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Oppo 105D Review Kal is right

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Posted on July 7, 2014 at 13:45:45
TGT
Audiophile

Posts: 531
Location: Kentucky
Joined: December 6, 2002
 My NAD M5 SACD player has developed a nasty problem of producing loud pops or clicks at random times while playing. Its disk handling had acted up as well. I guess I got my seven years-worth of good sound from this unit. Bought the Oppo 105D as its replacement. My judgment of its quality is in reference to my Sony XA5400ES. Kalman Rubinson compared this Sony to the Oppo 95 which is equivalent to the105D.

His experience is identical to mine in comparison to the Sony:
“However, the BDP-95 was consistently more open and spacious, with better articulation of all the instruments.” I noticed this right away. These qualities are especially evident on good recordings with ambient information such as Big Band Basie on Reference Recordings and Jazz at the Pawnshop.

I really hate to use this audiophile cliché but I hear more “air” around instruments in the orchestral sound soundstage, and a bit more front to back depth. The overall presentation seems a bit smoother, more relaxed with a bit more detail.

I use large orchestral recordings to judge the ultimate sonic quality of a component, especially loud densely orchestrated passages. Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony is a good example…. massed strings playing forte high above the staff. On the Oppo, there’re biting but not strident or piercing. In general, the Oppo remains smooth and musical even when a passage is at risk or has the potential for hardness or stridency.

Although the Oppo sounds very good out of the box, it seems to benefit from use, and this may be audiophile neuroticism on my part but through balanced and RCA outputs as well. I’ve got more than 200 hours on it.

I should add that the differences between the Oppo and the Sony are small and I will keep and continue to enjoy my Sony. But audiophiles and hobbyists in general are about small differences.

I’m using all balanced connections from the Oppo through my Emotiva XSP-1 Gen 2 pre amp to the balanced inputs on my Coda Model 11 amp or SE to the PrimaLuna ProLogue Seven Monoblocks and on to my Thiel CS3.6s. All electronics plugged into my PS Audio Power Plant Premier. I judge this component essential to detecting small differences especially in the summer when everyone’s AC is running full tilt on the grid. My unit measures the distortion on my dedicated line at 2.7% but reduces it to 0.4%.

On the negative side the Oppo’s error correction ability isn’t as good as the Sony or the NAD M5. I have a disk with an observable defect that will play through on the other machines but not the Oppo.
Unlike all my other CD players, you can’t begin a disk from anything other than the first track. After it begins, you can advance to any track.
You really need a video display to set up the player and change the defaults. I bought one for $100 at Best Buy.

This is just speculation on my part but I’d bet that the Oppo’s sound quality is the result (in part) of attention paid to jitter reduction in the SABRE32 DACs. In a white paper on the SABRE32 Reference DAC, the authors make frequent reference to the chip’s ability to eliminate jitter. I know there are those who dismiss jitter as an important sonic factor but check out the following: http://www.stereophile.com/content/transport-delight-cd-transport-jitter-high-jitter-vs-low-jitter and http://www.jitter.de/english/soundfr.html,
In addition, the analog output stage and power supply appear to be of exceptional quality See http://audiophile-musings.blogspot.com/2013/04/peeking-under-hood-of-oppo-bdp-105.html

 

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RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 7, 2014 at 14:56:25
srl1
Audiophile

Posts: 1339
Location: Florida Panhandle
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 On my Oppo 95, I can start a disc on any track. After the disc has registered, press the number you want (for example: 5) and then press play. It will start on track 5.

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 7, 2014 at 15:16:59
TGT
Audiophile

Posts: 531
Location: Kentucky
Joined: December 6, 2002
 Doesn't work on mine.

 

I concur, posted on July 7, 2014 at 17:20:25
JoshT
Audiophile

Posts: 6622
Location: Eastern Massachusetts
Joined: July 4, 2000
 I really enjoy my newish Oppo 105D. Many on this site have stated dissatisfaction with its RBCD performance, but I think it sounds great. I'm selling my Simaudio Moon CD5.3, because on balance I like the RBCD performance of the Oppo as much and of course it does sooo much more. Have used it with a hi-resolution PCM files on USB stick, with SACDs, with DVD-A, Blu Ray and a number of streaming services, and am consistently pleased. Amazing piece of gear.
___
"If you are the owner of a new stereophonic system, this record will play with even more brilliant true-to-life fidelity. In short, you can purchase this record with no fear of its becoming obsolete in the future."

 

RE: I concur, posted on July 7, 2014 at 18:26:26
fantja
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Location: Alabama
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 Thanks! for sharing.

