Oppo BDP-95 as a pure two channel audio source?

Jay, I know I sound like I am about to feed you another companies kool-aid, but the Emotiva ERC-2 is an absolutely wonderful CD only player. On top of that Emotiva has their Christmas sale going and 30day hassle free returns. If you do not need SACD and would like a wonderful cd playback to test against the ERC is wonderful and cheap enough to not have to sell to fund an A/B. Have fun!!

Ok db, I'll give it up. I guess I kept hoping to hear something that would help convince me that the Oppo was worth a shot as a stand alone cd player, but alas, I didn't. You're right, enough is enough. Thanks for the Emotive tip Harri009, I've read some very positive reviews regarding that whole line, however, I think I've decided to take the plunge with what I'm afraid may have a very good shot at becoming my new fetish, the new Copland CDA 825. Thanks again to all. Jay

That Copland looks pretty slick, let us know how it turns out.

The problem is, digital standards get ripped (pun intended)out from under you again and again at alarming frequency. So much work for so much money for so little actual compatibility.

I'd love to see 124-bit 96K hi-def be the "standard" until superior listenable performance is achieved. Speakers and amplifiers just can't come close to what 124/96 can offer so WHY do we migrate from that standard? Yes, it can be on CD's, USB's or your hard drive. But, the digital file is the SAME. Ones and zeroes can be the same and move to new technology for storage but to keep molesting the format itself?
So my beef is very simple. We move away from a good possible standard and to a fragmented mess of temporary confusion that leads to my permanent insanity with respect to digital.

This is an interesting thread.
I had a BDA-1 at one point, but didn't really "hear" music as I am accustomed to hearing it. I bought an Oppo 83, which i eventually returned as well, yet I found the Oppo more "musical" than the Bryston. I'm not speaking of anything audiophile, Im speaking of music sounding like music, in the way that a JVC Xl-Z1010TN has a more "musical" sound to it than my Arcam FMJ-23, or the Arcam FMJ 27, Rega Apollo, or other CD players. The one that came closest to "the sound of music" was a Meridian 508.24.
I'm getting a BDP-95 because what I heard in my system reminded me of the JVC, which surpassed many more expensive units of the time, although they may have had 'better bass' or high frequency extension. The JVC was far superior at making music, from track to track, on the same CD, sound different from each other, rather than all the music having the same tone, the same ambience, the same soundstaging, etc. And I heard this in systems I gave my friends as well, with Nordost interconnects, Shunyata cables and some very other high end components. The Oppo did this as well: the Bryston did not.
Now, to be fair, I haven't heard the 95, only the 83, but there are systems, that, no matter how "good" they are, they do not allow each recording to sound like itself, instead of a "monolithic" sound to an entire CD. I've heard those - and had a few (my WATTS were phenomenal in terms of resolution, but they did NOT make each recording cut sound vastly different than each other. They (the WATTS) had a distinct "sound" to them, and consequently, so did the stereo system, which at the time was a Versa Dynamics 2.3, Convergent SL-1 MK II, Jadis, VTL, Rowland Model 5, Spectral Signature (and eventually, Clavis, Van denl Hul Grasshopper, Parnassus, Clearaudios) and Goldmund Super Dialogue speakers. At the time, VERY high end. Yet, cuts -and CDs - sounded more alike than different.
The Oppo BDP-95 may prove to be different than the 83, and with Shunyata Python and Cobra speaker cable, power cords and Valhalla and Tyr interconnects, it's not the same system. All the same, when it came to the sound of music as heard in Carnegie, The Met, and Davies Hall in San Francisco, the Oppo reminded me more of those halls than my Bryston. So, Oppo it is!