|
Home
/ FAQ
/ News Classifieds / Events |
Audio Asylum Thread Printer |
Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
71.163.65.155
It's musical (I'm listening in stereo)...intensely so with SACD...strong imaging with both CD and SACD...very detailed sounding...subtle...less high strung than many "audiophile" players...honest, studio quality to the sound...reminds me of the sound of the Sony SCD-1...superb video.
Strong buy on the basis of SACD audio and Blu-ray video...could rekindle interest in SACD, but as always the improvements of SACD over CD are subtle and only audiophiles will appreciate the difference.
I just received my invitation email from Oppo and placed my order for the
BDP-83... Now the wait...
And I am so impressed with the sound I don't actually have it in my HT system, just my 2 channel system. I'll be buying another Blu-ray player for the HT system.
The Oppo makes for a great transport for my tube DAC, but it sounds at it's best(somehow) when I connect my external hard drive or flash drive to it's USB port on the front or back and then send the feed back out to my DAC. The reason this surprises me is because, so far the Oppo doesn't play loss-less files. The best you can play from and external drive is 320 kbps.
> > The best you can play from and external drive is 320 kbps.
Well that sucks. I was hoping to play 96/24 files through it, but would've settled for 44/16.
Wonder if this can be updated in firmware to support higher res in the future?
Sounds very good in 320kbps though.
nt
And it makes for a really good transport with my DAC.
> > They said they are working on it.
Great, glad to hear it.
Could be my 1-box solution for the time being.
.
niets hier
No, Oppo does not reveal details like that or leak them even to the original Beta testers over at AVS Forum. It will just happen when it happens, that is, when the list of those who have signed up on their website have all been offered the machine. It could be days, weeks or even months away. Anyone interested should sign up. It's not too late to do so. And, their policy is it can be returned in 30 days if you are not satisfied. Ground shipping in the US is not expensive, either - under $15.
Machines for other regions should follow more quickly, I think, because it is getting a good shakedown here. It already plays PAL videos, so changing region codes and AC input oughtn't be that big a deal. But, I could be wrong.
Early Adoption Program has concluded and the first batch of players have been shipped
I do not mean to get semantic here. Yes, the Early Adopter Program is concluded, but it is only in limited release to people who signed up on their website. That demand will be satisfied first by invitation before general public release. That official release date will be determined by supply/demand among the current invitees, and it seems to keep slipping because of the demand. You cannot go to their website or to Amazon and order it, because it is not yet an officially released product. It's not on their current product list, officially, in either place.
When I first heard about this player. So far, nothing from OPPO and no possiblity to order it somewhere (as far as I know).
Maybe the better question is: when will it be released for everybody?
I just received another Priority Ordering offer email which is valid until June 10th. May be you will received yours soon?
.
.
I went to the OPPO website and there is no way to order the player - just a link to sign up to be notified when it will be available.
Please clarify.
... is reserved for priority preorders. I signed up on Oppo website earlier on and received a priority preorder email almost a month ago
Edits: 05/24/09
Click on the link and sign up. That's what I did. There is no obligation to buy at this point. You will be notified when a unit is available. If you have changed your mind, you can not repond to the email.
When all of these early "preorders" are filled, the player will appear on the website. It could be a long wait.
If you signed up for info about the Oppo Blue Ray before May then you will eventually receive an email asking if you want to purchase. They received 27,000 inquiries, so they have to email all of them and allow all of them to purchase before general release. The latest word is that sometime in June they will open the unit up for general release and you can then order it direct and through Amazon and other dealers.....we shall see. This unit is hot and incredible for the money and with proper mods this unit will deliver the goods.
It delivers them even without the mods. That's good enough for me.
I've heard Ric's work.
Regards,
Geoff
There was a sign up for early adoption. They first chose 50 users for the early adoption program and when those users voted they thought the product should be released they chose another 300 users. When those users voted the product should be released, they offered the player to those who signed up for he early adoption program. I was not among the chosen 350 but since I signed up I received an offer to purchase and then I ordered the player and received my BDP-83 May 14.
I got mine about 2 weeks ago. Great machine.
1) Below were the preliminary specs for "output" connections. Can you confirm these, especially the analog audio for multi-channel?
Analog Audio: 7.1ch or 5.1ch, stereo
Digital Audio: Coaxial, Optical
HDMI Audio: Stereo, up to 7.1ch high-resolution PCM, up to 5.1ch DSD, bitstream or LPCM conversion of Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio, and DTS-HD Master Audio.
Analog Video: Composite, Component Video (Y/Pb/Pr, 480i/480p, 720p/1080i available for non-restricted content only)
Digital Video: HDMI with HDCP (NTSC: 480i/480p/720p/1080i/1080p/1080p24, PAL 576i/576p/720p/1080i/1080p/1080p24
2) This player could serve as my entry to DVD-A, way late I know. I currently do not have any video monitors in my listening room. To access DVD-A functions will I need a video monitor?
