Oppo DVD player...

[Dreamer]

The Oppo DV-981HD arrived this evening. After about an hour of critical listening I can only say wow.

Granted it's brand new--needs a LOT of break-in time I think. But first impressions, right out of the box, are that it is VERY detailed, has tremendously tight bass, very fast attack, and a lot of air.

It's not at all a "laid-back" CD player. This CD player has attitude--it's not so much brash or in-your-face, just really THERE. Very detailed, and sort of right in your personal space. Like I said, it needs a few days of break-in, but it's a lot more agressive than the old Sony (which is a VERY laid-back player).

I think I like it. Pianos don't sound nearly as harsh as the Sony. Guitars and strings are VERY "stringy"--meaning that you can really hear the harmonics and fretwork and other subharmonic details.Voices are very nice--smooth, sweet, and open. Drums are shockingly tight and well-placed. Oh yeah, this thing has a VERY sharp, deep and wide soundstage.

I'll definitely keep y'all posted...

--Richard

 

[Craig]

I've been using one for a short while in my HT system and pleased with it's performance. I haven't done much critical listening with it yet but using mainly as DVD for video. The video is very good upscaled to 720p. Plenty of detail and color on my DLP TV. HD-DVD is another step up in video quality but for typical DVDs it's great and there is a plethora of DVDs to choose from and they are going to be around for a long time.

Soon I'll put the Oppo to the test for pure 2 channel audio in my 2 channel system and see how it stacks up there. For the low cost of these players it certainly is a great buy and there are already some modification upgrades available for these.

To be honest, mine has not been perfect with an occasional instance of requiring a reboot but that is only a minor inconvience.

Someday I'll make the move to HD-DVD or maybe even Blu-Ray but the Oppo is going to be the player for me for some time to come.

 

[TomDac]

what has to break in on a CD player (he says unknowingly)?

 

[Pcar928fan]

what has to break in on a CD player (he says unkowingly)?

Was wondering the same thing...

 

[Dreamer]

OK, maybe "break in" wasn't a good term. Perhaps I should have said "burn in". I don't know. Any solid state component sounds better after 2 or 3 days of running signal. Amps, Preamps, cd players, etc. At least that is my experience. Don't know why, not doing to speculate. But my ears tell me that if you run signal thorugh a new component non-stop for a day or two, it will sound different (usually smoother and better integrated with the reast of the system) than the day I took it out of the box...

Tubes, speakers, and turntables, this makes more empirical sense--they are mechanical things, (or heat/resistance) and actually do have a "burn-in/break-in" period, where things get loosened up or warmed up or whatever.

I don't know why, but I know it is...

--Richard

 

[TheBobGoat]

I really dont understand the break in thing too much either - people say that there is a difference, but I cant really tell. maybe our perception as listeners changes.

My hearing tests out at much much better than average (really good ears) and I played music for 10 years (really good tone/perception) - and even when I auditioned my amps, I knew there were differences, but wasnt sure what was 'the' sound that I was looking for.

Thats why when the guys selling them told me they needed to break in, i took it with a grain of salt...noted the small differences between what I had and what I auditioned, then mailed them both back to the stores.

2 cents - explanations ?

 

[DTB300]

I really dont understand the break in thing too much either - people say that there is a difference, but I cant really tell. maybe our perception as listeners changes.

As debatable as cables.

Some swear components, cables, etc. change over time, the other side of the fence states that you become acustomed to it over time. The only TRUE way to determine if something does change, is to own two of them. Use one for awhile, then compare to the new one. I was able to compare two cables against each other in just such a case, and the used cable did sound different than the new one (blind testing) - just as the owner of the company said it would.

There are some components that engineers will say do change over time, like capacitors. But again, this debate has always had two camps, the yea and nay.

Dan

 

[Beat_Dominator]

My Forte amp needs "warm up time" for sure. It idles at like 90 degrees F and does sound "off" if you play it cold.

Just my 2 cents on that one


Back to the topic. The Oppo is a godsend because it can show what level of performance can be had with more basic build quality.

 

[Pcar928fan]

My Forte amp needs "warm up time" for sure. It idles at like 90 degrees F and does sound "off" if you play it cold.

Just my 2 cents on that one


Back to the topic. The Oppo is a godsend because it can show what level of performance can be had with more basic build quality.

My Marshall JCM600 with Dual 12" woofers is the same way...I usually turn it on before I get my guitar out that I am going to play with and by the time I have that out and hooked up the amp is warm enough to jam...

 

[jtwrace]

My Forte amp needs "warm up time" for sure. It idles at like 90 degrees F and does sound "off" if you play it cold.

