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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
audphile1's avatar
audphile1 OP
1,368 posts
 
Thanks K.
I auditioned Bel Canto DAC3 at home and really liked its sound. Also, the Benchmark I tried was several years ago and it wasn't the newer version. May be I'll give the new version a try if they offer home audition.
BTW, I don't recall Stereophile reviewing Bel Canto DAC2. i think they just did a review of DAC1. DAC2 and DAC3 to me are totally different animals. DAC3 offers versiatility that DAC2 did not. Also, DAC3 is balanced, which is improtant for me because I run the system balanced. I just think that the DAC3 fits the bill. Both performance and price wise.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Sounds like a great plan to me, and the transport will be....?
audphile1's avatar
audphile1 OP
1,368 posts
 
I'll give Oppo a try if I can't find a cd player I can use as a transport.
lngbruno
210 posts
 
Sorry for the late response, but Dave aka Dcstep wrote, “So, let me get this straight, you used the Oppo as a transport running through the DAC 3 and it wasn't even close to the Rega through the DAC 3?”

Correct.

Audphile1, IIWY I would find a different transport to use than the Oppo, seriously. You must know someone who will lend you one of their spares...we all have back-ups. LOL
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Thanks for the follow-up Lngbruno. That finding is VERY interesting to me. My Playback Designs has an Esoteric VOSP transport, reputed to be one of the very best available and the Oppo gives me roughly 90% of what I get using the PD's internal transport. The difference is some added solidity in the bass and a slight increase in image size going to the PD transport.

I'm not disputing your finding, just observing that with the PD's DAC the diffences caused by transports seems to be greatly reduced. There's a jitter correction process in the PD's DAC that may account for this. PD claims zero jitter using the internal transport, but I haven't read anything about jitter correction from other sources. If they're accomplishing that with external sources, then that could explain the small difference.

Don't get me wrong, it's not so small that I wouldn't use the PD at every chance. However, it is small enough that if I hadn't heard the PD with it's internal transport I probably would have been with the PD's DAC driven by an Oppo.

Dave
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