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 7, 2014 at 20:31:42
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 When I used analog from my Oppo 105 and Sony XA5400ES through Cary Cinema 11a inputs set to bypass, I agreed with Kal. Now that both go through a Parasound JC-2, I think I prefer the Sony. The JC-2 seems to have lifted a veil from the sound of the Sony, so it presents a well defined soundstage with nicely balanced sound. The Oppo does sound a bit brighter. To be fair, the Oppo is burdened by speaker management duties, so it cannot play DSD whereas the Sony can. This week I anticipate introducing an Ayre C-5xeMP into the setup, and perhaps moving the Sony to a setup in our living room.

OTOH, the Oppo 105 does everything well.

db

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 7, 2014 at 21:36:58
petertg
Audiophile

Posts: 382
Location: Maryland
Joined: April 6, 2007
 I have to say I am not a big fan of this player's audio quality. I give it a grade of "B" putting it in the middle of its price range - nowhere near a giant killer. I have heard a couple of implementations of the Sabre chip which to me eschews musicality for detail and tends to sound thin and uninvolving. The player works great for movies however where the audio characteristics help to make dialogue more understandable.

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 7, 2014 at 23:25:23
John Elison
Audiophile

Posts: 23900
Location: Central Kentucky
Joined: December 20, 2000
Contributor
  Since: January 29, 2004
 When I first got my 105D, I gave it a "B" as well. I think mine improved during break-in or else I got used to it. Now I think it is easily a "B+" or so. It is the heart of my entertainment system and I play it every day. As you say, it is definitely great for movies but I also enjoy it as a music server, too.



 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 8, 2014 at 00:28:44
Disbeliever
Audiophile

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 I only use HDMI and I prefer the Sony XA5400ES to the Oppo 103 for sacd & CD the 103 has very poor BD sound compared to a Sony BD player. However both players were auditioned via the Sony STR-DA5400ES AVR (UK vesrsion with HATS) which as far as I am aware Kal has never auditioned, probably because Stereophile are concerned the review might annoy their High End advertisers.

 

Apples with Apples, posted on July 8, 2014 at 02:17:01
dvb
Audiophile

Posts: 2444
Location: Vancouver
Joined: August 18, 2000
 There are lots of settings to optimize Oppo playback. So, people offering opinions on how the Oppo 105 sounds may not be comparing the same settings.

Here's a list I found somewhere for the Oppo 105. I found making all these setting improved the sound. I haven't yet decided which ones are more optional. For example, some might find the convenience of remote Output volume is worth a slight degradation of sound (and there may not be any).

Pure Audio Mode always in use

Audio Play Mode always off 

Auto Resume always off

Coaxial/Optical Output set to 192k LPCM 

HDCD Decoding on 

SACD set to DSD 

Secondary Audio Off 

HDMI Audio Off

Dynamic Range Control Off 

DTS Neo:6 Mode Off 

Output Volume set to Fixed 

Stereo Signal set to Down-mix Stereo

Standby Mode set to Quick Start

Front Panel Brightness Off

 

Burdened by speaker management duties?, posted on July 8, 2014 at 05:19:08
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 Nah. Just turn them off.

 

Dumb snide remark., posted on July 8, 2014 at 05:21:28
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 There is no such concern and Sony is one of Stereophile's supporters.

 

RE: Dumb snide remark., posted on July 8, 2014 at 09:06:45
Disbeliever
Audiophile

Posts: 1877
Joined: June 1, 2012
 But true IMO

 

RE: Burdened by speaker management duties?, posted on July 8, 2014 at 12:39:39
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 Kal,

I've compared DSD with PCM from my Oppo 105, and I'd guess my ability to identify which is which in a blind test would be about chance, so the Oppo does speaker management. It's also used with a DirecTV HD-DVR and for playing Blu-ray movies, and I use its stereo output for front LR. It is the only surround music source in my setup. The sound of concerts on Blu-ray, with either of the two losses codecs, is superb. I think DSD may be one of Sony's trick ponies, and it plays the DSD layer if available. I believe the Ayre C-5xeMP I'll be installing in a couple of days does not convert DSD to PCM, but has lights that show when it is playing DSD or the bit rate of PCM.

db

 

Non sequitur, posted on July 8, 2014 at 14:01:11
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 "I've compared DSD with PCM from my Oppo 105, and I'd guess my ability to identify which is which in a blind test would be about chance, so the Oppo does speaker management."

The Oppo can do speaker management in PCM but it need not. One cannot blame speaker management for being an issue when you can bypass it.

