Listening to a DSD download of Holly Cole on the near field setup.  For this application I doubt there is a better amplifier on the planet!  I've not heard a vinyl player that is much better than this!  Having said that, I accept that vinyl can be addictive if a person has the bank to invest in a quality rig.

Thanks to all the many people who have guided this music lover on this journey!

Lin, I immediately heard this in my head when reading your post.

Inside anyone's head, including our own, can be a scary place to be
sometimes---

I just realized I have no DSD files on my network, and I want to test that feature on my Oppo-BDP 105 to see how it works with those files.

A quick google and I found this:  http://dsd-guide.com/free-downloads

I'm downloading the free samples now and I'll test them when I get home from work late tonight.

Thanks for the reminder!

LR,
Check this out if you did not know about it,

http://www.oppodigital.com/hra/dsd-by-davidelias.aspx

Oppo has been on my radar for quite some time.  In that I'm now vested in the DSD deal I guess waiting a little longer won't hurt.

The only component missing here is a silver disk spinner.  Presently the only part here is the little Apple ripper and I'm sure Oppo could improve on that.

Quote:


I hear ya ... which is why I still use a PC that's dedicated to music and movie playback.  JRiver MC 19 is the bomb (do people still use that phrase? ) and carries it's own room correction software.  I have no doubt the Oppo will get there though ~ an interesting combo would be a JRiver version that came installed with the Oppo. Hmmm, if the Oppo came with a version of Windows and JRiver installed with a 2TB hard drive it would kill off an entire industry

Oppo will soon be launching a new headphone amp/DAC. Some people on another board are really looking forward to it.

http://www.oppodigital.com/future/HA-1_Headphone_Amplifier.aspx

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/attachments/f6-dac-digital-analog-conversion/8...

If this sounds good to someone it seems this one could be the answer to a CSP preamp and ZMA: connect all your digital components to this, use the other input for the phono preamp, there you go.

I wish Oppos I've heard had impressed me analog out-wise but those I have really haven't. No question they are technological marvels at great price points. But I was looking for SACD and Blu-ray players and prefered the sound of the Sony ES models and the Denon 100th Anniversary ones.

But then again, I'm not using files (hate the damned things) so that may explain a lot.

Quote:


I would like to read that article ... is the article online and/or do happen to have a link for it?  

I have a BDP 95, but have been contemplating purchasing either the 105 (or 103 as I already have a DAC that I like quite a bit, so I was figuring maybe I could get away with the 103) ...

Stereophile October 2013 -

Oppo BDP-105: $1199
Oppo BDP-103: $499 $$$
Oppo’s latest universal disc players offer a host of
versatile and powerful features. The BDP-103 has
two HDMI inputs; two HDMI outputs; a DLNAcompatible
Ethernet port; three USB ports to handle
hi-rez audio, video, and picture files; and an RJ-45 jack
to access the Internet for audio and video streaming. It
offers bass management, channel-balance and -delay
settings, and remote control of input selection and
volume. In a larger, heavier chassis, the BDP-105 adds
three digital inputs (asynchronous USB-B and S/
PDIF on coax and TosLink) and has two eight-channel
Sabre32 ES9018 DAC chips—one for its 7.1-channel
RCA output, the other for its dedicated two-channel
outputs on RCA and XLR jacks. Compared with
the ’103, the ’105 sounded cleaner, smoother, and
more detailed, regardless of source or number of
channels, said KR. Though the ’103 was “no slouch,”
Kal was more impressed by the more versatile ‘105.
“I know of no other high-quality player with such
a comprehensive feature set,” he said, deciding that
Class B was appropriate for the ’103. A free firmware
upgrade provides multichannel DSD capability and
supports exFAT drives, but doesn’t currently offer
gapless playback of DSD files. KR was thrilled: “The
electricity and communication I experienced were
unprecedented.” (Vol.36 Nos.5 & 7 WWW)

After reading posts from a jazz lover on a jazz board or two that has an all Levinson system, I would hope Oppo isn't the poor man's Levinson. This guy hates the sound of almost every cd he puts on, only audiophile stuff seems "okay" to him. I'd hate that, I'd sell it in his shoes but he thinks it's the world's best and cd manufacturers are plotting against him putting out all these releases he can't enjoy. Sigh.

I'm not a fan of the Sabre DAC sound and Oppos haven't really impressed me much but you can't beat the features for the buck ratio. . . if the features are useful to you. (For me, not so much).

SE34!.3 owners: would you say that the amps are "somewhat forgiving?" I wonder if they still share that characteristic; my .2 was and it made my listening to so much of my collection really nice.

Thanks. My .2 was definitely more forgiving in comparison to the Rev. A Zen amp and the Select and the SE34  Monooblock Decware amps I had before. Not immensely so in that it didn't color or veail much at all, but it did sweeten the high end and open the midrange up a bit more which aided my worst recordings to be just a bit more than they were. It was all digital for me at that time, if I was doing vinyl it was in a B&O system.

My guess is that the .3 IS a bit less so than the .2--that is the direction that the Decware amps seem (to me) to take as they are progressing through model numbers: more and more clarity and precision. For me that's not always the best path to musical satisfaction. But they're all amazing amps.

No doubt, analog would be a great path to follow with the SE in mind. I miss it. In the meantime, I am loving the fact that I can use digital source and get away with it. So much so, that I forget the source am amazed by the music.