DrWho Posted December 24, 2007 Share Posted December 24, 2007 Lesson: digital upsampling is dirt cheap, analog filters are very expensive.It's actually more than just that [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted December 24, 2007 Author Share Posted December 24, 2007 Oversampling isn't about improving the quality of what's recorded, it's about reducing the cost of the analog filter needed for playback. e.g. COST REDUCTION. If you don't oversample the 44.1 you must create an incredibly steep analog filter which will pass EVERYTHING below 20kHz of audio, and reject EVERYTHING above the Nyquist frequency of 22.05kHz which is where the reflected or aliased signal lies. That means you have just 2kHz of bandwidth for this filter to operate with. e.g. the filter will have to have almost infinite slope! Now if instead you upsample by 8X suddenly you have 158kHz of bandwidth to make the analog filter. The slope will be very gentle. Much, much easier and cheaper. Then a simple cheapo digitial filter is used to remove the extra samples. Lesson: digital upsampling is dirt cheap, analog filters are very expensive. That makes perfectly good sense. Shouldn't hurt anything (assuming even multipliers), keeps the costs down. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted January 4, 2008 Author Share Posted January 4, 2008 From the OPPO folks: Dave, We appreciate your feedback. WAV audio support is one of those functionalities which we would like to implement into our software package for our DVD players, but several barriers keep us from supporting this media. The first is getting the hardware to properly decode this media. The second is the licensing and royalty fees which need to be paid to Microsoft to use WAV. Both barriers are still be investigated. Best Regards, Customer Service OPPO Digital, Inc. 2629B Terminal Blvd. Mountain View, CA 94043 Service@oppodigital.com Tel: 650-961-1118 Fax: 650-961-1119 It DOES appear they are working on it. When a real universal player comes out, guys like me are ready to provide you with stuff to play on it. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Simple question, Is the 980 a good unit for $170., is it worth buying ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom b. 57 Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Simple question, Is the 980 a good unit for $170., is it worth buying ? I just picked up a Pioneer Elite DV-46AV dvd player that works great and the audio section of this thing is fantastic. All for $140.00. It was a clearance item. The thing is a great replacement for my old Curtis Mathes DVD player. If your looking for a cheap but good dvd player check it out. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesV Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 Simple question, Is the 980 a good unit for $170., is it worth buying ? OB, I am thinking the same thing. I am looking to replace my current 5-disc Sony and this looks to be a good upgrade and price. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 >Simple question, Is the 980 a good unit for $170., is it worth buying ? I have the 981HD. IF I assume the the other models have the same audio circuits I'd say a unqualified "YES." Mine lacks the USB ports (about which I do not care), and the others lack the Faroudja (about which I did, especially almost for free) and various upsampling (not a big deal, but still worth it to me for such a small price increase). There are many on this forum who can tell one capacitor from another at 30 paces. I do not share that ability and am quite glad of it. All I know is the degree to which playback of my recordings varies from the original sound. The OPPO appears to add or subtract nothing. That is all I ask. Now, if you hear a capacitor in there that REALLY sux, don't blame it on me! [] Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wallflower Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 The DV-980H is OPPOs first attempt at building an audio focused player. The 981 is an older design similar to the 970. The 980 is a completely new design. I've got one and recommend it highly for audio playback. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesV Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I've got one and recommend it highly for audio playback. How is it on the DVD aspect? I think something new would beat my, almost, ten year old current model. James Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 The DV-980H is OPPOs first attempt at building an audio focused player. The 981 is an older design similar to the 970. The 980 is a completely new design. I've got one and recommend it highly for audio playback. There you go. If the 981HD is the older model and the newer has "improved" performance (hard to imagine, but there are many ears better than mine) it sounds like a can't lose proposition. In my case, audio performance was not what I purchased it for as I do all that from HDD through high end PC DAC. However, I find it a very nice extra, and, of course, handy for the occasional DVD-A and SACD or visiting CD. The video performance is second only to BluRay. While you cannot do much to improve bad source audio, video is another story. The upsampling is excellent and the Faroudja does a great job on those pesky pan/fade/zoom jaggies. Something better and cheaper will come along, but right now my opinion is that the OPPO's in any incarnation are the Swiss Army Knives of media. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justonemore Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 I just received my 980, the 981 has macroblocking issues with my tv, a Sony KDS-50A3000, so I purchased the 980. The picture is outstanding. A friend of mine who has DirecTV HD thought it looked as good as HD to him. I won't get my HD hooked up until next week. It looks a lot better than my old dvd player did, which was a Denon. As far as sound goes. I think it sounds better than my Cambridge Audio Azur 640C, which I was happy with. I'm very happy with this purchase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mallette Posted January 5, 2008 Author Share Posted January 5, 2008 >I just received my 980, the 981 has macroblocking issues with my tv What is macroblocking? Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justonemore Posted January 5, 2008 Share Posted January 5, 2008 It makes the picture look like mosaic blocks. It happens when the speed of motion in the picture requires more data than can be sent. I'm watching the Jags/Steelers game in sd and when they show the end zone shot while kicking extra points it is happening. It looks like what your picture looks like on satellite when it starts raining and messes the picture up. I guess it affects rptv's with the 981. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I say the Oppo 980 ($170) beats my old Audio Note 4.1x DAC and Audio Note CDT2 transport ($15k+?) What? OK...probably not in terms of absolute performance, and I sold the Audio Note gear about a year ago, so I can't do a head to head comparison. But I CAN say this with certainty. I enjoy that little Oppo way WAY more than the Audio Note stuff. This reflects a greater change in my perspective as to how much I am willing to spend on audio - a reevaluation of the price vs. performance aspect if you will - but with the Oppo I listen with a smile thinking "I cannot believe how GREAT this sounds for less than $200!!" And it plays my sacd's to boot! With the high dollar gear I spent more time fretting about whether the sound quality was worth the investment. Not even a close comparison as to which digital rig gives me a more pleasurable listening experience. I'm sure that there are units that sound better, but the 980 sounds SO good for SO little, that I have no interest in paying more to seek those units out. Dave - Thanks so much! I had heard about Opo for years, but didn't make the buy until reading your post here. I went with the 980 after Oppo confirmed that that was the pick if you wanted audio quality only an didn't intend to use it as a dvd player. Yes...the 980 also has an "audio only" mode. For those multi-channel geeks who want to get fancy and use the 980 as a transport to stream PCM and DSD via HDMI 1.2a, the unit can accommodate that as well. Really don't get it, but I direct anyone who is interested in that apparently fairly unique feature to review this month's S'phile for a more in depth review. Thanks again Dave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 By the way, if anyone has any tips as to why this forum removes my formatting (paragraph breaks) in Safari 3.0.4, I'd be most grateful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 kev, Yeah, the Safari formatting thing is a drag. I have to use HTML if I want a paragraph break. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 I should also point out that, if one is looking at the Oppo for strictly 2 channel cd, sacd, and dvd-a (read as not video), and is willing to buy used, the Denon 2900 and Sony DVP 9000 ES are comparable in sound quality but FAR exceed the Oppo's build quality. I've owned both and both can be had in the $200 - $400 range. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 For those that are interested in the Oppo 980, go here for links to various reviews: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=879341&page=1&pp=30 Not trying to run up the post count here, BTW, just don't feel like addressing the format issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 After reading great reviews about the bargain Oppo models in both Stereophile and The Absoulte Sound (TAS) I wish for an Oppo for my next DVD or CD player – the question is, which one? Now Kev says the Denon 2900 and the Sony DVP 9000 ES are comparable in sound but have better build quality… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kev313 Posted January 6, 2008 Share Posted January 6, 2008 Colin - I didn't mean to imply that the Oppo has shoddy build quality. It, in fact is pretty good with all metal casework. It is, however, lightweight as compared to the other two models which I listed. It is worth keeping in mind that the Sony and Denon were significantly more expensive than the Oppo when new. Also, the available (used) Denon 2900's and Sony 9000es's are several years old at this point. Frankly, for my money, it is worth getting the Oppo simply to enjoy what can be had NEW for so little $. You also get a state of the art DVD player which might come in handy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.