Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980? - Page 2

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Exactly-- the PAL disc has more resolution. If only we could be sure that the Onkyo/Integra supported 576i inputs... Maybe you could write in and ask.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

It has been posted on AVS that the 980 will at least do PAL better than the older 970. Not as good as the 981, but I believe the one guy put it this way on a scale of 1 to 10:

970: 1
980: 5
981: 10

Might depend on how picky you are.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Hey, that 980 looks pretty nice! And the remote color is better -- my 981 has the silver body with the black top.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I live near to OPPO & have picked up the unit.

The 980's PAL->NTSC conversion is excellent. Perfect for even the moderate PAL user.

And I've used the 970 before, & yes the PAL playback was relatively choppy...only suitable for the occasional PAL user.

-DB.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I guess I am not the only one showing up at Oppo's corporate office (pic taken 2 months ago when I was picking up my 970)....



I am very tempted by the new 980.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I was going to take a pick of the office too, but it is so...plain.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Cool. This was a question I had. I'm really close too. Figure I might drop by in a week or two. For the price, it's tough to pass up.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Given that I live 1,750 miles from the Oppo corporate office, I chose to have mine shipped instead. It went out on Thursday and should get here the middle of next week.

I probably won't be able to test all its functionality (multi-channel high-resolution audio in particular) until I get a new pre-pro in a month or two...

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Got my 980H last night, haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

Can anyone recommend any good 2-channel DVD-A or SACD discs? I don't yet have a pre-pro with 5.1/7.1 analog inputs or HDMI 1.3 - so I will be limited to 2-channel stereo for DVD-A / SACD until I upgrade the pre-pro (hopefully in a month or two).

This will also give me a good idea of the analog sound quality of the Oppo (supposedly improved on the 980H).

There is also a company, Reference Audio Mods http://www.referenceaudiomods.com) that sells high-end analog electronics upgrades for the Oppo DVD players (even the 980H!). Their mods are expensive though ($625+ to modify an existing player), so I'll probably go for the new pre-pro with digital HDMI connections, and then decide if I need the upgraded analog or not...

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

You can look at this web site for info on SACDs.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Good two channel discs? Depends what you're looking for. All SACDs contain a stereo program; the six channel mix is optional. DVD-Audio discs sometimes contain a stereo program, though this frequently is no better than CD-Audio.

If you're into classical, Classics Today frequently reviews SACD stuff. I quite like Podger's rendition of Vivaldi's "La Stravaganza".

"Historic" stereo recordings (such as Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde") are often released with a multichannel mix (as well as the definitive stereo mix). But the multichannel mix can sound a tad gimmicky.

The Rolling Stones discs (if you can, heh, find them) are stereo only.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Patricia Barber Companion or Cafe Blue. Both are 2ch only, MoFI SACDs.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Last night, I hooked up the Oppo with a 2-channel analog cable and put on an SACD (a Telarc recording of baroque brass/organ music).

The main caveat: If you use analog output on the Oppo 980H, you're not getting true DSD->analog playback. Like the previous Oppo players, it's DSD->PCM->analog.

The sound quality didn't seem any better than a good 44.1/16 CD, but there are many sub-optimal things about my current setup (and some user error) that resulted in less than the best possible sound quality:

1) The Oppo 980H transcodes DSD to PCM, then does D/A conversion in the player. The manual only hints at this; in the section about setup menu items, it states that enabling DSD over HDMI will cause the player to mute the analog output when playing SACDs. It doesn't state the "why" - like other Oppos, this player doesn't D/A convert a DSD bitstream natively; it transcodes to PCM and then D/A converts this intermediate PCM bitstream.

2) The Theta CasaNova pre-pro that I'm currently using does an A/D conversion of anything coming in the analog inputs. I may have the input level set high enough to induce digital clipping on peaks (not sure though).

3) The Oppo 980H analog stage is OK, but not the state-of-the-art in high-end analog electronics. There is some mass-fi "hashiness" to the sound. I recommend a digital connection (or the Reference Audio Mods package) if you're using high-end equipment.

4) I set the "SACD Priority" option to multi-channel. So I was listening to the front L/R channels of a 5.1 mix. Tonight I'll try setting the "SACD Priority" option to stereo so I listen to a proper 2-channel mix.

