Has anyone bought the OPPO 105 and has an opinion

I find it to be sensational. It replaced a very fine Lavry fed by a good Panasonic CD player. Soundstages beautifully and with the right material extends easily past the speakers. Great sense of depth. Terrific dynamics and strong and detailed bass. Very revealing, so watch out for poorly engineered disks. Needs tons of break-in. It encourages me to buy SACDs, including the old RCAs which are wonderful and inexpensive. It is Avery Fischer Hall rather than Carnegie, so system matching matters. For me it makes digital much more competitive with my vinyl. Among the joys is putting youtube videos up wirelessly on the screen and enjoying many performances with excellent video and audio that are available. They're getting better all the time. Much more enjoyable than watching on the computer. I should add that I'm only using two channels of it. And did I mention that it needs tons of break-in.

Also, the Sony and Oppo 95 are compared directly at: http://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-50-page-2-0

I have both an Oppo BDP-105 and Sony XA5400ES in my setup, both with analog out to a Cary 11a processor set to bypass. I got flamed for saying this in a AVS thread, but I prefer the sound of the Oppo 105. High-quality (200 gram) vinyl sounds remarkably similar to high quality SACD played on the Oppo in timbre nuance and soundstage presentation. Not so the Sony 5400ES; it has a smoother less detailed sound in my setup, and some of the nuances are missing. The specific vinyl and SACDs I've compared are "Jazz at the Pawnshop" and "Time Out." The 105 presents a sufficiently detailed and deep soundstage that you can believe you're in the bar listening to live music.

My listening preference is intimate chamber and jazz, but I do enjoy occasional large orchestration. Both the Oppo and Sony are fine players that represent excellent value.

db

Do I need an external monitor when using the Oppo 105? I will be using it in a two channel system (no video) and am hoping its regular screen is okay. Any other comments on the Oppo 105?

You may need a monitor for set up, e.g. if setting crossover to a sub with the 105 rather than a processor, but I usually listen to music without turning on the projector.

db