Oppo 83 SE Sound in Absolute Terms ?

if all the talk about digital improving “at a rapid pace” are true, there’s a possibility that a brand new $1,000 player with 2010 technology might best an “old” $5,000 player.

In my experience, yes. My $1,500 Sony XA5400ES beats the previous $5,000 players and DAC I used to own including Bel Canto, Linn, etc. I don't have any experience with Oppo though.

I have a Perpetual Technologies P-3A that has been heavily modded by Empirical Audio. My Oppo BDP-83SE comes in a notch lower in performance for a third of the cost of the P-3A (as modded).

I have one and with the JPS Labs Digital AC Cord it beat everything I heard under $5K. It' got a very accurate, clean, organic & relaxed sound (reminiscent of listening to analog master tapes) with a huge soundstage. The closest thing under $5K that sounded better (slightly) was the Sony XA-5400ES at $1.5K. I imagine that modding either one by spending an additional $1-$2K would allow them to compete with the lower end EMM Labs and Meridian units.

Ranakabir,
is your BDP-83SE a modified version (since you are using a a non-stock AC cord wiht it)?

Not at the time I posted my previous comment. That impression is based on a Stock unit with the JPS Digital AC Cord ONLY.

I have since replaced that stock unit with a Modded unit for even greater performance.