OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player discussion thread (Part 2)

Agreed. We should not have the discussion in multiple places.

 

Some people equate harshness and "in your face" sound as more detail, and more of a traditional "hi fi"-type sound. I am with you, though--I prefer warmth rather than detail.

 

Pure Audio is a button on the remote that shuts off the video output.

The volume control feature is one of those 'can't please everyone' features. I would imagine it is desirable for folks that want to use the player straight into an amp.

Leaving the volume at 100 is no big deal if you don't want to use this feature.

 

It's your money, but no. I could tell you my experience, but no comparison to your modified unit. Send it back.

 

Try to buy a non-modified unit.

 

How did your unit sound before it was modified?

 

Ok, I'm a bit confused by your answer. Obviously I can't unmodify my unit nor run out to buy a new standard one. Get real. But you stated in a previous post that you could go into more info. Please do. You also stated "Send it back." Have you had a bad experience with EVS? Please give more details. Thank you.

 

Had it shipped new to EVS for mods. So I don't know. Have you had something modified by them?

 

Sam, Is the BDP-83's volume control an attenuator that is off when you are at 100? Thus running at 100 is simpling taking the line out voltage of the BDP-83 the same way you would on a player that has no volume control.

 

Correct.

 

Here are my impressions of the Oppo BDP- 83 SE. First off, I have never owned a really high end dedicated CD player, I have owned several dedicated CD players over the last 25 years, but nothing really high end. Secondly, since the beginning of this century, I have only owned combination players; machines that play SACD/DVD/CD. My last machine was a Marantz universal which I went into from a Sony ES. With this in mind I must say right here that I LOVE my Oppo, it sounds so nice and mellow. What I mean by this is that it is not strident or tinny, it leans more or less towards the laid back side. I love the soundstage of the Oppo compared to every other machine that I have ever owned, it is a little more narrow (focused) and a little deeper. The functions of the machine are exactly what I would have asked for, both video and audio functions. I hated the Marantz; it never played a 4:3 image in 4:3, it always stretched them out to fill the screen. I talked to Marantz at least 6 times on the subject and they were adament that that was what their customers wanted. The Oppo plays everything in its native aspect ratio, and it all looks fine. I have about 450 SACDs, so this machine has been taking a lot of my collection and delivering a very fine sound experience. I highly recommend.

 

How fast is the bootup time on the oppo? How fast do disks load? Is the motor silent or can u hear while discs are playing?

 

From far right field...

I just finished an extended audition period to compare the Resolution Audio Opus 21 system against the Meridian Audio 808.2i and Oppo Digital BDP-83SE. In general, I am writing about vast differences in terms of price, features, and sound quality. The Oppo Digital BDP-83SE lists for $899.00 USD and it is a truly universal player that plays all of the major audio and video formats including Compact Disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, Blu-Ray, Super Video CD, etc. It features the new ESS Sabre32 DACs in which four are stacked for the unbalanced stereo output jacks. Getting onto the sound quality, it has a warm sound with very good detail retrieval in terms of its overall tone. Bass is tight, punchy, and fairly well extended, but it does lack quite a bit of texture and bloom when compared to the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i. The mid-range is warm, smooth, and involving with good texture and balance. I would say that the Oppo BDP-83SE has about 80% of the mid-range sound quality compared to the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and perhaps 70% compared to the Meridian 808.2i. Trebles sound airy and better extended with some distortion and peaky highs especially when replaying CDs; both the Opus 21 and 808.2i trounce the BDP-83SE in this department (among others). The BDP-83SE sound stage is fairly boxed in and imaging is not nearly as precise as the Opus 21 and 808.2i. In terms of PRaT, I would characterize the BDP-83SE as middle of the road: neither too laid back or too fast paced either. The king of PRaT is the Meridian 808.2i followed very closely by the RAO 21. When comparing SA-CD and DVD-Audio to the Compact Disc format, the differences become closer by a smaller margin. Depending upon your music preferences, the BDP-83SE plays Super Audio CD better than DVD-Audio (that's just my humble opinion because I love classical and jazz music). Still, the RAO 21 trounces the BDP-83SE in terms of richness and resolution on CD format than SA-CD and DVD-Audio formats respectively while the Meridian 808.2i just kills both players stone cold (especially when playing DVD-Audio discs). The Oppo Digital BDP-83SE has good dynamic range, but it does indeed sound a bit hemmed in all of the audio formats that it supports compared to both the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i.

