OPPO BDP 83 as Redbook player?

Thanks Todd - helpful.

My Oppo 83 just arrived. So far it has blown away my Sony S500 BR and my Maraantz DV6400 SACD players. I know these players are not top of the line, I got them just to check out these formats. I have a few SACD's but the 83 has made me want more. With the BlueRay, the picture is much better and the loading time is now acceptable. As far as a CD player it is not to my liking. I am waiting for my new DAC to show up to see if I will like it as a CD transport. If not I may have the Oppo modded after the first year. I did take out an extended 1 year warrenty but I have blown more money on records I do not like than I did on the warrenty. I will also let it breakin for while before I decide to Mod it. I also like the fact that it has USB inputs.
Tried my XBox 360 HDdrive with no success. Thought I may be able to replace 3 players with one.

I have the oppo 83, and I have to say that as a CD player, it is average.

I also have the Cambridge Audio 840C, so maybe not fair to compare it to a $1500 CD player. The Oppo does not in any way compare to the 840C on CD playback. The Oppo is thin and on the screetchy side with CD. BTW, I am also using the same audio cables from my 840C to test the Oppo for CD playback, so signal loss due to cable differences.

I am very happy with the blu-ray audio quality (very happy with that side, fantastic), and SACD sounds better than my previous universal Denon 1920 or Pioneer 563A.

However, I can't say the same for DVD-Audio. My Pioneer and Denon both did a better job with DVD-Audio. More whole sounding. The Oppo plays DVD-Audio a bit disjointed, with the music not sounding "together". I have a bunch of DVD Audio and SACD discs to compare with, and a ton of CD. I know Oppo added DVD Audio support near the end of beta, so on the quality side I think that was a bit of an afterthought for them.

However, I am very happy with the Oppo overall. Would not trade it in.

Hope that helps.

Since my BDP-83 arrived back in May, I have been buying SACDs like mad. I can't get enough of them!

I have been listening to SACD since the format began in 1999 and this players sounds just as good as the original generation of SACD players (in my opinion subsequent generations of players lost some of the magic of the format as newer DACS converted DSD to the inferior PCM).

Moreover, my system has evolved from two channel to multi channel in the three months since I have owned the Oppo.

SACDs are becoming scarcer and scarcer. They are disappearing from shops. Many titles are discontinued and not available anywhere. This player makes me want to hurry and buy them all before they can no longer be sourced!

The Oppo does not have the same magic with CD as it does with SACD. In my opinion, this is partly the player and partly the format. CD audio can only sound so good, even through players requiring a mortgage to purchase. The format is limited.

I have a Musical Fidelity V-DAC as well. It's smoother than the Oppo for sure, but also sounds more manipulated and lacks the musical insight into my CDs that the Oppo reveals. I prefer using the Oppo as is. I think it's telling the truth about the CD format rather than attempting to make CD sound better than it actually does sound.

Bottom-line: I think the Oppo BDP-83 has been optimized for SACD playback and sounds best with SACD discs...the stock player sounds superb with SACDs and has greatly enhanced my listening enjoyment.

Layman wrote: SACDs are becoming scarcer and scarcer. They are disappearing from shops.

SACDs keep coming in from the smaller labels more and more. Shops never had a good representation of SACDs and, as ever, the Internet is the only way to shop for them. ;-)

Kal