 

RE: Non sequitur, posted on July 8, 2014 at 15:37:03
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
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 I guess I didn't make myself clear. I doubt doing speaker management infringes on the sound of the Oppo 105, but I mentioned it for those who might think it does. The Oppo can't do both speaker management and DSD, so when I compared its DSD and PCM output of SACDS it obviously wasn't doing speaker management. I choose to have it do speaker management, because it's the only component I have that will do it. The Oppo in effect is my processor; the JC-2 is an analog stereo preamp that I use to select among sources. I do have a pair of Velodyne SMS-1s that I use with a pair of HGS-15s for LF acoustic room correction.

db

 

RE: Dumb snide remark., posted on July 8, 2014 at 16:10:01
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 Yawn. Over on this side of the Atlantic, Sony receivers are not doing so hot in terms of either comparative reviews, recommendations or sales. There is no dealer for miles and miles in my large metropolitan area, not even low end, "big box" stores. That, and HATS is dead in terms of currently available product from Sony. Apparently, it was not good enough to generate some marketing excitement to lift them out of the doldrums while the (undeniably very good) 5400 player was still available. But, except for your opinion, that player could not continue to hold its own at the price in terms of features or performance against Oppo, Denon, Marantz, Cambridge, etc. So, bye, bye.

Besides, Stereophile readers are not dying for a receiver review, and Stereophile does not review them. We have more and better options in Mch separates and prepros over here. The one exception was a Sherwood Newcastle AVR Kal reviewed only because it had Trinnov EQ.

You might be the very last Sony fan boy on Earth who still thinks, somehow, Sony AVRs are something really special, the top of the heap, the creme de la creme in Mch sound. The evidence from the marketplace says they are not. And, they are not about to make a comeback. So, enjoy it while you can. The rest of us are not missing anything.

And, by the way, there is an exciting new kid in the block for audio rate control, now that HATS is dead. It is asynchronous USB. It is an open, non-proprietary industry standard that, unlike HATS, does not require a specific model Sony at both ends. Its inherent jitter is zero. It is not yet in prepros or AVRs, but stay tuned. It is in some advanced USB DACS and the Oppo 105D player that can do a very fine job of stereo or Mch reproduction from downloads and rips from a PC. All the more reason that HATS is dead and wishful discussion about it obsolete and pointless.

 

Thanks for the clarification. (NT), posted on July 8, 2014 at 17:33:34
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002


 

Nice takedown *, posted on July 9, 2014 at 05:06:25
mcondo
Audiophile

Posts: 1411
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 x

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 9, 2014 at 15:39:46
jamestavegia@gmail.com
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Posts: 275
Location: Atlanta, GA
Joined: November 26, 2013
 I have had an occasional disc that would not play, mostly used, but I have found that most of the "Gaming" stores that sell PS3/4 and Xbox games have a very good disc polisher and I have had over a dozen disc polished there with excellent results. You might try it if it does not make you nervous.

They normally charge about $2 a disc, but my son spends pretty good money there so they have done mine for free. Worth a try if you have one that won't play.
Jim Tavegia

 

On Jitter, posted on July 12, 2014 at 10:17:03
Lee of Omaha
Dealer

Posts: 1800
Location: Omaha NE
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 I am profoundly inexpert in digital audio.

However, the importance of jitter reduction seems self-evident: Jitter manifests as random frequency modulation of the music signal.

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 14, 2014 at 13:05:47
daleda
Audiophile

Posts: 741
Joined: March 6, 2002
 Best tweek I've found to lift veil and to max the air around every note is a cotton swab to clean both ears and then, oh no, actually listen to the recording! Rocket science!

 

RE: Oppo 105D Review Kal is right, posted on July 19, 2014 at 09:12:02
fantja
Audiophile

Posts: 15524
Location: Alabama
Joined: September 11, 2010
 Great pic! JE.

Love those Thiel loudspeakers.

 

RE: Dumb snide remark., posted on July 22, 2014 at 06:16:35
rlw
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Posts: 3347
Location: Near West Palm Bch, FL
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 >> And, by the way, there is an exciting new kid in the block for audio rate control, now that HATS is dead. It is asynchronous USB. It is an open, non-proprietary industry standard that, unlike HATS, does not require a specific model Sony at both ends. Its inherent jitter is zero. It is not yet in prepros or AVRs, but stay tuned.<<

Apparently, the Emotiva XMC-1 prepro ($1999) has an asynchronous sample rate converter that exhibits extremely low jitter. Is this similar to what you mention?
-RW-

 

RE: Dumb snide remark., posted on July 22, 2014 at 07:23:23
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 I do not know if it is the same thing or not. If it is on the USB input, then it might be. Then, my next question would be is it stereo only or does it handle Mch as well? Most AVRs and prepros I know of only accept stereo via USB.

