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64.12.116.16
I remember how excited I was when Oppo’s first foray into the Blu-Ray market, the BDP-83, hit my second system. The picture quality, especially on BR, was mind-blowing. It had me pulling out my video discs at a scary rate. It lived up to all the hype picture-wise, but its audio performance left me a little cold. Yes, it was very resolving for the price—a noticeable step up from previous Oppo designs in that regard—but didn’t have much warmth or texture, two components essential for a believable illusion. Strings sounded shrill, vocals thin and pinched.
Enter Tube Research Labs (TRL). I owned Paul and Brian Weitzel’s Marantz 8001 and loved its performance. I put it against some stiff competition, including the Meitner CDSA and Esoteric X-01 Limited, and it more than held its own in each case. It had a sense of fluidity and continuousness that reminded me of great analog, but without any of the drawbacks. But, alas, I wanted to simplify my second rig; having two sources was too expensive, as I needed two interconnects of equal quality. So the rusty wheel I call a brain started turning ever so slowly, and my attention turned to the Oppo.
Paul and Brian had never touched a BDP-83, so they were as curious as I as to what they could do. After some deliberation, I decided to send the Oppo to them and sell the Marantz.
I’ll leave the details of the mod to Paul and Brian, if they want to discuss it here, but suffice it to say, the Oppo came back changed . . . dramatically, and for the better. In fact, I hardly recognized it. My reference discs, which include Dire Straits’ Love Over Gold, Badfinger’s self-titled 1973 album, and Johnny Cash’s American recordings now sounded much less jagged. Several layers of noise and haze were removed, bass was now much more powerful, and overall musicality and resolution were ratcheted up several notches.
Before I sold the 8001, I had a chance to do a direct A-B. It was close—very close. The Marantz, with its superior transport, heavier casework, and more extensive filtering was a tad more refined and possibly a little more resolved, but the Oppo benefited from a livelier presentation, which added some kick and energy to the rock music I prefer. Overall, as I said, it was close—so close that I didn’t hesitate in selling the 8001. Plus, the Oppo can play almost anything, which cinched the deal for me.
I can’t speak to what other modders are doing with the BDP-83, but $750 for TRL’s mod seems like an eminently reasonable price, especially given how much the player is transformed. No, it’s not the ultimate solution, but it’s terrific for what it does, and it suits my priorities to a T. Wanna listen to a CD? Check? SACD? Double check. Wanna watch a Blu-Ray? It’ll do that too. And it’ll do everything dramatically better than the stock unit. Hell, even picture quality is improved, with visually cleaner edges and better color saturation. I would’ve liked a more robust transport, but what do you want in a $499 stock player, a VRDS?
Anyway, I’m pretty pleased, and for a $1,200 investment, I think I’ve got a helluva player. And, according to Brian Weitzel, it can be taken even further with a little more work. I highly recommend TRL’s mod to anyone interested in upgrading their BDP-83.
I am glad to see that there are posts on the potential of the BDP-83, given the satisfaction many have expressed over the stock player. If someone wanted to find out a little more about the potential and didn't want to part with several hundred dollars, the folks at Electronic Visionary Systems are offering a $60 transport and other stuff mod "free" for the price of shipping your player there and back. The only catch is that you need to already have a BDP-83 so that you can compare your impressions of the modded player against the original. I've had a player modded in the past by them and I was very pleased.
Best uf luck,
Kim
How much more would it cost for "a little more work"?
And what would be done?
Price hasn't been finalized yet, since so far I've the only one to have the mod done with them. I need to talk further with Brian about it.
...how's it do?
Are the streaming NetFlix available in Blu-Ray or only standard DVD?
mkuller, the Oppo doesn't support Netflix streaming. Only a few blu-ray players (mainly those made by Samsung and LG) support Netflix streaming. While I'm certainly bummed that the Oppo doesn't support it, I have to say that as it stands now, the resolution on most of the streaming isn't really up to snuff; it's fine for watching on a 20" computer monitor, but there's no way I'd want to watch two hours of it beamed through my projector onto a 110" screen.
Have you auditioned a Rega Saturn and what were your impressions
compared to the modified or stock Oppo?Any one?
Edits: 10/13/09
Alas, although I have plenty of experience with the Saturn—nice machine—I’ve never compared it directly against the modded Oppo in my system. I’ve compared it against a modded Esoteric, the Meitner one-box, and a couple other players I can’t remember right now, but never a modded Oppo. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Thanks for posting this, I have been waiting to hear your results. Now I need to seriously consider doing this.
Happiness is a clean record, and warm tubes!
I have been waiting for your report and wondered how long you would be without your box. If your first report coincided with your shipping to them, that was quick.
$750.00 is not inconsequential and it would be interesting to know what is involved. I hope the proprietors weigh in with what it is they did.
Of course, being happy with the result is all that matters and it sounds like you are satisfied with the value received for the money spent.
Let us know how it wears. Two weeks from now it would be useful to hear how you two are getting along.
Thanks for the report,
Rick McInnis
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