I would greatly appreciate some feedback about OPPO vs. PIONEER ELITE blu-ray players with 3d & SACD (1 Viewer)

My dilemma is that I am uncertain as to the difference that the PIONEER ELITEs P.Q.L.S feature will make. I have a PIONEER ELITE reciever VSX- 33, it is very nice sounding & plenty powerful enough, hooked to 5.2 speakers DEFINITIVE TECHNOLOGY's bipolar supertowers with built in subs & the center has a built in sub, It rocks, it is scary on occasions. I am only interested in the highest quality sound that I can have, I do not use any D.S.P. ever & play mostly Dolby Tru HD & DTS master audio through my playstation 3. I want to upgrade my blu-ray player!!!! I figure that I will go all 3d now, reciever came capable, I am purchasing a TV soon, might as well buy 3d, considering there picture looks better in 2d as well. My big concern for now is my reciever has this P.Q.L.S. feature & if hooked to a compatable blu player ( only the PIONEER ELITE ) there will supposedely be almost 0 wow & flutter supposedely even less total distortion !!!!! Can anyone account for that ???? the OPPO 93 is possibly a slightly better blu player about the same $ and has the features also that I want ( I would buy the twice as expensive OPPO 95 except I cannot utilize its DACs due to no analog inputs on my receiver, so I will save that 500 $s) So if anyone can give some feedback, I will be very greatful. Again OPPO 93 vs. PIONEER ELITE BDP- 53 FD !!!!!!! OPPO has no P.Q.L.S. (precision quartz locking system, supposedly keeps timing perfect, lessening all unwanted sounds!!!!!! Both players do everything else I want including SACD's which we are all unhappy about, but we never know, the may be produced, & both are 3d ready, so who has the better sound quality when hooked to my ELITE ????????

3D as a feature is already starting to die off and likely part of that is due to the fact that there aren't many films available with it for home use and the ones that are, are still quite a price hit compared to the standard versions. With the PS3 you already have an excellent player that is 3D capable. The sound quality is coming mainly from the receiver in this case, so without the ability to use the analog connections, your sound will not improve at all. Both of the players in question will offer you few, if any, improvements over the PS3 without upgrading your receiver IMHO.
As for 3D, I am pretty impressed with what you can achieve at home with a solid display. 3D gaming is pretty amazing on the PS3. Very immerseive and adds a whole new level of realism to the game. Having said that, both with movies and games, it tends to become tiring on the eyes very quickly. I have active glasses and while the results are great, I wouldn't place stock in 3D being a highly touted feature much longer.

Welcome to the forum, John! I, for one, think 3D is here to stay....almost all the sets I see on the market have 3D built-in.
I can't speak to the Pioneer Blu-ray player, but I do have the Oppo BDP-93 and it is quite nice--very sturdy, great picture and sound. And it plays SACD and DVD-Audio, which is good for those of us who have them in our collections.

Thank You Steve

I appreciate that & am definately agreeing with You. The big improvement would be reciever with Analog & 1000. $ OPPO. Thank you

I appreciate that & am definately agreeing with You. The big improvement would be reciever with Analog & 1000. $ OPPO. Thank you

I had the Oppo BDP-83 and upgraded to the 83SE. The improvement on the analog side was definitely noticeable. SACD and DVD-A are a big plus in my book, but if you don't already have a collection of them, then upgrading for that feature is also going to be an expensive proposition. Many of the highly sought after discs are out of print and/or are hard to come by, and as such can be fairly expensive. Very few of either format are currently being produced.
3D will be around for a while, but the fact that it is on most displays doesn't mean it is doing well. It is just their way of trying to get more people to use it. This article from Gizmodo suggests that a large percentage of people looking to buy a TV right now aren't interested in 3D, and that's not a good indicator for it:
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/02/everyone-wants-a-dumb-tv-after-all/
Not unlike SACD and DVD-A, there was nothing really wrong with the formats, but it wasn't picked up by the general public and that's why they are all but dead.

