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A DAC for the Oppo 105

I haven't played discs a lot lately. I am and have always been a vinyl-dominate listener, and really got a CD player for the vinyl desert that began in the late 80's and really only abated in the 2010's. I found plenty of vinyl in those years, but these days, it pretty much automatic that there will be a vinyl release of almost all of the albums in which I am interested. 

So, because I am a music lover, and format is less important than the music, I did manage to get a pretty big CD collection - counting box sets, I am probably around 1500. I have burned maybe 400-500 of them onto a server, and that works great (I stream Qobuz, too and that is a great place to try out new things. Wonderful!) The idea that i would ever rip all of my CD collection into this server is a fantasy - I really doubt I will do this. So...

When I play a disc directly from the Oppo, I find myself distracted by elements of the sound that I don't care for - it can be a bit thin, unsaturated, a little fatiguing. When I play that same recording through the ripped file that goes from my Small Green Computer server, to the Sonore Optical Rendu, to my Ayre QB-9 Twenty DAC, it is much more as I like it. I assume most of this is because I prefer the Ayre DAC to the DAC built into the Oppo. Sadly, the Ayre DAC is USB only, and I can't take the Oppo digits and send them to the Ayre.

But since I am a realist, and will not rip my full CD collection, I am wondering if there is a relatively inexpensive DAC that I could use to improve the Oppo. That machine is getting old and DAC technology seems to be the end of the digital chain that improves the most, the most often. 

Any suggestions for an affordable upgrade to the DAC built into the Oppo?

Thanks,

David

dtorc
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,898 posts
 

jl35

Nice upgrade. I would like to add a Primare CD32 to my system.

 

Happy Listening!

yyzsantabarbara
4,935 posts
 

I made a mistake on my D.BOB post. It is SPDIF that goes into the DAC from the D.BOB, not USB.

dtorc OP
50 posts
 

Thank you to the second wave of contributors. I wish the D.BOB did output USB! Oh well...

I think that a used Codec could be an interesting approach. I seem to like the Ayre house sound. I've always understood (like it was a given) that Toslink was a lesser thing compared to a 75ohm connector. Was that a myth, too?

The possibility that the Oppo fails as a transport never occurred to me. I suppose that can be at the pickup, or in the SPDIF output. I've never used it as a transport only. Though others here have had some success using it as a transport.

Again, thank you for all the sharing...

old_ears's avatar
old_ears
54 posts
 

   I've repeated this post a few times...here's the article that was published Jan,2021, that describes using an OPPO player to output SACD content via an HDMI cable to a cheap I2s breakout box and on to the I2s port on the Pontus II.   I duplicated the setup a year later, buying a Pontus II (with I2s) and a $50 I2s breakout box from China via E-Bay (1 month delivery)....This provides the very best CD/SACD sound to my KTE Holo Bliss amp and Susvara HPs....bi-passing the OPPO ok, but old, DACs.   Now even cheaper because the Denifrips lower models now have an I2s port.  (The I2s pins were already set compatible in the Pontus)

  https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/at-long-last-listen-to-your-physical-sacds-through-an-outboard-dac-r971/

 

old_ears's avatar
old_ears
54 posts
 

BTW, the Denifrips USB port from a new MacBook Pro can also provide just as good sounding Hi-res binaural downloaded files as the I2s CD/Blueray connection.  The Pontus handles all the buffering/oversampling and re-clocking functions you need regardless of source...sounds notably better than e.g great CD quality streams from RadioParadise.

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