OPPO BDP-105 Universal Audiophile 3D Blu-ray Player

• Universal Blu-ray disc player with Blu-ray, DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio, CD, VCD, HDCD, AVCHD, MP4, AVI, and MKV support
• SABRE32 Reference Audio DAC, Headphone Amplifier, USB DAC input, Toroidal Power Supply, 2.0/5.1/7.1 and XLR outputs
• Dual HDMI Inputs and Outputs, MHL-Compatibility, 3 USB Inputs, DLNA (DMP & DMR), SMB/CIFS, Wireless N, RS232 & IR
• 4k Up-conversion, 2D-to-3D Conversion, True 24p Video, Vertical Stretch Mode, Advanced Picture Controls
• Faster startup and disc loading speed with dual-core processor; Updated Qdeo Video Processor; Internet Streaming

Thought I was looking for a new pre-pro or receiver until this came along. As a very happy owner of an Oppo BDP-93 but in need of some additional capabilities as my Outlaw 950 pre-pro was getting very long in the tooth and my ancient Carver C-1 stereo preamp had no way to decode the Dolby Digital from the new TV (no analog outs!).

Then what to my wondering eyes should appear but an audiophile grade blu-ray player (not just blu-ray virtually everything, SACD, DVD-A, etc.) with pre-pro capabilities, accepting inputs from external devices and able to act as standalone high quality DAC as well. Unless you have a plethora of gear you may find as I did that you can use this BDP-105 to directly drive your power amps and act as your main processor and preamp. Streaming (wired or wireless) from DLNA or SMB shares and handling many file formats including .flac and .mkv. All this in addition to possibly the best blu-ray and upsampling output you'll ever feed your display.

Buy OPPO BDP-105 Universal Audiophile 3D Blu-ray Player Now

I know of no other player that can compete at this price range and you have to spend more than 10K (Ayre, MSB technology) to better the sound. Regarding CD playback, this player holds its own with high end players costing several times more. My Wadia 861 is superior, but is was $6500 purchased in 2002! So, the Oppo is an amazing high end universal player and is the only one to purchase in this price range for sure. I have a system worth 220K and the Oppo is right at home here. Highly recommended.

Read Best Reviews of OPPO BDP-105 Universal Audiophile 3D Blu-ray Player Here

I bought this player for its versatility. I've hooked it up in my home office with an extra Emotiva XPA-3 amp that I wasn't using and am using it to stream music from Pandora, listen to music on my computer (via the USB DAC port) and listen to CDs/SACDs. Space is limited in my office and with the Oppo, I don't need a receiver or pre-amp. I'm not even using it to watch Blu-Rays (I already have a BDP-93 for that).

The built-in headphone jack was also a big reason I got this player. I recently got a pair of Beyerdynamics DT 990 Pro headphones and they have never sounded better hooked to this unit (although the only other place I use them is hooked to my laptop, non-amplified)!

I love the build quality of the Oppos. One of the first things I noticed with the BDP-93 and now this one was the sound that it makes when you open the disc holder. It just sounds solid and well-built compared to the cheaper players I have/had.

The network features that I have used on it are also "rock-solid". I connected the network cable and did not have to mess with any other settings. I entered my Pandora information and it loaded within seconds. The upgrades to the firmware on this are also amazingly fast! The whole update process only took about a minute! I've had a Panasonic and LG and their updates can take 15 minutes or longer to download and install.

Eventually I would like to have a dedicated home theater room and will use the 105 as the main "media server" (that will have to wait for a bigger house). Until then, I am in audio bliss in my home office! :)

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I bought an Oppo BDP 83 in the fall of 2009 for its improved audio circuitry and Blu-ray capability. Shortly after I bought it, Oppo released a new version with vastly upgraded audio circuits, the BDP 83 SE, and offered a program by which previous purchasers could send their machines back and pay to have them similarly upgraded. I took advantage of that program and was so impressed by the improvements that I wrote a review of it for Amazon that many people found helpful (it is the second review). That old review OPPO BDP-83SE Blu-ray disc player upscaling black might be worth reading, since much of it also applies to the BDP 105, which I recently bought and which significantly expands some of those benefits. Like the BDP 83 SE, the BDP 105 also has a pair of ESS Sabre DACs plus additional circuit improvements. But unlike the BDP 83 SE, there are new ways you can use them.