Onto the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i, things get much more interesting. In a nutshell, I would honestly say that the Opus 21 gets 95% closer to the 808.2i, but its approach is leaning heavily in the analog vinyl side. The RAO 21 sounds very very close to the state of the art in vinyl playback systems while the Meridian 808.2i is the ultimate digital player that I have auditioned thus far. I thought the differences would be night and day, but they are not as much as I had listened to for the duration of a month now. Let's talk about common characteristics. Both have a laid back, smooth, and transparent overall tone, but the RAO 21 takes it in a vinyl direction to a new level of refinement (at least for solid state digital playback systems is concerned). Both have tight, deep, and textured bass, but the RAO 21 has a slight upper bass bloat while the 808.2i lacks thunderous slam found elsewhere with other digital players. Both have fantastic mid-range that sounds intimate, full-bodied, rich with heaping amounts of pure high resolution that reveals inner details in complex music such as classical and opera genres. Both have airy, extended, and smooth treble, but the Meridian 808.2i takes it a few notches higher than the RAO 21 with greater clarity and resolution. Both have terrific imaging and cast a wide, deep, and tall sound stage, but the Meridian 808.2i takes it further than the RAO 21. In terms of dynamics, the Meridian 808.2i has a wider range with hyper fast speed which makes it slightly superior to the Resolution Audio Opus 21.

In conclusion, the Oppo Digital BDP-83SE is an outstanding high value digital player that lets its owners enjoy the major standard and high resolution audio and video formats with little fuss over configuration settings while still remaining trouble-free in terms of daily usage. Updates to the firmware are announced in a timely manner and upgrading is simple and fast. With the NuForce modification package, existing owners can take their BDP-83SE to a higher level for a premium while knowing that they have the very best truly universal player on the market today. If I were in the market for one do it all digital player, this would be it. The Resolution Audio Opus 21 system is approximately 95% close to the Meridian 808.2i in terms of sound quality, but it is more than 50% off the MSRP. A new Meridian Audio 808.2i costs $16,995.00 USD while the Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD Player, Power Centre, Extra Sources, and S30 power amplifier costs $7,500.00 USD. In terms of features, both are highly upgradeable and future-proof given Meridian Audio's card bus design and Resolution Audio's unique computer centric design. It all comes down to whether you want a warm, rich, smooth, vinyl house sound or a state of the art digital sound when choosing between the RAO 21 or Meridian 808.2i.

I am glad that I had this terrific opportunity to audition these fine digital source components and I hope you learned as much as I did through this extended read. Thank you.

 

New Public Beta available for download today for BDP-83 and BDP-83SE owners that would like to try it out:

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/bdp-83-firmware-50-0323b.aspx

Release Notes

 

The SACD fix is interesting.

 

Not only is it interesting, it fixed the problem I was having with my Oppo. A number of my Analogue Productions SACDs would make nasty crackling noises during play (Chet was one of them). The odd thing was if you were to skip back a replay a track that had the crackles, they would disappear only to reappear in the next track. All gone now. Thank you, Oppo!

 

So cool! I can't wait to test it out... already installed the firmware. What type of files can it play? .MKV?

 

I have several hundred SACDs and play them regularly on my Oppo BDP 83 and I have never experienced anything like this.

 

Has anyone done the hardware region free mod to this player? It looks fairly easy to install.

 

I bought mine from CRT Projectors with the mod already installed, as installing it myself would have voided any warranty.

Works like a charm.

 

Where does one find it?

 

I have. Works great. By the way, the problem with SACDs existed prior to the hardware mod installation.

 

Easiest place to find it is on Ebay, but some guy on Audiogon seems to sell it too.

They have one for the BDP-80 also, it seems.

 

http://www.jvbdigital.nl/jvb.asp?cur=2&level=modifications&page=title&title=1039

 

I now own a BDP-83(a modified code-free version from International Video & Electronics).
Like more than a few BDP-83 owners, I've had the experience of the BDP-83 clipping off one to two seconds at the start of the first song when playing DVD-Audio & Audio-only DTS-CD & DTS-DVD discs via HDMI. In some cases, you can scan backwards and release the scan button and hear the start of the first song intact, but, in some cases even that won't help. I burned the latest official (not Beta)firmware update to CD and installed all of the updates, but the problem persists. CD & SACD playback are not affected by this problem. The BDP-83 is slow to send out the information(via HDMI) about what format is being played(in these cases, DTS audio or DVD-Audio). I may have to live with this problem(I'm playing through an Integra DHC 9.9 A/V Processor).
Fortunately, I have another DVD player in my equipment stack(Denon DVD-3930ci) which plays DVD-Audio & audio-only DTS-CD & DTS-DVD discs perfectly into the Integra A/V processor. I bought the Oppo BDP-83 mainly for its' ability to play SACD's DSD audio via HDMI, and of course, to play Blu-Ray discs(though I don't yet have any,excepting demo/calibration discs included with the unit)
As for the problem playing DVD-Audio & audio-only DTS-CD and DTS-DVD discs on the BDP-83, it's an HDMI "handshake" issue that Oppo is "investigating", though they don't have any solution at this point.