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RE: How does the OPPO 103D stack up?

Posted by stehno (M) on March 15, 2015 at 03:02:56

In Reply to: How does the OPPO 103D stack up? posted by RGA on March 14, 2015 at 19:57:31:

I've no idea about the 103 but contrary to many mediocre reviews, the 105 is a fabulous performer.

Last year at this time, I purchased the 105D only because it came with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. So I installed it along side my $9k Esoteric UX-3SE CDP and by day 3 the OPPO was on par with the Esoteric's performance and by day 15 was easily superior.

Then a short time later, I removed my active preamp and went with the OPPO's passive volume attenuator that uses the 32-bit SABRE DAC's that supposedly provide for little or no signal loss. The music was significantly more pristine, delicate, and overall more musical and with my 575 wpc mono block, I still had the most dynamic system I've encountered except that the initial attacks were no longer in-my-face as part of an electronics-induced jump factor (thanks in part to the 575 wpc) that actually took me further away from the absolute sound.

But now with the OPPO's passive volume attenuator the dynamics and especially an instrument's initial attack was no longer in-my-face but up on the soundstage with the rest of the music and my ears were planted well into the audience with a distance between me and the soundstage and the dynamics were slightly more rounded and natural sounding, again drawing me closer to the absolute sound.

Then I started by-passing the CD transport by utilizing the USB ports with my thumb drives and SSD drives with again very significant improvements in the overall musicality.

And when I started using my iPad and the OPPO app I now had a full blown music server with a beautiful and simple user interface.

Clearly the $1299 OPPO's level of musicality is in another league (maybe 2) from my previously cherished Esoteric unit.

Not only is the OPPO easily a much superior performer but it also provided solutions to problems I didn't even know I had. I can't remember ever saying that about any component.

I only have 2 Blue Ray discs and it seems fine with those, but the DVD video performance is also superior to the Esoteric's and when the Darbee function engaged much superior.

And to think I would have been happy if the OPPO only matched the Esoteric's performance and to be honest, I didn't think it stood a chance. Especially when I consider the Esoteric's highly acclaimed VRDS transport, it's 60 lbs. of superior construction quality which means a lot to me performance-wise, but apparently doesn't mean enough.

Yet, during my research I couldn't find a single reviewer that came close to describing what I eventually experienced. Just goes to show that you really have to spend more time reading between the lines then actually reading a product review.

There are many other options available with this Swiss army knife aka BDP-105D including streaming, TV stations, etc, but I use the 105D exclusively in 2-ch. stereo mode for music only and maybe once a month pop in a DVD concert like Pink Floyd's Pulse or Queen Rock Montreal.

If OPPO didn't offer the 30-day satisfaction guarantee, I never would have taken the chance.

Edits: 03/15/15

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