2. home-theater
  3. 1243691352

Best Blu-Ray ANALOG Output - Under $1000?

I am ready to buy a Blu-Ray player and am hoping to get a good CD playing boost in the package (currently I use a consumer-level Sony DVD as a transport with optical digital output to my NAD T770 which utilizes Burr-Brown 18 Bit DACs).

I know the Denon DVD-1800BD is a $500 player that utilizes twin 24Bit Burr-Brown DACs. Some of Sony's players (the new BDP-S360 as an example) also advertize as utilizing 24Bit Audio DAC (how many, what type??).

The Oppo option sounds like it could be a home-run...as it would be great to add SACD capability as well...but when will it be released??

Please offer-up your opinions on any of the above or other hidden gems...Sony ES, etc. My priorities are great analog sound output 1st, up-to-date sound processing (seemingly changes weekly) second, SACD capability third, and internet streaming capability fourth (not required but would be nice).

Thanks for your help folks!

Mark
mwilliford
mwilliford OP
12 posts
 
Thanks to everyone for all the good feedback. I wish I were not tainted by the old days of Pioneer...looks like a nice option. I'll wait a bit longer and see if the Oppo comes out. Otherwise I need to get over the stale Pioneer stigmas of the past.

Mark
jimmy3993
138 posts
 
I got my oppo yesterday.
Letting it run in a bit. Will post thoughts.
Another feature that it offers is a pair of usb inputs. I can get uncompressed files from a flash drive into the oppo and out to my benchmark dac (I have the old one without usb input).
All in all, a pretty nift feature set but it will need to run a while. And I suspect that I will have to run in the stereo and multi ch analog outs seperatly.
mwilliford OP
12 posts
 
Looking forward to your reports. What brand/type are the audio DACs in the OPPO?

Kind Regards,

Mark
jimmy3993
138 posts
 
The dacs are:
D/AC: Two-channel Cirrus CS4398 DAC for Discrete Stereo; Eight-channel CS4382A DAC for Multi-Channel Analog.

I will confess to not knowing what to make of that.

Impressions right out of the box: Redbook via the analog stereo output is listenable but lean relative to the digital output from the player to a benchmark dac1. But I will try and run it for a week as full time as I can and report back.
mwilliford OP
12 posts
 
Thanks for the report back Jimmy. Do you know the speed/bit-rate of the Cirrus DAC's?

Also, any experience with SACDs on this player or in general?

Kind Regards,

Mark
More to discover