Oppo BDP-83

[Peter_Klim]

WOW! I didnt know so many MLC members had this unit!

Of all the audio/video items I've purchased, I have never seen a unit so full featured and complete for such a good price! This has to be one of the best deals going on. Opening the box it came in and finding all those goodies inside made me feel like a kid on Halloween again - finding not the tiny no-name brand hard candy, but instead all the real full sized delicious candybars!

 

[sleepysurf]

After shipping for only a few months (and so many rave reviews), OPPO is now offering the BDP-83SE (Special Edition) with upgraded DAC and power supplies, for improved analog out performance...
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83SE/blu-ray-BDP-83SE-Comparison.aspx

Nuforce is already offering a mod for the BDP-83SE...
http://www.nuforce.com/hi/products/oppo_bdp83se/index.php, and no doubt Modwright (and others) will soon follow. The forthcoming Ayre universal player is also based on the BDP-83 design, so it looks like Oppo has hit an OEM home run!

I'm already feeding my BDP-83 stereo out to my Benchmark DAC, which (I'm thinking) is probably comparable to these mods, so don't plan on spending $$ for analog upgrades.

However, I'm curious what other BDP-83 owners are doing?

 

[JMAUSGP]

Wow OPPO must have read Tonepub's review and then decided to respond with an audiophile edition of the BDP 83. Jeff you are more powerful than you let on.

Both the Nuforce upgrade and the OPPO upgrade are appealing. Do I spend 300 or 800 to get the good stuff?

Again for the money, it will allow the OPPO BDP 83 to compete more effectively higher up the food chain. It will be interesting to see direct comparos of the 3K and up machines against the new OPPO and Nuforce BDP83SE which cost less than half of 3K.:music:

So the 64000 dollar question, when will Jeff Review the BDP83 SE and the Nuforce BDP83 ESE.:rocker:

 

[asindc]

I think this is a smart move by Oppo. They probably saw how many companies were offering mods of their players, so they decided to capitalize on it themselves. I will be interested to see if any publications review the SE as a high-end 2-ch audio player.

 

[twich54]

. Do I spend 300 or 800 to get the good stuff?

Again for the money, it will allow the OPPO BDP 83 to compete more effectively higher up the food chain.:

Considering that the 'so-called' improvements add an addition 80% to the cost of the unit my bet is that Oppo has caught on to the 'audiophile BS' mentality, for I guarantee you there is nowhere close to an 80% improvement in performance !

 

[sleepysurf]

IMHO, putting those $$ towards a good DAC makes more sense, however, that won't improve SACD or DVD-A playback. Fortunately, I have only 2-3 SACD's, and don't plan on buying any more.

 

[DrJRapp]

I can't wait for someone to get one and review it. I was about to purchase a 2d BDP 83 for my family room, now I will hold off till I see a review....

 

[twich54]

I can't wait for someone to get one and review it. I was about to purchase a 2d BDP 83 for my family room, now I will hold off till I see a review....

I'm sure some audio / Video reviewer will have 'glowing praise' for the multi DAC set-up and all the wonders of it's 'improved power supply'.

Sorry gents if I sound sarcastic but do you really believe those two things (the real primary changes I believe) add up to an 80% increase ???? ....come on, get real !!! Think about it, Oppo supposedly prides itself in 'bang for the buck' products, me thinks they are riding their Marketing prowess a little to hard on this one !

 

[Craig]

I'm sure some audio / Video reviewer will have 'glowing praise' for the multi DAC set-up and all the wonders of it's 'improved power supply'.

Sorry gents if I sound sarcastic but do you really believe those two things (the real primary changes I believe) add up to an 80% increase ???? ....come on, get real !!! Think about it, Oppo supposedly prides itself in 'bang for the buck' products, me thinks they are riding their Marketing prowess a little to hard on this one !