On paper, the Emotiva might be a nice product and very competitive potentially with much more expensive prepros. It will use a "detuned" version of Dirac Live limited to 48k, I understand. Still, this product has yet to be delivered, which is something of an embarrassment.

So, there always seem to be some missing capabilities in prepros, except perhaps for the Datasat at nearly $20k. I am drifting toward eliminating a prepro from my system entirely in favor of PC hard drive playback in JRiver with full Dirac Live to an ExaSound E28 Mch DAC via asynchronous USB. JRiver has all the control facilities of a prepro, but the PC lacks input flexibility - no HDMI/HDCP inputs. Kal has reviewed this approach and likes it a lot. I plan to try it in my system in the coming months.

 

RE: Non sequitur, posted on July 22, 2014 at 11:42:49
dbphd
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Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 I've been listening for several weeks now to stereo using the Ayre C-5xeMP. It's superb as expected with DSD; what was unexpected was the improved sound with CDs. I've settled on the Ayre for stereo and the Oppo 105 for surround and HT, and, until Oppo adds acoustic room correction to its product, I think I'm through buying disc players. The Sony XA5400ES is in the living room system, and shares a Proceed PAV/PDSD with an Oppo 95. The system uses a Proceed Amp 2 and a pair of KEF 102/2s, stuff I've had for decades that still sounds pretty damn good.

db

 

Except?, posted on July 22, 2014 at 14:48:58
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 A relative of mine is considering the DataSat and, yes, there seem to be "missing capabilities," even there.

 

RE: Except?, posted on July 23, 2014 at 08:07:23
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
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 Yes, Kal, it appears the Datasat lacks any USB inputs. But, it does provide 16 channel AES/EBU on DB-25 connectors. I suppose if you can afford the Datasat, you can afford the necessary Pro AES/EBU output cards on your PC for low jitter signal transfer to the Datasat.

We agree. Mch prepros, even if advanced for their time, usually have a fixed set of capabilities. As technology evolves, they are limited in their adaptability and they become obsolescent no matter how chock full of features they seem to be at the outset. A PC-based solution, while lacking input flexibility, would seem a more adaptable platform, usually just through new software. And, for very high level sound quality, the PC approach might be much less costly both up front and in the long run. It takes more work, but that is seemingly becoming easier all the time. Still, it is not as easy to set up, so it is not for everyone.

 

Amen., posted on July 23, 2014 at 08:30:45
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 What is needed to complete the system is a 4xS/PDIF input on the PC and an external device with 4xS/PDIF outputs and a selection of analog and digital inputs. Or all of that on one PCIe board!!

P.S.: The DataSat also lacks analog pass-through.

 

RE: Amen., posted on July 24, 2014 at 08:17:24
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 Kal - much of that is possible now via Pro-grade Mch PC spdif input cards and external a-d converters from Lynx Studio. Like d-a, a-d, if you need it -I don't- is probably best done outside the PC. The Audiopraise Vanity board mod can also convert an Oppo player to 4x spdif, 8 channel output. So, you could with either the Datasat or an HTPC have HDMI-less Mch audio input. DSD or analog would all be converted to PCM, of course.

Interestingly, the Datasat looks more and more just like a specialized HTPC with fairly similar overall capabilities, except the Datasat has more inputs built in, if not more input format capabilities. External switch boxes would seem to be able to address that for the PC. And, the PC has Ethernet/DLNA and USB inputs, which I believe the Datasat lacks. But, after some integration work, the HTPC costs a fraction of the prepro. The Datasat, like the older Meridian architecture, has unintentionally thrown down the gauntlet for HTPC afficianados to aspire to, and I believe the HTPC may come very close. There is much potential upside in the PC, I believe, with possibly top notch sonics via external DACS, like the ExaSound E28 using asynchronous USB.

The price mounts for all this added input capability in an HTPC, and I am not keen on going into added input capabilities myself. I do not think I need to. I can live with the input limitations on the PC.

 

RE: Amen., posted on July 24, 2014 at 15:48:44
Kal Rubinson
Reviewer

Posts: 12436
Location: New York
Joined: June 5, 2002
 Sure. Going the PC or HTPC route with an external DAC opens up all possibilities. Going the prepro route, even with the DataSat makes some things more difficult (and some impossible) but provides for a friendlier user interface.

We are now considering the DataSat for the HT and a separate PC-based system for the listening/family room. The acoustics are friendlier in the latter room, too.

 

RE: Amen., posted on July 25, 2014 at 06:03:34
Fitzcaraldo215
Audiophile

Posts: 1120
Location: Philadelphia
Joined: September 7, 2008
 Cool. What would be most interesting is a side-by-side comparison before each is put in its respective room. But, I am sure you have already thought of doing just that.

 

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