Albert,
I see you're already familiar with the outstanding performance of the Oppo 105 and have ordered another, adding the Darbee.
I've been on Audiogon for awhile and have always noticed that you have had very nice systems with excellent equipment and speakers. Your decision to incorporate the Oppo-105 into your own system just confirms its excellence.
No, it's not perfect, but it's a great performer in my system. I can honestly say that I consider my 105 the best system upgrade I've ever made in my system.
I replaced an older Sony universal DVD with the Oppo and I'm gradually taking advantage of all its functionality:
1. CD playback improved from good to excellent. I decided to go direct from the 105 to my ClassD Audio 440CS amp via xlr cables and bypass my VTL 2.5 tube preamp. I thought I would miss the very good combo of a tubed preamp with a class D amp for CD music playback. I found that the Oppo, with its very good Saber dacs and analog audio stages, delivered just as sweet a sound but with a quieter background and increased detail.
2. Directv satellite hdtv even looks better on my plasma hdtv. I run an HDMI cable from the small 'client' satellite box to the Oppo's HDMI input and then another from the Oppo's video output to my hdtv's HDMI input. This allows the video signal to take advantage of the Oppo's very good built-in QDEO video processor. The result is excellent picture quality on all HD channels.
3. Surround sound decoding is also handled internally by the Oppo 105. I found I no longer needed my older Parasound AV2500 preamp/processor for decoding duties for my 5.1 HT system
4. Bluray playback not only has DVD pq beat by a mile, but the newer surround sound codecs also has DVD sq beat by a mile.
5. High-Resolution music downloads are able to be played back utilizing the 105's ability to be a DMR and DMP(Digital Media Renderer and Digital Media Player). I now have all my CDs'ripped' as digital media files on my Synology NAS(Network Attached Storage) and playback is controlled via my laptop running JRMC(J River Media Center)software. The 105 is able to receive the digital stream the NAS sends to it wirelessly via its included wi-fi receiver dongle.
I have also downloaded a few hi-res 24 bit/ 96khz music files (Miles Davis-"Kind of Blue" and Carmen Gomes- "1,000 Shades of Blue") to my NAS. They both sound stunningly good with that 'in the room' quality that sounds so right.
There are a few Oppo 105 capabilities I have yet to explore such as 24bit/192khz and DSD music downloads.
I'll be testing these out soon but, in the meantime, I am thrilled with the performance of the Oppo-105 and my system has never sounded better.
FWIW,
Tim
I see you're already familiar with the outstanding performance of the Oppo 105 and have ordered another, adding the Darbee.
I've been on Audiogon for awhile and have always noticed that you have had very nice systems with excellent equipment and speakers. Your decision to incorporate the Oppo-105 into your own system just confirms its excellence.
No, it's not perfect, but it's a great performer in my system. I can honestly say that I consider my 105 the best system upgrade I've ever made in my system.
I replaced an older Sony universal DVD with the Oppo and I'm gradually taking advantage of all its functionality:
1. CD playback improved from good to excellent. I decided to go direct from the 105 to my ClassD Audio 440CS amp via xlr cables and bypass my VTL 2.5 tube preamp. I thought I would miss the very good combo of a tubed preamp with a class D amp for CD music playback. I found that the Oppo, with its very good Saber dacs and analog audio stages, delivered just as sweet a sound but with a quieter background and increased detail.
2. Directv satellite hdtv even looks better on my plasma hdtv. I run an HDMI cable from the small 'client' satellite box to the Oppo's HDMI input and then another from the Oppo's video output to my hdtv's HDMI input. This allows the video signal to take advantage of the Oppo's very good built-in QDEO video processor. The result is excellent picture quality on all HD channels.
3. Surround sound decoding is also handled internally by the Oppo 105. I found I no longer needed my older Parasound AV2500 preamp/processor for decoding duties for my 5.1 HT system
4. Bluray playback not only has DVD pq beat by a mile, but the newer surround sound codecs also has DVD sq beat by a mile.
5. High-Resolution music downloads are able to be played back utilizing the 105's ability to be a DMR and DMP(Digital Media Renderer and Digital Media Player). I now have all my CDs'ripped' as digital media files on my Synology NAS(Network Attached Storage) and playback is controlled via my laptop running JRMC(J River Media Center)software. The 105 is able to receive the digital stream the NAS sends to it wirelessly via its included wi-fi receiver dongle.
I have also downloaded a few hi-res 24 bit/ 96khz music files (Miles Davis-"Kind of Blue" and Carmen Gomes- "1,000 Shades of Blue") to my NAS. They both sound stunningly good with that 'in the room' quality that sounds so right.
There are a few Oppo 105 capabilities I have yet to explore such as 24bit/192khz and DSD music downloads.
I'll be testing these out soon but, in the meantime, I am thrilled with the performance of the Oppo-105 and my system has never sounded better.
FWIW,
Tim