Longer-term, all these problems should be solved. I have an Integra DTC-9.8 on order so I'll be able to switch over to DSD over HDMI, which will bypass the Oppo analog stage, extra A/D and D/A conversions, and enable me to listen to a discrete 5.1 mix.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

In an number of Oppo 970 related threads, it was mentioned that DSD was converted to 88.2 KHz/24 bit for bass management and HDMI transport.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I was aware of the DSD->PCM conversion for HDMI <=1.1. What surprised me was DSD->PCM conversion is required to play SACD over the analog jacks.

Any idea how DSD 1-bit sample rates correspond to 24-bit PCM sample rates? Is there significant data loss going from 2.8224MHz (2822.4KHz) 1-bit DSD to 88.2KHz/24-bit PCM? Multiplying 88.2KHz by 24 bits implies a 1-bit data rate of 2.1168MHz, somewhat lower than the DSD 1-bit sample rate.

With a digital connection, the 88.2/24 signal should still be an improvement over CD though...

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

The 980 uses 1.2a and can pass the DSD stream. A lot of people seem to complain about the conversion to PCM, but via analog this thing comes pretty close in sound to my Denon 2900 so I don't thing it is a big issue.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Maybe DSD is a inefficient way of storing an audio signal!

Some people have reported that SACDs have more dynamic range (and less clipping) than DVD-A's. Maybe that can be blamed on ProTools.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Depends on the model # of the DACs. Some can indeed handle both PCM or DSD.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I wasn't saying that this is a bad thing, though diehard sacd advocates will argue that point. I was simply pointing out the sampling frequency and bit depth, since Colin mentioned that it didn't sound any better than a CD.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

As I understand it the Oppo 980 uses the CD4361 DAC chip. The CS4361 is a basic entry-level 6 channel DAC chip; obviously they have to use a low-cost part given the price of their products. The CS4361 does not support DSD however, so if it is used in a universal player, then SACD signals must be converted to PCM prior to the D/A conversion (as is done in most entry-level players).

By way of comparison, the I understand that the CS4392 used in the Marantz CD-5001 CD player would represent the next tier of performance, and the CS4397 / 4398 used in high-end products such as the Marantz DV9600, Linn Unidisk, and Bryston components would represent the top tier of Crystal DAC performance.

I heard the 980 at a friend's house last week (he also has a Sony XA-9000ES). Mine is on the truck for delivery today. It was certainly decent at its price point. Mine is for the bedroom system that feeds multiple other places (e.g. outside, garage, dining, office) via a speaker switcher so I did not want to go crazy on a player mainly for background type stuff. I'll likely leave the Sony 2000ES in the bedroom system too so I'll have the opportunity to compare it (although base on what I heard I don't expect it will be as good as the 2000ES on CD or SACD). As soon as I upgrade my CD source in the main system, I'll probably moce my outboard DAC to the bedroom system so having the Oppo at its price point for what I'll need it for is great.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I'd be interested in your comparison, as I have the 2000es, and my current Oppo doesn't play SACDs.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

After I get it set-up, I'll definitely do a couple of things (if you're not far you're more than welcome to listen first hand). I might lend it to another friend for a day or two depending on when it gets here and other scheduled stuff. I just had new carpeting done in the bedroom and main room which back to each other and it's going to take me a bit to get all the furniture moved back and all the audio furniture back together and move and re-arrange components so I might need to make some add'l cable and power cords too. I'll be swapping equipment between 3 systems too (e.g. Rotel DVD-A/DVD-V player down to the basement and the Adcom 555 amp I was just using on the center channel down there I'm moving to the basement as I don't use the NAD2100 to power the loft speakers so I'll strap in mono and move it to the basement center channel). I'm just about done painting the Thiel SCS2s I mount to the bedroom wall for the front (left and right) channels the color of the wall.

My friend had the Oppo 970 and based on what I heard on DVD-A vs. my Marantz DV9600 I brought over some time back, I was not expecting much from the 980. It seemed a bit better on the audio than the 970 from memory, but when we compared SACD vs. the XA-9000ES in my friends system, it was not even close. I'e had the 2000ES in his system some time back. I'm definitely curious to see how the Oppo holds up.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

Fairfax, VA, here.

Re: Is everybody excited about the new Oppo 980?

I'm in the Cascades in Sterling very close to Fairfax County Pkwy.