When I bought my first multichannel player, I found that there was a significant improvement to be heard when playing the many wonderful RCA and Mercury 3-channel stereo (left , right, center) SACDs as 3 channels on 3 speakers in comparison to the 2-channel mixdown with a phantom center and this improvement was more apparent than ever when I bought the BDP 83. But with the significantly improved audio output once I upgraded my BDP 83 to a BDP 83 SE, there was a big trade-off and I ultimately found that the benefits of 3 channel play, of necessity through the multi-channel outputs, were considerably outweighed by the distinctly superior audio quality available from the dedicated stereo outputs, which automatically down mixed the 3 channels to two with a phantom center.

There are two Saber 8-channel DACs in the 83SE, and now in the 105. One is used to feed the 7.1 (actually 8) channel analog outputs. The other dedicates that 8 channels of processing power to just 2 channels, the dedicated stereo outputs, which undergo an extraordinary amount of processing, jitter reduction, etc., not available when the same processor is processing 6 or 8 channels of information What this yields is an extraordinary improvement in sound quality listening to stereo music through the dedicated stereo outputs as compared to listening to the same music through the front left and right outputs. On the BDP 83 SE listening in stereo through the Sabre 7.1 channel outputs was a major improvement over listening through the 7.1 or stereo outputs on the unmodified BDP 83. But listening in stereo on the BDP 83 SE through the dedicated stereo outputs was an even more dramatic improvement over listening through the lesser processing of the front left and right outputs. This is also true on the BDP 105. The problem with listening to multichannel recordings on the BDP 83 SE was that in order to listen to a 3 channel stereo recording like the Mercury and RCA SACDs of classic 1950s recordings the only way you could get a pure front left and front right signal was to use the 7.1 channel out front left and front right outputs. That meant that in order to listen to 3 discrete channels, you had to lose the advantage of the improved circuitry available through the stereo outputs. The stereo outputs automatically mixed down multichannel recordings to stereo at the stereo outputs. After listening to a few recordings, I found that it was better to listen to the improved stereo mixdown of the 3 channels with a phantom center than it was to listen to the comparatively degraded 3 discrete channels and consequently my center channel speaker has sat mostly unused for several years, except for an occasional DVD movie. But on most DVDs and all Blu-rays and music, I have been listening to the stereo outputs for front channels.

BUT, the BDP 105 gives the listener a choice. You can select to have EITHER a stereo mixdown of all channels through the dedicated processor feeding the the stereo outputs. OR you can have that dedicated processor just work on just the front left and front right signals with no mixdown. So you can have maximum processing feeding your front left and right speakers and the other 8 channel processor can feed the center, surrounds, and sub-woofer channels. This means your two most important channels have the best possible sound quality and the others have excellent, but honestly, not-nearly-as-good sound quality of an 8 channel processor dividing up the work of processing 8 channels, two of which you (front left and front right) you are actually listening to through another source.

We had heard the Baltimore Symphony perform Rachmaninoff's third piano concerto with Garrick Ohlson this weekend and my wife wanted to listen to the Rachmaninoff second. To maximize sound quality, and also listen to a fine performance, I chose the Mercury SACD of Byron Janis performing both concertos and decided to try out listening to the isolated left and right through the dedicated stereo outputs and the center channel using the regular center channel output.

Now, having sat down and listened to Rachmaninoff's 2nd and 3rd concertos, Respighi's Ancient Airs and Dances, and Hanson's Symphony #2 on Mercury 3-channel stereo SACD last night, I can say that this ability to switch the stereo output back and forth between processing a multi-channel mix down and a dedicated front left/front right signal is worth upgrading from the BDP 83 SE to the BDP 105 all by itself. Excellent center channel and extraordinary front left and front right is wonderful to hear--way better than 3 excellent channels or an extraordinary mixdown with phantom center, but admittedly probably not as good as 3 extraordinary channels. Now if Oppo would offer an upgrade to allow 4 channels of the second processor to be dedicated to the front center channel and the other 4 to the other channels, omitting either the subwoofer or the back channels but retaining the surrounds, that would be even better. I guess that will wait for the Oppo 125 or so in a few years. But to be honest with the front left and right speakers putting out such wonderful sound, the fact that the center channel was somewhat less wonderful was hardly noticeable. And it is a fantastic upgrade from 3 channels of somewhat less wonderful sound quality. My center channel speaker is going to working a lot more in the future.

