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Oppo as transport

Looking to hear from those who have tried Oppo DVD player(any model) as a dedicated transport to feed an outboard DAC.

1. How is the performance of this DVD player as a transport?
2. What DAC are you using with it?
3. What have you compared the Oppo to?
4. What is the reason why I would need to go with a dedicated transport instead of the Oppo.

In addition to the Oppo, I will also be running a Squeezebox connected to the DAC3(or whatever dac I decide on).

I've been contemplating to put together a digital front end consisting of Oppo(probably their mid-line model) as a transport with most likely Marigo or Virtual Dynamics digital cable, into Bel Canto DAC3. Just looking for ways to have more flexibility than I have now with a dedicated CD player.

I used to have Bel Canto DAC2 with Sony DVP-S7700 dvd player as a transport. I liked that combo and Sony was a very good transport.

If anyone did any comparison between Oppo and any other dvd player, or a dedicated transport, please share your thoughts.

Thank You.
128x128audphile1
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
Yes I've heard similar arguments about super $1/ft cables from Home Depot and diabolic secret arrangements between reviewers and manufacturers. Somebody even suggested that millions of audiophiles enjoying expensive cables must be under some kind of hypnosis. I can only say that I had $10, $100 and $1k speaker cables and there is a huge difference. What is happening inside of the cable is extremely complicated and I don't know what makes sound "silky" for example or why some interconnects add bass extension.
As for reviews in Stereophile - nothing is bad in absolute terms but they are pointing to differences between different brands like "This speaker has better extension but is more forward and has less precise imaging". I'm not saying that puting $1k into cables is better than into speakers but it's wise to put about 10% of total value into cables. There is a difference.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
Audphile - Your are right. I won't mention cables again.
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
Audphile - let me answer point number 4 of your original post. Dedicated transports, often very expensive, offer very low jitter of digital signal. Average cheap player exhibits up to 3ns peak jitter what corresponds to about -85dB in sidebands it creates. Sidebands are very audible in-spite of extremely low levels, because they are not harmonically related to root frequencies. It creates "fuzzy" sound.
Many modern Dacs like Benchmark DAC1 have jitter suppression built in and almost completely ignore jitter (Benchmark has 3 Hz jitter bandwidth). Other than jitter and better mechanics I don't know of any other difference between expensive dedicated transport and cheap DVD player as long as it is bit transparent. DVD player might even have better tracking.
audphile1's avatar
audphile1 OP
1,368 posts
 
Kijanki thanks. I don't like Benchmark dac. Tried it. Not to my liking.

I know about cables. I've experienced a big difference switching from Acoustic Zen Silver Bites to Virtual Dynamics Master when I had the Bel Canto DAC2. That was something I wasn't ready for.

Anyway, if I decide to proceed with the plan I had in mind, I think I will give Oppo a try.

Thanks
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
3,575 posts
 
Audphile - Benchmark should not be sensitive to cables at least in theory. Early Benchmark used Phillips OP-Amps before factory burned down. After that Texas Instr. bought license and started making them with increased die size. Phillips OP-Amps sounded tiny while TI amps sound rounder. Early Benchmarks had way to high output impedance on RCA outputs. I'm not advertising Benchmark - according to review in Stereophile newer Bel Canto DAC sounds a little better (more organic) but costs twice more. I think I heard something as well about built-in jitter suppression. Be sure that you take this into account. Dual PLL and FIFO buffers won't help if internal clock has jitter.

My Benchmark serves as preamp as well driving power amp directly - it saves a lot of money (preamp, ICs) and simplifies - less is better.
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