Am I deaf?

Back in the day when the first Bryston DAC was made. Rave reviews both TAS and Stereophile. I bought one $2300.. To replace my old mid 90's bought used for $250 DAC. Sell, I listened and I listened and no better. I returned the new DAC after about three weeks on 24/7.         
After over seven years gone by, same dealer suggests I try Marantz SA-10. Borrow it. Hey it actually is better. So I buy the $7000 device.I suggest magazines have a vested interest in over-hyping new stuff.And particularly DACs can be tough to find one that REALLY is a lot better. most are similar sounding.. Unless you have a way high end system... Cables, power cords, tubes, phono cartridges all have far more differences than the DACs out there.

One other small point. The digital out of the Oppo if never used before... May need breaking in, even though the player has been in use for years. Not so the digital out .Give it a few weeks of use. THEN see how they compare.
When I hooked up a used but new to me changer to digital RCA out .it SUCKED. (I have a feeling the over 20 year old player had never been used with digital out, ever) and was not good for at least a week of all day playing. But now it is just fine.

Many/most players have a switch or menu item to turn it off if not in use. Left on, not in use adds a ton of spewed hash...