the PD's DAC driven by an Oppo.

Dave

Audphile - It was DAC3 that Stereophile reviewed in November 2007. Read below:

Against the benchmark Benchmark
The Benchmark DAC1 has set the standard for affordable D/A processor performance for three years now, and has recently been updated to add a USB input. I will be reporting on the new version in a Follow-Up, but for this review, I compared the Bel Canto e.One DAC3 with the original version of the Benchmark DAC1, which I had purchased after writing about it.

To permit instantaneous comparisons, I fed the Ayre C-5xe's AES/EBU output first to the Levinson No.30.5, then from that processor's two AES/EBU data outputs to the two DACs under test using identical lengths of Madrigal AES/EBU cable. Levels were matched to within 0.05dB at 1kHz by keeping the Bel Canto's output at its maximum and reducing the Benchmark's with its analog level control.

No doubt about it, the Benchmark DAC1 is still an excellent-sounding product, with well-extended, well-defined lows, a natural midrange, and clean highs. And, of course, it doubles its utility by having two pairs of headphone outputs. But the Bel Canto DAC3 scored with its slightly silkier high frequencies and its wider, deeper soundstage.

Well, Ive been playing with my new OPPO-871 all day now. Ive only used it as a cd/dvd transport thus far, and have not played with sacd or dvd audio yet. That being said, so far the DVD picture is as clear as I have owned or seen on my TV set in standard definition. The colors look fantastic. The only complaint's I can possible think of, is perhaps a better menu system, with a cleaer read out. Its not a big deal. You will set this once and never enter it again, however the words arent as clear as they could be and Im not sure the layout is ideal.Also, the transport itself is a little flimsy. I would want to pull on it, or mistreat it.

Now, as a cd transport, so far I think it has done absolutely wonderful. The signal is as clean as I could hope for, easily as good as my Ayre cx-7 with digital output being used. I also think it has a great front panel look. No, its not constructed like a tank, it is very light, and reminds you of a mass market player. But it really looks fantastic, and is very small and unoticeable, and best of all sounds and looks fantastic.

I'll do a follow up after a while with the unit. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a cd transport, or dvd player. I now know for myself this player is as good as the reviews in the above regards. Now to try out dvd audio/sacd/ and 2 channel performance from the analog output of the player. If you are using a prepro to do the digital processing, this player should be on the top of your list as a cd/dvd transport!

Oppo 871? is this a foreign version or something, never seen this one!

The 2 channel out is awesome. I dont expect anyone to trust this review completely, but this is my new reference player, it is amazing!