There are also other reasons to buy the Oppo BDP 105. It can be used as an outboard DAC for processing signals from other sources. You can send the audio and/or video from a HDTV tuner or DVR, a computer, an ipod, another CD, DVD, laserdisc, or SACD player into the Oppo, preferably by HDMI, but it also accepts USB, coax, or TOS-link digital inputs, though some of those options might not allow maximum resolution. It has no analog inputs.

And it does streaming. And it plays 3-D if you have an appropriate display, which I don't, yet.

And in my few weeks of listening, I have found that the 105 does sound a little better all the time than the 83SE. There is better articulation of details. Front to back depth information is significantly improved. I used to really enjoy listening to music through my BDP 83 SE. Through the BDP 105 listening to the same music in the same way, it is better. But for me, being able to listen to multichannel recordings with isolated front left and right channels coming through the dedicated stereo outputs makes the biggest difference.

Update: 1/30/13

I played Bach's first cello suite on the Janos Starker Mercury SACD in 3 channel mode this afternoon using the dedicated stereo outputs for left and right and the regular center channel. It was wonderful. Then I pulled out another recording I am quite fond of, the CD of Edgar Meyer playing the same suite on the double bass. What a mistake! It brought back memories of the 1980s when I played a good record first and then put on a CD. The sound was SO disappointing. Back then there was a saying, if you want your CDs to sound good, don't play vinyl first.

I thought that CDs sounded very good on the Oppo, and they do. But I guess mixing SACDs and CDs is not a good idea in the same listening session, unless you listen to the CDs first. Next time, some other day, Edgar Meyer will have to come first. And this was with Starker's cello coming primarily from the reduced quality center channel (with the dedicated stereo channels providing mostly room and space and supplemental signal) and Meyers double bass coming exclusively from the enhanced dedicated stereo left and right! I had to put on another SACD of unrelated music just to clear my head of the sound.

A little later, just to be fair, I put the Starker first movement back on, first the CD layer, then the SACD stereo layer, then back and forth once more, and finally the 3 channel SACD track. The collapse of the sound was just as apparent on stereo CD vs stereo SACD. And 3 channel SACD was a significant improvement over stereo SACD, even with the relatively inferior center channel where, in this somewhat unusual case, most of the direct sound of this SOLO cello originates.

I have really enjoyed listening to CDs on the BDP105 and found that everything sounds a little better than it did on the BDP83SE. But I am also finding that SACD playback has apparently improved more significantly than CD playback.

There is nothing like it in the market PERIOD 4.5 Stars actually!! Truly a landmark product!!

At the time of writing this review, there is nothing like it in on this planet that does everything it does and the way it does. Simply OUTSTANDING!! Just buy it now if you can afford it or save for it if you can't at the moment.

I will be mainly reviewing the DAC/Audio side of it and few other features that are of interest to me.

I won't be doing the review of its video capabilities as it has the exact same video guts as its less expensive sibling BDP-103. Also if you are going to be using the HDMI/SPDIF audio out to another proc/receiver/dac, save your money and get the BDP-103 for $700 less. OPPO BDP-103 Universal 3D Blu-ray Disc Player SACD & DVD-Audio.

Packaging:

Top notch. The 105 comes in a soft bag and is very well padded inside the box. Accessories come in a separate small box. Reusability of packaging very high.

Included accessories:

* Remote control.

* Beefy power cable

* HDMI cable.

* Wifi USB stick

* USB extension cable.

Build Quality:

Disc drive is better than most but doesn't compare to some high end stand alone transports.

Built like a tank.

Heavy grade aluminum and steel body.

Top notch gold plated analogue and digital connectors.

Competitors:

As mentioned, there is no one to one competitor but following are some of the closest competitors with fewer features.

Disc Players

* Marantz UD7007 No audio only digital inputs

* Marantz SA8004 No bluray video.

* Cambridge Audio 752BD No USB audio input. Exact same video board as the OPPO.

DACS with 32 bit ESS Sabre.

* Benchmark DAC2

* Wyred4Sound DAC-2

* Audiolab M-Dac

Implementation is key here. Having an ESS DAC is no guarantee that they will all sound great.

Pros:

* World class 32 bit DAC with built in clock and digital volume control.

