Has anyone bought the OPPO 105 and has an opinion

I have the 95 & the 105, I think the 105 sounds better in exactly the ways described in the brief TAS review. They have also been a lot of fun with a lot of options. I suspect to do better you would have to spend at least $7K.
I had tried it (balanced) direct to amp & preferred it with my preamp(This will depend on how good the preamp is).
Big surprise: I took it off fixed out to variable last nite in order to compare analog to SACD, and have now left it set at 80 because the sound with reduced attenuation by the preamp seems better than fixed out to a lower preamp volume setting. Curious to know if others have tried this.

Some people have found that full output can overload the input on the preamp.

Kal

Since I replaced the Cary Cinema 11a with a Parasound JC-2 analog stereo preamp, I recant much of what I wrote in my 3/24/13 post. The pairing of the XA5400ES with the JC-2 is as though a veil has been lifted, revealing a detailed wide and deep soundstage. I've concluded either the Oppo and Sony can sound superb with either SE or XLR connections. The Oppo may be less system dependent.

The JC-2 connects to Proceed HPA amps that drive KEF Reference 107.2s.

db

Oldears:

This may have been answered in another thread, but do you consider the 105 a huge upgrade over the 95, or a marginal? I've got the 95, and I think it's an awesome box. I'm not going to sell my Wadia 121/Mac Mini, but the 95 is a great little box!

The 105 is not a huge difference, but the small things it does
(better imaging, tighter bass, more precise & delicate treble)are hard to get, and for me significant. Plus..I have a quiet room and it gets rid of the fan.