Just my 2 cents on that one


Back to the topic. The Oppo is a godsend because it can show what level of performance can be had with more basic build quality.

my pass labs amp is the exact same way. Gordon Gray take note of this for your new pass. Warm up is very important. It usually takes 30 min of idle and 15 min of playing to sound just right.

 

[risabet]

Some of the break in phenomenon is our adapting to the sound of new components but I also believe that components change over time, specifically I believe that the capacitors change the most. Dieletric constants stabilize and caps form. Personally my tube amps definitely sound better after 1/2 hours on than they do cold. YMMV.

 

[Beat_Dominator]

Has anyone seen the $1200+ modded Oppo players on Audiogon? I'm pretty skeptical that it could out perform something like the Rega Apollo at that price.....

 

[jtwrace]

one more note on the warmup/break-in. Don't forget it does take time for your ears to warm up, as crazy as that sounds. It's true.

 

[MiTT]

When I worked in the telecom industry we had a number of products where we performed "burn in" at the factory because the measurable performance of the product would change over the course of 150-200 hours.

Hate to say it, but we also measured diferences in the directionality of cables as well. Not trying to stir up a bunch of debate, just saying what we experienced in the lab, granted, at very high transmission rates.

 

[lugano]

Burn-in for electronics and break-in for loudspeakers are a fact - no rocket science involved, just common sense. I never go into the office for 8 hours or more with a new pair of shoes either. But there are shoes and shoes - there's a difference in break-in between a Nike sport shoe and a leather, hand-made italian shoe. Back to HiFi, the real point is: can the rest of your gear underline the differences ? (On this forum, with the kind of stuff we all have, probably yes... ) Can you hear it, and how much of it is real, how much is auto-suggestion ? It all depends on too many factors, IMHO, but it's there.
There are anyway brands and models which require really long times (my AKG 701 headphones and my PS Audio stuff, for example) and others that do not show significant improvement over time, so there's no absolute truth, timing and parameters on this topic. And there's the contrary of it, too - think about a comparison involving your Gillette or Wilkinson shaving blades and the tubes in your gear. Day after day they die, the performance degrades but you get used to it, till one day you realize that something IS wrong and you go for a substitution.

 

[Reverb2009]

Has anyone seen the $1200+ modded Oppo players on Audiogon? I'm pretty skeptical that it could out perform something like the Rega Apollo at that price.....

I was looking at a company called Reference Audio Mods last night, they Mod Oppo's for around $800.00. I wonder how a Modded Oppo would stand up agents a player like the Pioneer 79avi or Denon 3930?

http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/M...ppo_Units&Category_Code=MODS&Product_Count=39

 

[Craig]

There are some components that engineers will say do change over time, like capacitors. But again, this debate has always had two camps, the yea and nay.

Electrical components do change over time. Some more than others. If they didn't, then they would never wear out and would simply last forever. Capacitors are just one example and certainly do change over an undetermined amount of time and eventually just die out. There is a period of time where they operate at peak performance during thier lifetime and thier peak may not necessarily occur when they are brand new.

The engineering and work that goes into all this amazes me. I'd love to see a documentary explaining how audio components are designed, tested and assembled. Electrical engineering is a highly complex field and a musical signal is a very delicate, precise and fragile electrical signal. It's all way beyond my knowledge and skill to try and second guess what is exactly occurring inside all the black boxes and cables connecting everything.

As far as I'm concerned it may as well be magic. Somehow, it all manages to recreate beautiful music in my home.

 

[TheBobGoat]

I will buy everything you guys are saying about the changes - Since I dont have the luxury of listening to burned in vs non burned in equipment in an A/B environment I may not hear it for a while.
Thanks for all of the inputs though!

 

[lugano]

Bob , the only important thing to keep in mind is that brand new, out-of-the-box gear (or things that stayed a long time with no electric signal running through them) might change its performance with use, eventually stabilizing itself in its definitive track. If I had a HiFi shop, I would leave everything on, playing music, 24/24 hours a day so that my customers really listen to what they potentially could buy. Alas, such is mostly not the case... Go to a shop (maybe with wife) and listen to a brand new pair of summits, 1 meter apart from each other and 1 inch from the back wall and even your dog will run away. Meanwhile wife screams "$ 10k for THAT ? are you nuts ? foggetaboutit". This is the only problem, an expectation that does not deliver. And the solution is to allow time to do its job.

 

[kcl]

I was looking at a company called Reference Audio Mods last night, they Mod Oppo's for around $800.00. I wonder how a Modded Oppo would stand up agents a player like the Pioneer 79avi or Denon 3930?

http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/M...ppo_Units&Category_Code=MODS&Product_Count=39

Just as a note, I looked at the site and the $800+ is for brand new, modded units. If you send them a unit, the mods are $625.