The cost of upgrading just about anything is never equally proportional to the performance gained, especially when it comes to audio and car racing. How in the world can you quantify audio performance improvement by a percentage rating scale? At least with a car you can usually measure improvements. But with audio, you often can't. It's all subjective and up to the buyer if he/she thinks its worth it.

There already are plenty of glowing Oppo reviews out there in every magazine. But the reviews that have clout are the many consistent ones posted by owners without an agenda.

The Oppo brochure is honest about pointing out that you don't need this upgrade if you're going to use the digital out instead of analog.

 

[JMAUSGP]

I would add that the OPPO doesn't have to hit any particular scale or percentage for performance. It only has to produce 2 channel and multi-channel performance that can compare to the other high-end players out there, like the Ayre, Lexicon, Denon, etc.

Let's say you go for the new OPPO/Nuforce BDP83 at $1300 and you can compare it to the Denon. I am not even saying it has to beat the Denon, but is just good enough to compare. Then you have to ask the question is the Denon's sound really worth more than 200% the cost of the OPPO/Nuforce BDP83SE?

It kind of brings Twitch54's argument in to a new light and puts the shoe on the other foot. I personally don't know the answer yet but it will be fun to find out.

 

[tonepub]

There already are plenty of glowing Oppo reviews out there in every magazine. But the reviews that have clout are the many consistent ones posted by owners without an agenda.

That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. You don't think a proud owner doesn't have an agenda? The message boards are full of people that want to brag about how great the OPPO is and how it's just as good as the really expensive CD players.

Ugh. It's not even close. Excellent video player, and it's wonderful that it plays everything, but it's a $500 CD player. I'm sure if they've improved the analog stage it will be a big step up for those who don't want to buy a DAC.

Also, the digital output will only help you if you are listening to redbook CD's. SACD and DVD-a do not output the digital bitstream, so for someone with a substantial high res disc collection, it will offer better sound.

How much is to be seen, but I'm sure it will be an improvement. We may buy one and review it, but I don't know that I want to spend $900 bucks on something to review, only to have to turn it around on Ebay and lose a couple hundred dollars in the process.

But I'm sure it will be worth the asking price and again a bonus for someone who wants to build a library of high res discs.

 

[JMAUSGP]

Jeff,

That is a fair assessment, but you know I am not sure I want you to review the OPPO/Nuforce BDP83SE really.

I know that you really don't care for multi-channel stuff and I am not sure what I would do if knowing that and you still gave it a glowing 2-channel and multi-channel analog review. In fact that would be a very bad thing....for me and probably others. I know I am very happy with my stuff now, money is tight and I really don't need that in my life right now.

As you know, I have a fair sized investment already in Simaudio, PS Audio and RSA stuff and I am working on a TT all as a direct result of your recommendations, I know that I and maybe others could use a break from the better stuff is here.... merry-go-round. But then again as a reviewer I know that you just can't help yourself

Although one curious thing I noticed yesterday. Simaudio has announced a new DAC/transport called the 750D that is built around the same chip that is in the new upgraded BDP83SE, the ESS Sabre 32 bit DAC. Of course the Simaudio 750D is $11,300 and the Nuforce/OPPO BDP93SE is $1,300, soo....like I said it was interesting, or curious or both, or maybe it was just a typo on someones part.:devil:

 

[tonepub]

Money is tight and you're buying a new Ferrari, and you're trying to keep the 430 along with the new one. Yeah, I'm buying that!

I don't really care for multichannel for a number of reasons, but again that doesn't mean it's bad. There are plenty of other magazines with excellent multichannel coverage.

Our job is to review new products. That doesn't mean you have to buy them all...

If you have a system you are happy with, enjoy it. The new Sim piece is on the way and considering what I've heard from them in the past, I'm very anxious to hear it.

Money's tight. I'm still laughing my butt off over that one....

 

[Craig]

That's the silliest thing I've ever heard. You don't think a proud owner doesn't have an agenda? The message boards are full of people that want to brag about how great the OPPO is and how it's just as good as the really expensive CD players.