Thanks.
Robert C. Lang
Robert, I have had one for a week and a half. It only requires video for intitial seup of audio media like DVD-A. I have also used it with two Blu-ray music releases. The 2L Divertimenti requires video to select from among the numerous (5.1 max) hi rez codecs it offers. This recording has great sound, but I do not like it because of the "in the round" Mch presentation.
I also bought a 7.1 channel DTS-Master Audio Blu-ray of Alfred Brendel playing Mozart Piano Concerto #25 and some solo pieces by Surround Records. I never heard of Surround Records, either. This disk requires no video to play. Just pop it in, and push play.
This performance from 2004 was licensed from Decca. I have to say preliminarily the sound is really, really good. It's the best piano, especially on the solo works, I have ever heard, not that I have a lot of piano music on SACD. Also, 7.1 vs 5.1 really does extend the rear ambience and apparent size of the hall. It also helps fill in the "black hole" right behind my head in 5.1. I have to say there is some real promise here, albeit at $30 vs. $20 or less for SACD. I do remember paying $20-$25 for CD's when they were new back in the early '80's, though.
I am not planning to go hog wild with Blu-ray music at this point. First, there is only a handful of releases, and, second, the price is too high, as it is for Blu-ray videos. I am planning to rent Blu-ray opera from Netflix, which has several, but not enough yet. But, I did take note of the fact that Harmonia Mundi's Don Giovanni with Jacobs is available on Blu-ray for only about $5 more than the SACD. It would be a no-brainer for me to get the video version, if I were to buy it.
I am very pleased with the BDP-83's performance with SACD, Std. DVD and Blu-ray. This is a very excellent machine from a company whose customer service and suport is second to none. Be prepared to wait, if you order. It is selling like hotcakes, recession or no recession.
Have you noticed any difference between the HDMI output of the BDP83 vs the 980H? How do the analog outputs compare on the two players? Thanks.
Ok, I did my one and only comparison of the BDP-83 to the 980 for perhaps 45 total minutes in Mch via HDMI. I am surprised that the BDP-83 sounds much better via HDMI than the 980. I was not expecting this magnitude of difference, if you look at my earlier posts. It is not day/night, but it is substantial.The 980 has been my only machine for over a year, and I have been very satisfied with it. But, what I hear on the BDP-83 is greater transparency, better, more continuous spatial presentation, more delicate detail and somewhat greater smoothness. I am now aware that the 980 might have been doing what sounded like slight "spotlighting" of instrument sections, which the BDP-83 does not appear to do. So, I am delighted, and there were no "pops" during this listening session with Mozart's Le Nozze de Figaro with Jacobs et al on Harmonia Mundi. (Great recording, by the way.) Likely suspect for the difference: as always for differences in digital circuits, it's probably jitter related.
This might not be definitive enough for you, but it is for me. The 980 is retired to the bedroom now. For something more definitive I suggest you wait for the ever excellent and trustworthy Kal in Stereophile to weigh in. Since he makes the big bucks for reviewing (ha ha), he can spend many hours longer listening and being more authoritative. Boy, am I glad I am not a reviewer who has to listen to stuff over and over for hours on end. Kal, I am sure wll address the analog outputs, as well, for those interested, which does not include me.
After over 50 years as an audiophile, I have come to have confidence that, rightly or wrongly, my initial gut reactions are quite accurate, at least for me. So, I do not find it necessary to agonize over these issues. That's quite a change from when I started in this great hobby.
Edits: 05/24/09
I've had mine for about a week, and I would agree that it has great audio, substantially better than my 980. I'm not prepared to make a judgment as to which playback mode is better for stereo, SACD stereo, MC SACD, movies,etc., although I seem to like the analog inputs for stereo and surround. - I'm looking forward to seeing some reviews or user reports based on level-matched listening comparisons, in the same room, same time, etc. (Kal, with your big-bucks budget, this would make an interesting review.)
One interesting feature of the Oppo 83 is that it includes volume adjustment, controllable from the remote. This is somewhat unusual for a player, and it means that you can connect its analog outs directly to your power amps and control the volume without using a preamp. I've tried it, and it sounds great, though on my system the resulting max volume is somewhat limited.
As of this morning, Oppo expects release to the general public in about three weeks. Maybe.
Jim Cate
Thanks for both replies. So, now it's down to the BDP-83 vs the Sony XA5400ES. I'm hoping that Kal will weigh in fairly soon. I put my name on the list for the new Oppo and I'll probably get the BDP-83 regardless of how it fares vs the Sony, since I need a Bluray player, and the Oppo could act as a backup for SACD.
