chisoxpurdue Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 The reason for an Oppo is the things above a CD player in my opinion. I use the 83 for Blu Ray (Music/concerts mostly) SACD, and DVD-Audio. All in surround sound (sometimes two channel). Along those line though, Yamaha has a few players like the BD-A1010 that do the same things as the Oppo 93 but were not quite as good as the Oppo. That is not saying the yamahas sounded bad. But for keeping the capabilities and moving up to the next level in sound, Cambridge Audio has a few players in your budget. They sound as good if not better than the Oppo 93 (did not compare to the 95 as I have not yet heard one). The Azur 751BD from cambridge is just above your price range MSRP but if you have a dealer around, i am sure they can get it down into your budget. I know Simply Stereo in Hoffman (Chicago) tried to get me to buy one but I fell into a Oppo 83 on the cheap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W27 Posted December 14, 2011 Author Share Posted December 14, 2011 Update: I know it's been a couple weeks. First I'd like to say thanks for all the great suggestions, I looked into them all. Fish suggested the Emotiva ERC-2 which was the obviously the cheapest solution. Then they gave it a pretty good write up in stereophile magazine.I figured for $370 I had to give it a try. I ordered it then, but it was back ordered. I planned on ordering the Oppo 95 when the Emotiva was ready to ship to do a side by side comparison and return the loser. I hear so much about Emotiva I've been dying to try them out. Even though I've bought a lot of gear used, a CD player I'd prefer to buy new. There's too many moving parts, laser alignment, etc. I've got a Rotel CD player that I bought used only a year or two old at the time. It's never played right. It sounds good, but doesn't want to read the CD's half of the time. Maybe it happened in shipping? Anyways... The Emotiva actually showed up today. I played with it for only 45 minutes before I had to go to work. First impressions... I was overall very pleased with the weight and feel of the thing. Fit and finish was nice. Sound wise... I didn't hear much difference from the Sony DVP-S9000ES. Like I said, I didn't have time to really play with it yet. I will post more thoughts after I have the time to really compare it. Also, I won't be ordering the Oppo to compare now. My less than 2yr old 52" Sony LCD is apparently on it's way out. Which I'm really upset about. Looking online it is a very common defect in the XBR and Z series of Sony TV's, but they don't want to acknowledge the problem. That and I just ordered the Emotiva XPA-2 to match, and I'm thinking about the XPA-5 as well. I really don't think they'll sound any different, but after one day I realize why all the Emotiva stuff is so addicting. It just looks so cool when all stacked together. The blue lights stick out like a sore thumb in my rack right now. Similar to the way guys have all McIntosh gear... It just doesn't look right with other components... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dachuckster Posted December 18, 2011 Share Posted December 18, 2011 I tried the Oppo 95 with my setup (see below) and I coudnt tell much of a difference between the 95 and my 25 year old Denon DCD-1500 CD player. The Oppo was sent back. But it was avery nice machine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCole Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 A cd player is a CD player. Zeros and ones are read from an optical format and then sent either to a DAC or through a digital connection to a DAC in your receiver. To imply that one CD player sounds even slightly different from another is to imply that a cd player is somehow reading 010101 as 0110101. Or thatr the DAC is somehow using a very different and inaccurate algorithm. In my opinion, "Audiophile" cd players and blu-ray players are complete snake oil. I would love to see some double-blind test results from cheap players versus pricey players. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCole Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Did some further reading... Found this link through somethingawful's "Ridicule Audiophiles" thread. http://www.matrixhifi.com/ENG_contenedor_ppec.htm Interesting that more people chose the "shitty" cd player, cheap amp and 15 foot 7/11 bought rca cables than the $12,000 setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W27 Posted December 19, 2011 Author Share Posted December 19, 2011 I've seen a lot of things like this online. Makes me think twice about a lot of money I've spent over the years. I literally have closets full of extra gear, plus all that I've sold over the years. As far as the CD players go, I think a lot of people use analog connections, which the DAC's in the players will make a difference. I think that each manufacturer has their own idea of what the end result should sound like. It's kind of a give and take. A lot of the "warm, smoothe"sounding gear tends to give up a little bit of that high frequency detail. We all have a different opinion of what the end result should be. Then of course it makes a big deal what components are being paired together. I would say that most people on the Klipsch forum like a different sound than the average "audiophile." Don't agree? Go on Audiogon and tell them how much better your horns are[] I love listening to music. I spend so much time in there, sometimes I think I just want a change. I really like the looks of the Emotiva stuff. Even though I don't really hear a difference, I am starting to like the CD player. I've put some old scratched up CD's in it and it hasn't skipped yet. CD's that definitely wouldn't play through on my other players. It's got some other pretty cool features too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psg Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 As far as the CD players go, I think a lot of people use analog connections, which the DAC's in the players will make a difference. Yeah, but then you can't use your sub. Real "Audiophiles" don't use subs anyway I suppose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ69 Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 A cd player is a CD player. Zeros and ones are read from an optical format and then sent either to a DAC or through a digital connection to a DAC in your receiver. To imply that one CD player sounds even slightly different from another is to imply that a cd player is somehow reading 010101 as 0110101. Or thatr the DAC is somehow using a very different and inaccurate algorithm. In my opinion, "Audiophile" cd players and blu-ray players are complete snake oil. You are buying a good analog amp when you are buying a good player. The difference between a 69 dollar player and a 3000 buck player is easily heard if your system is resolving. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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