* Can replace your receiver. Just hook it to your power amp directly.

* Bass management.

* Both balanced and unbalanced stereo analogue outs.

* Plays every disc format that is in production.

* Plays files on USB drives, UPNP and network storage devices.

* Fast startup time.

* Wifi remote control.

* Digital volume control No tracking / channel imbalance issues like its analogue counterpart. According to ESS, the -135dB of the ESS Sabre DAC would need an exceptionally low noise analog volume control to beat its internal digital one.

* Universal voltage.

Cons: Takes away half point.

* Doesn't play Apple's ALAC and AIFF. AIFF may not be an issue anymore. Check the latest update.

* Except for the power and eject buttons rest of the buttons on the front panel are soft touch buttons with no tactile feedback.

* No physical volume control. Problem for headphone users.

* Digital volume control According to ESS, well designed analog volume controls can still beat even the very best internal digital volume controls if they have a lower noise floor than the DAC itself.

* Headphone output is not better than Benchmark. Volume maxes out on Senn.HD650

* Not really a con for a regular disc player but 105 can almost replace a receiver if it had the built in Audyssey room correction software.

* No wifi media control app like the 95.

* No DSD playback via USB. may not be an issue. Check the latest update.

* Windows 8 USB driver issues.

* Hangs sometimes. Reboot fixes it luckily.

Sound Quality:

Two channel audio only. I'm not interested in the multi channel audio sound quality hence I woun't be commenting on it.

OPPO has 2 ESS 8 channel DACs. One DAC exclusively for the multi channel (7.1) out and the second DAC's channel are assigned as 2 channels to the LR RCA, 2 channels to LR XLR and remaining 4 channel stacked to the LR of the headphone out. From what I heard the ESS DAC chip alone costs about $50-60 where as most of the other DAC chips from BB, AKM, Wolfson, Cirrus Logic and AD etc cost less than $5-10.

I don't want to reinvent wheel here hence I would like to compare it to the Benchmark DAC-1 which has been extensively reviewed by professionals and audiophiles. Benchmark is a great American company that I very much respect and DAC-1 has been my reference for all things DAC for a long time.

Is it better than the 10 year old design of the Benchmark DAC-1? Not a whole lot but it is a bit different. I have changed all my components several times and never felt the need to change the DAC-1. 105 is musical and is forgiving in a good way but the ruthless DAC-1 being a professional gear, tells you like it is on your face whether you like it or not. Pick your poison.

Sound stage is wider than DAC-1. DAC-1 has a more forward vocal presentation and as expected, high end has a bit more sparkle. For everything else, you are really splitting hair. Can't really choose one over the other. Strictly as a DAC only, to be honest, if I had to choose between the two, I would give a very very slight preference to the Benchmark. But OPPO leaves Benchmark in the dust when it comes to features and price to performance ratio. Just for $200 more you are getting way more. No contest OPPO wins hands down!!

Audio out on RCA and Balanced XLR seems pretty close. XLR has higher gain and separate opamps/relays for the left and right channels as opposed one opamp/relay for the RCA out.

Two channel Bluray, HDCD and SACD sounded pretty good and OPPO had no issues playing any of these formats. I heard that OPPO is planning to add the DSD playback via USB with a future firmware update.

For those of you who with .VOB files, OPPO plays them with no issue be it locally or over the network.

UPDATE 5/03: Latest firmware 50-0422 comes with lots of new features namely

1. Added support for Direct Stream Digital (DSD) file playback from local storage. The DSD files can be either stereo or multi-channel. Both the DFF and the DSF formats are supported. NO DSD streaming support as of yet via USB Dac.

2. Added support for the AIFF audio format.

3. Added support for the ExFAT file system.

4. Added additional Crossover Frequency selections (50, 70, 130, 140 and 160Hz) in the "Setup Menu"->"Audio Processing"->"Crossover".

UPDATE 5/24:

Added support for a newly developed iOS application named "MediaControlHD" (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mediacontrolhd/id648243911). It is designed for iPad and iPad mini, and can be downloaded from the iOS App Store for free. It works with the BDP-103/5 installed with firmware 50-0422 and newer. Andrioid and iphone users are out of luck at the moment.

This is an awesome feature that enables you to remotely play the media content on USB drives attached to OPPO. Thanks OPPO.

TBCont ...