Oppo BDP-95 as a pure two channel audio source?

When taking advice on this topic, don't listen to anyone's comparison of two different units UNLESS they have played them side by side, at the same time, in the same system, with the same disk, with a level-matched preamp. Too often you'll hear "XYZ is sooooo much better than abc" by someone who may never even have heard both of them, or not in the same system, let alone the rest of it. Often they will sound very similar. The only definitive review I have seen (and I'm sorry I don't recall where) was a session at Mike Lavigne's where they did properly compare two players (in this case it was the Oppo as well) with his Playback Design piece at $15k, and while they said the latter was better the Oppo still sounded very good. I have compared (side by side) the Ayre CX-5 against the Meridian G08, the Oppo against a cheaper Denon, a Sony SCD-777ES against some other cheaper players, and always the sound was much more similar than it was different. Don't always buy the hype.

Your point is well taken Jimmy2615, however, while that type of head-to-head would certainly be ideal, I'm not sure how accessible a comparison of that nature would be to most potential buyers. Realistically, I think most of us are left to judge a particular components' sound based on what we've heard previously, which admittedly, is most certainly fallible. That said, not having heard either the Oppo or the reference piece you cite in Mikes' comparison above, I'm not sure what that that tells me about either player, i.e. is the Oppo that good or is the $15K piece that bad? For the sake of curiosity, which did you like better, the Ayre or Meridian? Also, just to be clear, was it your impression that the Oppo sounded to be on par with the cheaper Denon? Thanks

Distance isn't the only consideration when talking about balanced. Ask anyone with an Ayre AX7e. It depends on the design.

I have considerable experience with the BDP-95 as a 2 channel source. It has been in my system against a host of DAC's including Eastern Electric Minimax, NAD M51,BDP83se modded, Metrum Octave, Tranquility and others.

The way I used the BDP-95 ultimately was run an HDMI cable to the NAD. This gave me a I2S interface and was quite good.

I've moved on to higher ground (still have the 95 for SACD duty) and now I'm comparing a Mac mini fed by a Kora power supply to a CAPs server fed by the same Kora power supply but with a USB card that re-clocks and performs some other magic. This plays in a different league and it should given the $2K NAD and the $$ power supply server combo.

The Oppo is a wonderful machine in my opinion. The DAC is good, on par with the Minimax and a few others I played it against but to be honest it was apples to oranges. Depending upon setup the Oppo had a narrow soundstage but a solid central image whereas the EE had a wider soundstage with greater separation but singers also got diffuse. With the EE tube employed it softened too much in my system. Yet in other systems (last night I heard that same EE in a different system) and it showed a very solid image and was better with the tube employed.

So DAC's seem to play different in different systems. Shouldn't be surprised but I was.

So what do you do. I've been fortunate to be able to audition many DAC's and setups in my system with the baseline being the Oppo. The Oppo was the cheaper of the routes I had but it was certainly great until I discovered the outboard DAC's and the magic they can possess. In the end, your pocket book will decide.

One thing I hated about the Oppo was its interface. I use an outboard hard drive to stream my library. If Oppo came up with a good interface, it wouldn't even be fair considering how good for the money this player is.

Probably more information you wanted to know. As usual, my 2 cents worth.

Appreciate the detail Desalvo55, thank you. My real question is how does the Oppo 95 stack up, (in terms of audiophile standards) as a pure, two channel red book cd player? Which from what I'm hearing, is a question by it's very nature that misses the point of the Oppos' designed intention. The intent being the 95/105 is a player targeted to those video and computer entushiast who will make the most of it's features and not the dedicated two audiophile who may be better served to look along the lines of Ayre, Esoteric, or in my case, sticking with the Bryston BCD-1. Thanks