Oppo UDP - 205

I have the Oppo 203 and 205. 

203 is used for bedroom

205 is used for Cinema room.

Merlot DAC is used as my current reference, which will be replaced by a New upcoming DAC priced at 24K from Playback design. Prioror to that I had the MSB DACS, Platinum and Analog. Both of them were sold in favior for Playback design.

The 205 is used for my main Cinema room but I have connected it to my 2 Channel system for a few days. Sat one evening compared it to my Merlot which im selling btw to upgrade to the New Dream Series Playback will be rolling out in a few months.

The Merlot is smoother sounding, Bass is way more defined. the Sound stage is larger with the Playback design. The emotions of the music takes you over.

The oppo is just as transparent as the Playback design but it sounds flatter, less evolving. The bass is not as defined but feels a little boomy at times.

If my Merlot sell I will use my Oppo 205 but not looking forward to this. I don't seem to like the sound for 2 channel music. For Cinema room stuff the oppo is an excellent gear.

less evolving, or less involving?
if the former, what do you mean?

Bottom line - the OPPO 205 universal disc player/DAC is not quite as good as a $6k purpose built DAC, right?

Nor many cheaper.

Dave

@dlcockrum

I like your witticism :)

As to your statement, I cannot recall or care to link to the specific post, but if memory serves there is at least one fellow on the AVS Forum UDP-205 Owners Thread who purportedly has extremely expensive gear (100K+) and not only gave a thumbs up to the 205 but touted it as best he has heard (paraphrasing). Just saying...

Keep in mind, I grant you and others that at face value, the Oppo UDP-205 should be no match against purpose built DACs costing twice or more the 205 and manufactured by already established high-end companies. On the other hand, stranger things in life have happened.

Hi gdhal,

People post all sorts of things - some true, some not. No doubt in my mind there are more satisfied owners (and even die-hard supporters) of Oppos than any other brand, and for good reasons. One is that they likely sell more than anyone else (excepting the Best Buy-type Blu Ray players), another is that they look and perform superbly and, thirdly, Oppo has good customer support and a great marketing strategy - extremely high value and functionality for HT users and music lovers that want something audibly and visually better than the mass-market commodity products at a palatable price, and they tightly control their distribution network to eliminate price slashing, leaving existing owners with good resale value when the new products come out, thus insuring that many will upgrade as their new products are introduced. Gotta love that. Smart.

All I’m really getting at is that there are lots of great digital products out there, more every day, and many offer superior sound quality at a price, as well they should for the extras $$. Should one choose to stay with the Oppo and be happy staying put, it’s a win. Should one choose to opt for upgrading to a better DAC product (not DAC chip!) for two-channel critical listening and use the outstanding transport (and possibly but less outstanding its streaming capabilities) as a source to the DAC along with the outstanding video/multichannel functionality for HT, it’s a win. Seems Oppo owners can’t loose! Just don’t buy the hype about the Oppo trashing the better DAC products on sound quality without trying one or a few yourself. Fair enough?

Dave