Mallette Posted December 21, 2007 Author Share Posted December 21, 2007 You are Craig: It does them all... Dave Thanks Dave.... You are most welcome, sir. I'd look forward to your opinion of the audio performance. These things have a WEALTH of little niceties. I just discovered the 14 column freq display last night. Excellent. I really like having one going to see if what my ears are percieving is reflected in the actual material. These OPPO folks must really be like us. They should join the forum... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 FYI... I just purchased/received an OPPO DV-980H. I'm very impressed with my initial listening. For $169 it's amazing! After a burn in period I'll give an updated report. However, what I'm hearing right now is exceptional; very smooth and balanced. One thing that does stand out is its ability to reproduce piano. Right now it seems a bit bass shy, but the top end is what I'm most concerned about and that sounds right on. It'll be interesting to do some A/B sampling with my Rega Saturn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 I just purchased/received an OPPO DV-980H. I'm very impressed with my initial listening. For $169 it's amazing! Have been considering one of those myself ............ seems to be out of stock right now !!!! ..... Cornwalls first ............ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wpines Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 "I just discovered the 14 column freq display last night." Dave, Where did you find that? I'd like to see that. I've got the 980 and I haven't found that feature, maybe it's only on the 981. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 23, 2007 Author Share Posted December 23, 2007 "I just discovered the 14 column freq display last night." Dave, Where did you find that? I'd like to see that. I've got the 980 and I haven't found that feature, maybe it's only on the 981. "PSM" direcly under the "Eject" button top right of the remote. Very nice. Two modes, the second being green/yellow/red bars reflecting levels relative to O. I intend to have my serious critical session with all tubes this afternoon if I can get the children properly sedated... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 Dave, The DV-980H starts up in a dual video/audio mode and there's a button on the remote to put the unit into an audio only mode (the manual states this mode is preferred for audio playback), however it seems the unit goes to this default (dual mode) whenever I change a disc (without powering down). Does the 981 do the same thing? If so, do you know how to set the player so it's always in audio only mode? Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 23, 2007 Author Share Posted December 23, 2007 Jeff: I haver seen no such mode distinctions. I put in a dvd, it plays video, a CD, it plays music. I hope to be able to cuddle with it this afternoon and will let you know if I find out something. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 Dave, The DV-980H will also play DVD, SACD, CD, whatever you put in and do it on its own, but it appears that in its default mode it's also putting out a signal to the video (e.g. if you have the T.V. on you'll see the OPPO display on) and it'll stay on until you select the "Audio Only" mode on the remote. When you select "Audio Only" mode there's a 5 second countdown on the video and the signal to the T.V. turns off and then there's a small display on the DV-980H that shows "Audio Only". It would really be preferrable to have the unit stay in this audio only mode until the user decides to change to video. Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 23, 2007 Author Share Posted December 23, 2007 Jeff: No such function on this one. There is a button labled "audio" that is unreferenced on the remote functions listing, oddly enough. It is Stereo>Mono Left>Mono Right as you cycle through. I cannot imagine what the function is useful for. What difference does it make whether video is output or not? How could this change the sound? Anyway, I've had one disappointment. The unit is quite capable of playing raw wav files from a data CD. The files (pix, mp3 as well, so the manual says) are displayed on the video monitor in PC directory style. This got my heart racing thinking this one might be the first incarnation of the universal player I've been waiting for. It is halfway. I grabbed a DVD data disc with raw 24/88.2 Asylum Street Spankers files on it, but it just said "unknown disc" and displayed nothing. [:'(] Disappointing. I've a slim hope that perhaps the DVD-RW disc (4 years old) might be incompatible so I will try another. I hope the OPPO folks will fix this next edition (assuming it is not just the problem I am hoping) so we recording twiddlers can distribute real high end audio to folks. Now, I fired up the ST-70 and the Van Alstine Super PAS4I and let them ferment a while. I played several things to great delight, but I'll focus on my Stewart Wayne Foster "Clair de lune." I set the volume to a realistic (say, 10 feet from the piano) level, set back and closed my eyes. I heard nothing to shake the image of SWF sitting at the grand and playing this piece just as I heard it in the marvelous accoustics of the Church of the Annuciation in 1999. Pure music, sweet and real. The sound of tubes is not something I understand, but it is not subtle. In this case, transparent and lovely. I am in the process of awaiting the propagation through DNS of a dedicated IP address so I can give you guys a URL to download this and a few other samples. I'll start a new thread and point you to it when it shows up. