I’ve owned the 83SE, the 95, the 105, and was in the pre-rollout wave for the 205.
Since comparative questions have been asked , I also have the Schiit Yggdrasil as my primary DAC and I have the Exogal Comet-Plus - Ion combo as well.
My reasons for bringing the 205 in were very specific and unique to my situation..which doesn’t mirror the 205’s usual usage by the vast majority of 205 owners.
I will state that I have not been a big fan of the previous generation Sabre Chips as implemented in general. For the older Oppos, I did / do like the audio signature and lived with it, but didn’t love it.
I have found all Oppos that I have owned to be fantastic products from a fantastic company that punch way, way above their street price. Their business model is worth emulating, their customer support is exemplary, and product quality outstanding.
The Sabre 9038 implementation has come a long ways, for my ears and preferences. It is the first Oppo DAC output I could be happy with and enjoy in stock form. And if modded, could very well serve as the only DAC I might need.
I also believe it is unwise to compare the DAC of the 205 to "well thought of" stand-alone DACs in say the 1.5K and above range. To me it is an unfair comparison, given all the other functionality the Oppo brings to the table.
For the 205, I only evaluated the USB in and Optical in. This was conducted after the Oppo was fully run-in for a week (Oppo recommends about a day). The system was exactly the same for the Yggy and the Oppo. The Ion is a dedicated amplifier for the Comet, so in this case the amp was different. All other aspects were the same. I utilized the stereo XLR analog outs for the Oppo.
Please keep these parameters in mind since my evaluation was for a very specific and narrow purpose and to fill a temporary niche in my system.
With USB in (same chain in for all three components) the Yggy was clearly better to my ears, as was the Exogal Comet Plus. The difference was not night and day, but I could clearly tell what I preferred. In other words, I did not need an extended back and forth parsing to come to a conclusion.
Optical in was very poor in comparison. Something may have been off with my particular unit’s optical input/processing, because it should not have been so dramatically bad in comparison to the Yggy and Comet.
To be sure I was making the right decision, I lived with the 205 in my system for two days after conducting my evaluations and came back to the other components for a few days. I then ran the 205 again after that for another day of listening just to be sure, once again.
I did return the 205 since it did not meet my needs. Please note, that in no way am I saying that I did not like the 205. I am saying it didn’t do what I needed it to do for my particular situation and that I preferred my primary DAC.
I see the 205 being brought back into my system in the future when I can fully take advantage of all that it offers.
In the meantime, I have a 105 sitting unused which I can bring into my system should I need to fill that temporary role until my HT is set up properly.