By the way, I just bought an Onkyo PR-SC886 ( a clone of the DHC 9.9) based in part on your recommendation and that of Kal. It was a refurbished unit direct from Onkyo, so the price was great. Once I get an SACD player, I'll let you know what I think.
Thanks!
I do not think you will be the least bit disappointed in the Oppo or the Onkyo, except for my caveat about analog input to the Onkyo/Integra. Be sure to read the first post in the Official Audyssey thread at AVS Forum. Read and adhere to the setup guide there scrupulously for Audyssey calibration. It is quite possible that the Sony might be superfluos for SACD via HDMI, but it might do slightly better than the Oppo with RDCD. I am guessing, though. Yes, I will be interested in what Kal has to say.
Good luck, and Happy Listening!
I have done no analog comparisons. I am an HDMI guy. Superficially, it sounds slightly better, and I prefer DSD streaming over PCM to my AVP, as I did with my 980. But, I need to do a lot more listening. I have not tried CD's.There is every reason to believe that analog output in any mode, Mch or stereo, will sound significantly better than the 980. The DAC's, power supplies and other parts are significantly upgraded. For SACD stereo, the DAC's handle DSD directly without conversion to PCM, which was true in all prior Oppos. Early users attest to the performance improvement.
There are some slight bugs which I expect will be fixed soon via firmware. I hear some occasional soft pops with SACD, more in HDMI/DSD mode. Oppo is aware of it, and I expect resolution soon. Firmware upgrades are a snap, per AVS forum. DVA-A remains slightly problematical on some discs, but I have not tried it. Blu-ray movies have been perfect for me. Standard DVD upscaling is about as good as it gets.
Nice package, excellent user interface, top notch service and support, great company.
Edits: 05/24/09
That's strange. I wonder how firmware can fix that.
Regards,
Geoff
Don't know exactly, but it seems like a software bug rather than hardware, otherwise it would not be so intermittent. There is a huge amount of software inside these players, which is one reason they take so long to develop. If I am wrong, I have total confidence Oppo will take care of it in the hardware at considerably greater expense to them.
There's no comparison on the analog outs. I have the 980 on the other side of the wall to the main system in the bedroom system. I did run HDMI cables each way and while I don't have HDMI (audio) in the main system perhaps in a week or two when I get things broken in, I'll hook the HDMI cable from the BDP-83 to the bedroom system (Marantz SR6300 rec'r, Adcom 555 amp, Thiel SCS2s) and compare the HDMI audio. When I hooked the 980 up for the first time I went back to the basement system and immediately brought back the Sony 2000ES for SACD and CD as a source. Not that I have not heard worse than the 980, it just was very mediocre over the analog outs (and I had no HDMI in the old bedroom rec'r).
I'm pretty sure you will need a monitor to set it up, regardless of the DVD-A... at least that is my experience with such players..
Rick
In the main system, since I don't want to waste projector bulb life, I have a 19 inch LCD (I started with a 5.5 inch B&W and then a 13 inch CRT - some of the menus were hard to see in B&W on a small screen) hooked up via the composite video out of the DVD-A player. It is about 7 feet from my listening chair so it is not hard to see. I've never paid much for a monitor (the one I have I got with mostly credit card points and the most expensive one I bought was the 13 inch CRT which cost me $60) and it is not a horrible inconvenience. A good portion DVD-A discs are authored to the spec which allows toggling between stereo and multi-channel via the audio button on the remote and you can get by w/o a monitor but looking at the display on the player in those instances. I also have other things hooked into the 19 inch LCD via a 4 way composite switcher (e.g. DVD-R output for those instances I dub a mini-DV tape, LD player and a camera on the front door) so I get more use out of it rather than just for DVD-A.
Using a mini monitor in for initial set up would not present too much of a problem, but a monitor requirement for day to day use (i.e., DVD-A) could cause an inconvenience (that I could probably overcome).
Thanks.
Robert C. Lang
A portable DVD player will work just fine for your needs.
.
So, I guess you are using the analog stereo output instead of HDMI? TIA
Yes.
Can you have both HDMI output and analog stereo output active? Thanks! Would like to hook it up to my receiver/prepro (HDMI) and ARC tube preamp (analog stereo) for different purposes - movie + multichannels on HDMI v.s. stereo on analog out.
I have one preordered with the Canadian dealer. Can't wait :)
Yes. That's how I have it set up. HDMI into TV. Stereo audio outputs into Primaluna Prologue One.
That's what I have in mind as well (HDMI for video + multichannels & analog stereo out for 2ch)
This is exactly how I want to hook it up. Mine is on the way. Estimated delivery is May 27th. Looking forward to its arrival.
I'm still breaking mine in. I got it a bit over a week ago but was out of town for a few days. Certainly better than I expected for audio.
Post a Followup:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2009, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ Go Green ]
[ Take5 ]