In my "everyday" room I have a VSX-23txh and BDP-23FD, both with PQLS. In order to get this PQLS thing you have to enable Kuro Link in both the player and receiver, set the player to output PCM and set PQLS to Auto. The receiver must also have PQLS set to Auto. There's a PQLS button on the receivers remote which can change the PQLS from Auto to OFF on the fly. I can only assume it turns PQLS on and off (with all the other settings properly selected) since changing it made no audible difference in sound quality that I could hear. Just for fun I re-set the selections in the player to turn off PLQS and set the HDMI Audio Out back to Auto (bitstream) and again, no difference in SQ. I have read professional reviews and comments from users that claim an improvement but I didn't hear any.
Bottom line is, if your equipment is hooked up via hdmi then don't buy a BR player based on sound quality, buy it based on features, speed, price and video performance. And you can still enjoy two channel analog stereo with your VSX-33. That may very well result in some improvement in SQ over hdmi depending on the quality of the player.
I'm pretty happy with the BDP-23 as a Bluray player and have a DV-48 universal player for SACD/DVD-A (via hdmi). I bought both used in VG condition for about $225. Like John Garcia, I also have a BDP 83se in the front room and it's a very nice sounding player through the analogs. Maybe this weekend I'll hook the BDP-23 up to the VSX-23 with MC analogs just for comparison to digital.
As for the OPPO 93 vs the Elite 53, I've always thought Elite players were a bit over-priced at msrp (I've had several Elite dvd/br players, all bought used at a serious discount) but so is the OPPO if you don't need SACD/DVD-A. It might be a better BR than your basic Panasonic, Sony, LG, etc. but $350 better? If both the 93 and 53 were near the same price then I'd say get the OPPO.

Steve Tannehill said:

Welcome to the forum, John! I, for one, think 3D is here to stay....almost all the sets I see on the market have 3D built-in.
I can't speak to the Pioneer Blu-ray player, but I do have the Oppo BDP-93 and it is quite nice--very sturdy, great picture and sound. And it plays SACD and DVD-Audio, which is good for those of us who have them in our collections.

Click to expand...

+1 for the oppo 93. I own it and its a fine player.
Jacob

Hi! Gene, I really do appreciate your help & throughness, very much. I am so busy working 16 hour days, that I cannot think clearly, or remember everything new that I am learning from audiophiles. I was aware though about the operation of & the reviews of this P.Q.L.S thing. I am using HDMI for all & have read many reviews stating that the wow & flutter can be tremendous with that conn. What is upsetting is that I bought my VSX-33 @ 6months ago & the only darn thing it cant do is cook me breakfast & be connected analog multichannel, I was unaware at time. Because multi-channel awesome SQ is now my mission, & I have heard too many claims that the OPPO 95 ($1000) hooked up analog is a dramatic SQ difference, I will not be happy until I own that. LOL, so I am now looking to sell my VSX-33 cost me $1000, sell maybe $500, and buy analog rec. & OPPO 95. I HOPE

Hi! John, I certainly see your point on 3d potentially being like SACD & DVD-A, I hope not. W e will all find out together, LOL , thanks for the input.

I'm lucky when my hardware purchases are even just a little more than one year after the time most HTF members might be making similar purchases. I'm usually much further behind the rest of the worl in terms of having the latest and greatest gear.

But I just found myself recently asking the very question posed in the title of this thread.

To make my long story short...I opted to purchase the Pioneer 62FD over the Oppo 103.

This might not be the right choice for everyone. But, for me, the determining factors were the pricepoint (always my #1 concern in hardware purchases) and the fact that the two units were similar (in terms of what I would be asking them to do). The main difference between the two units from where I sit is that the Pioneer lacked a built-in wireless internet adapter. I have no use, though, for such an accessory now...but could see where maybe something like that could come in handy down-the-road.

The main thing for me was to get a universal player that makes it easier for me to spin up my DVD-A and SACDs via HDMI.

Because of the very topic of this thread, I will link to THIS REVIEW...which does a nice unit-to-unit comparison between the Pioneer and Oppo under the guise of a review of the Pioneer unit.

I haven't taken delivery of the unit yet (just pulled the trigger a few hours ago)...but I will try to remember to stop by to post some observations after I've had it for a bit.

"...but I will try to remember to stop by to post some observations after I've had it for a bit."

If you don't remember we will send somebody (big, named Hugo) to gently remind you...with a hammer!

As I eluded to in post nimber 7, my Elite bdp-23/dv58avi combo is every bit as good as as an Oppo 83. While I think the the 103 probably raised the bar a bit and the 62 may have stood pat, it should be exactly what you were looking for.

gene c said:

"...but I will try to remember to stop by to post some observations after I've had it for a bit."

If you don't remember we will send somebody (big, named Hugo) to gently remind you...with a hammer!

As I eluded to in post nimber 7, my Elite bdp-23/dv58avi combo is every bit as good as as an Oppo 83. While I think the the 103 probably raised the bar a bit and the 62 may have stood pat, it should be exactly what you were looking for.

Click to expand...

I am expecting the 62 will, indeed, be just what the patient wanted. Among other things, I really liked the look of it. The new tiny, thin players that I saw recently at Best Buy (especially the Sony players) don't interest me at all. I realize this unit is light...but it looks substantial (and elegant).

And if I see Hugo prowling around with a blunt instrument in hand, I will be sure to head here immediately...without passing "Go!"