Jeff,
I don't own the Oppo BDP-83 (yet) so I can't comment on it how it sounds and so I haven't. I have no plans to replace my Wadia 781i with an Oppo but I will eventually have one as a source component for my HT system.

I didn't intend to imply that professional reviews don't have clout. What I intended to convey was that the Oppo has been heavily reviewed and that many posts by happy owners adds clout to the reviews.

Didn't mean to Dis' reviewers or you. In fact, I think you're the most trustworthy reviewers I know of, value your assessments and look forward to each issue of Tonepub. One of the most difficult things to do is to try and accurately describe with mere words, how something sounds without sounding silly. Keep up the good work!

 

[tonepub]

No worries. Hey, I'm buying an OPPO for my living room. As I said it's a killer Disc player. I have a very modest video setup and I can't imagine wanting more than this for video playback.

 

[DrJRapp]

Hey, I'm buying an OPPO for my living room.

I'm buying a second Oppo for my family room which happens to contain two systems, a Video with 5.2 surround and my 2 channel high end rig.

If everyone will contribute $10 pehaps I can get a few people together and pay for half of the upgrade and I'll eat the other half. Then I can a/b the thing in my two channel against my Meridian 808, playing thru the Bat pre, Aragon Monos and the Summits. I even have an extra pair of the same ouput ICs...how's that for a level playing field.

When I'm done Jeff may even want to publish it...heck, I ALREADY write for two other "lifestyle" mags!

 

[twich54]

If everyone will contribute $10 pehaps I can get a few people together and pay for half of the upgrade and I'll eat the other half. !

:ROFL: ......:ROFL:........:ROFL:

nice try Jer !!!

 

[DrJRapp]

:ROFL: ......:ROFL:........:ROFL:

nice try Jer !!!

Ya Think?...................

 

[Shub]

Silly Question!

I am fairly new at using HDMI connected components and by my own admission don't have a clue really:ROFL:

I want to get the BDP-83 - question about DSD via HDMI vs using the analog outs vs optical to external DAC....

1 - I am assuming that if I send DSD over HDMI to my receiver that this is bypassing any D/A conversion in the Oppo player and the DAC in my receiver will be doing the D/A- is that correct? (its this DSD thing that perplexes me)

2 - I have a Yamaha RX-V1700 receiver - is it safe to assume that the onboard DAC (Cirrus) in the OPPO is higher quality than the DAC(s) in my receiver (Burr-Brown of some sort - Yamaha won't say which model chips) - thoughts - opions)?

3 - I have been thinking about getting a Cambridge Audio DACMagic for a while now - any thoughts on which would be better:
OPPO => analog out to Yamaha
OR
OPPO => digital out => DACMagic => analog out to Yamaha
--- short version - is DACMagic better than the onboard DAC in the OPPO?

Current System:
Speakers:
Vista
Receiver/Pre-amp:
Yamaha RX-V1700 using preamp outs to separate amp for Vista's
Amplifier:
Tube amp - Dynaco based kit - VTA ST-120 - boy was it fun to build - rated at 60WPC - Gold Lion re-issue KT88 tubes - even though only 60WPC seems to handle power hungry ML's without issue!
DVD/CD:
Sony 400 DVD jukebox (don't laugh) - by far the weakest link
Subs
Velodyne HGS-10 (2)

Thanks
Bjarni

 

[DrJRapp]

--- short version - is DACMagic better than the onboard DAC in the OPPO?

Yes, depending what you then put it thru for playback. In your system I would say that playback will be descernably, but marginally better.

In my dedicated theater I have a BDP 083 playing through an Integra DTC 9.8 to an Aragon 5 channel amp & 2 channel amp to Klipsch reference speakers, and I don't think the DAC Magic would make any improvement in the 2 channel cd playback sound of that system, however, in my 2 channel rig, which is considerably more HIGH END it would make a considerable difference.