Oppo BDP-83 optical out for 2ch stereo from blu-r?


OK, this may be a dumb question, but for the best sound from blu-ray (or dvd) discs should I go with the Oppo 83's analog stereo outs to my preamp, or use it's optical digital output into my outboard dac? Note that I do not have muti-channel capability, my stereo rig is 2 channel only. I am using the Oppo 83 for blu-ray, not as a cd player. For example, a concert on blu-ray disc. Would a HMDI audio de-embedder (hmdi-to-optical digital spdif) converter be something I should look into? Any advice on how to get the best 2 channel sound out of the blu-ray player would be appreciated.
Thanks!
heymikey
Sounds like you should use the digital out then.

I am doing the same with my Blu-Ray/HD DVD player with two channel PCM output over coax into my EMM Labs XDS1 CDP and it works extremely well. There is no need for a two channel specific track in your Blu-rays, every Blu-Ray player will down mix a multichannel Blu-Ray lossless soundtrack properly to two channel and should output to PCM 24/96 over coax or toslink for processing by a DAC. Further, the Oppo is said to offer a superior two channel down mix.
Znak_m
Of course you can, as long as you set the oppo in the audio menu to 24/96 as your output on the digital outs, you should have an option to out at least 16/48, 24/96, and I am not sure with the new oppo model but probably has capability to even output and upsample anything to 24/192...Which by the way it will upsample even a 16/44 CD to 16/48 or 24/96 with no problem as well so you can try it all ways to find out what you like or don't like about each.

However the second half of the equation and more import is does you dac truly support 24/96 or 24/192 at the input? Also you could have an upsampling DAC which means it takes the 16.44 or 16/48 signal from your transport and does its own upsampling automatically or by a switch on your DAC unit depending on the make and design. Also if your Dac only accepts a standard 16/44 or 48 at the input receiver chip and you set the oppo to output a higher rate it may reject it and not lock on at all meaning you could get a bit of a nasty sound thru your speakers or not work at all.

You will have to experiment to see what works best on your end unless you already know all your gear is capable.
Hi, I have question that the old oppo bdp 83 will accept direct 24/96 or 24/196 recoreded cd's or dvd?
Here's what Oppo says in the manual:
"Due to bandwidth limitations, high resolution audio formats such as Dolby Digital plus, Dolbt TrueHD, DTS-HD High Resolution and DTS-HD Master Audio cannot be sent through the coaxial or optical digital output. A reduced resolution version of the same audio track will be output instead."
Also:
"The stereo audio out terminals (analog) will always provide a down-mixed stereo signal from multi channel sources. The "Down Mix" and other speaker settings in the Audio Processing Setup Menu do not affect the (analog) Stereo Audio Out."
And there is this from Oppo's customer service:
"For the best audio in a two channel configuration you will want to use the dedicated stereo output of the BDP-83. Digital coaxial or optical will use the lossy, Core Dolby Digital and DTS from Blu-rays, which is inferior to the DTS-HD Master and Dolby Digital TrueHD you can get from the analog outputs."
I take all this to mean that there is reduced resolution audio from the digital optical output. Now, that digital output would surely benefit from being processed in an outboard dac. However, they are also saying that lossless formats such as Dolby Digital True HD and DTS-HD Master can be output through the analog stereo outputs, but through a downmix if the original format was multi-channel. Obviously the only way to put this to rest is to do an A/B comparison, AND one has to make sure that the settings in the Oppo's audio menu are correct for each format.
BTW, SACD will play through either HMDI or the analog stereo output connections only.
Am doing the A/B listening now, connected the analog outputs with a 3m pair of Kimber Hero's. So far, the toslink into the Weiss Dac2 (it does have a toslink input after all, duh) sounds better than the analog output direct to the preamp, which does not utilize the outboard Weiss dac. When you switch back & forth, the toslink connection is quite a bit louder and I have to adjust the volume as I do so. The toslink connection sounds more dynamic, I would imagine due to it's connection to the dac. The analog connection seems a little more laid back, possibly with a bit darker sound. I'll have to do some more listening, and be sure my audio setting are correct.
Thanks to all!