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted December 23, 2007 Share Posted December 23, 2007 Dave, To quote from the DV-980H User Manual: "You can enjoy higher quality audio by turning off the video processing and output. The Audio-Only mode reduces interference between the video and audio signals." I'll call OPPO on Wednesday to get more information. Regards, Jeff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 Anyway, I've had one disappointment. The unit is quite capable of playing raw wav files from a data CD. The files (pix, mp3 as well, so the manual says) are displayed on the video monitor in PC directory style. This got my heart racing thinking this one might be the first incarnation of the universal player I've been waiting for. It is halfway. I grabbed a DVD data disc with raw 24/88.2 Asylum Street Spankers files on it, but it just said "unknown disc" and displayed nothing. [:'(] Disappointing. I've a slim hope that perhaps the DVD-RW disc (4 years old) might be incompatible so I will try another. I hope the OPPO folks will fix this next edition (assuming it is not just the problem I am hoping) so we recording twiddlers can distribute real high end audio to folks. You might try 24 Bit 96kHz...but I wouldn't be surprised if only 16 Bit 44.1kHz worked with wav files. You're getting into quirky hardware characteristics when dealing with streaming pcm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 24, 2007 Author Share Posted December 24, 2007 Dave, To quote from the DV-980H User Manual: "You can enjoy higher quality audio by turning off the video processing and output. The Audio-Only mode reduces interference between the video and audio signals." I'll call OPPO on Wednesday to get more information. Regards, Jeff Must be one of those things I don't hear. I'll not lose sleep over it... If you are going to chat with them, also ask about the sample rate issue for wav files. I am really much more interested in that. Mike: I am unaware of any quirks to providing complete coverage of common sample rates. It's done in 30.00 sound cards these days. My leap of faith was the number of audiophile niceties provided causing me to hope for this one. I think they will do it soon. Someone will. Not a big market, but a market nonetheless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 The hardware being used in players doesn't usually (there's always exceptions) consist of any form of DSP chip, which is what would be needed for converting sample rates around. Sound cards are using software to convert the various sample rates into the native hardware format for the sound card....most just force you to 16-Bit 48kHz, even if your wave file is something different. In fact, most products are native 48kHz. It's a dirty little secret in the engineering world. Nicer units can run at various bit /sample rates, but I don't usually see 88.1kHz in the spec sheets...it's usually 44.1, 48, 96, and 192. Sometimes you'll find 88.2, but it's nowhere near as common. If you're using really good DAC's and ADC's, the acutal bit/sample rate doesn't really matter because they way way over sample them. The only advantage to the higher sampling/bit rates is to increase flexibility when you're not using the full dynamic range of the medium and to get the effects of the analog filters out of the audible passband... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 24, 2007 Author Share Posted December 24, 2007 >If you're using really good DAC's and ADC's, the acutal bit/sample ratedoesn't really matter because they way way over sample them. They WHO way over sample WHAT? On location, I always record at 24/88.2. I do not believe (from my own experience) that it produces a better 16/44.1 CD, but that way I get a high res I can listen to as well as distribute when universal players become available and the downsample requires no transcoding as it is divisable by 2. I clearly hear the superiority of 24/88.2. First rate CD's can sound quite awesome, but 24/88.2 sounds like vinyl when properly recorded. I am listening to 24/88.2 Linn Records "Messiah" as I write. Incredible. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 They WHO way over sample WHAT?You probably don't want to know, lol. Just cuz a DAC is spitting out a certain sample/bit rate doesn't mean that's what it's doing on the inside [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 24, 2007 Author Share Posted December 24, 2007 Maybe, maybe not. I've never understood the science behind much of the oversampling applied in players. You cannot add what is not there. Upsampling 16/44.1 makes a bigger word, but it remains a synonym. I HAVE upsampled old cassettes of family gatherings and such for noise processing and other purposes to provide more room to work. I cannot see the point in upsampling something for any other reason. OTOH, I am not an engineer and don't play one on TV. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 No DAC or ADC is perfect (far from it actually). Over-sampling allows more processing to be done inside the chip to help minimize those non-linearities...so that the actual bit/sample rate you're running at is working as intended. It's all done with the hardware so everything going into the chip is going to be forced to what the hardware does. From an engineering perspective it doesn't matter because it makes more sense to optimize the weakest link in the chain - from crazy audiophile perspective it's the end of the world [] I should clarify though that I know just enough to be dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivendell61 Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 I am unaware of any quirks to providing complete coverage of common sample rates. It's done in 30.00 sound cards these days. My leap of faith was the number of audiophile niceties provided causing me to hope for this one. I think they will do it soon. Someone will. Not a big market, but a market nonetheless. Consumer and 'pro-sumer' gear sometimes make claims that are not entirely true--they usually present an output signal at most common input sample rates but that output signal is not always bit-perfect--or output at the original rates.For example, the Oppo 970HD reduces all bit widths to 16 (and then the question arises: having added truncation distortion....does it dither correctly? Not all DVD players do! Goodbye high-res....).That Oppo also converts all input sample rates to 44 or 48.None of which says it may not have an appealing sound.Maybe the newer Oppos have changed this behavior. Per Mike, for the past many years converters are WAY oversampling (MHz-even GHz) at the input--mainly to aid skating past filter issues. Very few converters (maybe 2-3) use 'correct' filters...... Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 I grabbed a DVD data disc with raw 24/88.2 Asylum Street Spankers files on it... I'd like to hear that some day, Dave! Merry Christmas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 24, 2007 Author Share Posted December 24, 2007 I grabbed a DVD data disc with raw 24/88.2 Asylum Street Spankers files on it... I'd like to hear that some day, Dave!Merry Christmas! Check your PM... Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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