Oppo vs Rega vs Sony

[Mallette]

I don't doubt that it is good for $170 but is it better than the Sony i already have?

Yes. As I said earlier, having owned both I prefer the Oppo. No doubt, hands down. I prefer the Rega to both but at what cost? The Oppo is a good deal, and a good place to start. It's audio and video will exceed the Sony. You can always sell it, or keep it for another system. Better yet, you may find it's what you're looking for like the above posts support.

Ok, so one guy knows...Now, hie thee to thy internet and BIN! []

Dave

[jbsl]

Try it you might like it![]

That is the only way to find out how it will work in your system. For $170 compared to the price of other DACs or cd players plus the good reviews here it seems a good first choice to try.

[Macallan]

i know that no one could know which one will sound better to me, i guess my question is more what is so unique about the Oppo player?

Sony makes $170 units as well as $3000 units, is buying an expensive CD player just snake oil? I will accept that CD players sound relatively similar but to suggest that one brand makes a $170 unit that is substantially better than any other brand seems odd.

[Mallette]

 i know that no one could know which one will sound better to me, i guess my question is more what is so unique about the Oppo player?

Sony makes $170 units as well as $3000 units, is buying an expensive CD player just snake oil? I will accept that CD players sound relatively similar but to suggest that one brand makes a $170 unit that is substantially better than any other brand seems odd.

Mac, you are going to get a lot of opinion on this one. My own opinion is that, no, there is not much difference theoretically between a 200.00 and a 5,000.00 CD player. The better sound of the higher priced unit reflects they've chosen a first class DAC. The drive itself is irrelevant. As a computer head from way before it was cool, data devices either read data correctly, or they don't. I have heard endless discussion of other aspects of CD playback, but I have yet to HEAR any of it.

I rarely play CD's. I rip them to my server and play then back through either my ESI WamiRack XL or my Card Deluxe. Both of these were well over 300.00 or so when I bought them and the Card Deluxe was highly regarded (compared favorably to a 15k Mark Levinson DAC) even by $tereophile. In an A/B about 4 years ago we compared it to a Rega Planet and it was a perfect draw with no one being adamant about their preference.

These days I suspect you can get pretty close to as good as it gets even cheaper. I also believe that the reason the OPPO sounds so good is that these guys took the time to put the right DAC and such in there and didn't jack up the price. It may have been so simple as that they were mainly wanting the HT crowd but said, "What the heck, we are talking pennies here so let's put in a really nice DAC."

I think at least enough of the above is true to explain the situation.

Snake oil is in the eye of the beholder. A low income audiophile who raids his kids college fund to buy a 3k CD player because he wants the best sound is being taken. An audiophile with disposable income who spends 10k on a CD player with a beautiful base, vacuum tubes with stainless cages around them, and marble feet is buying a work of art that will also sound great.

Either could get sound arguably competitive for 170.00.

Regards,

Dave

[Hifi jim]

What Dave said. It's called "diminishing returns", and above the $170 Oppo, or say an NAD C525bee for about the same price used you are quickly spending money for brushed aluminum front panels. The high end players may also incorporate the latest and greatest technology, but you always pay a price for the latest. And that is not to say that the Oppo is technologically challenged, quite the opposite. High end players use better quality parts, larger power supplies and are usually made in the US, Canada, Europe or Japan. Do any of these things make a CD player sound better? Well if none of us can give an absolute answer here, then you already know how good the Oppo is. I've owned the Sony DVP-NS999es which was their flagship $1200 player. It replaced a $7500 Meridian, and both were replaced by the Oppo. The Oppo left to make room for BluRay and I use a dedicated CD player, so the Oppo sold...easily and quickly. I did keep the Sony longer, but only because it was harder to sell. The Oppo uses the same Faroudja processor as the Meridian but better as the Oppo scales video up to 1080p. My Meridian predated that and only had 480p. The Meridian was cutting edge when it appeared and was the first multi format player that gave world class cd reproduction. That model still sells for $1,700 used. Remember, I said buying the latest and greatest will cost you! (Check the prices of the latest high end BluRay machines). The Oppo bettered the Meridians picture. To say that an inexpensive audio component cannot sound good is as foolhardy as saying that all expensive gear MUST sound good. The longer you are in this hobby, the more you realize the truth in that statement.

[Don Richard]

I have been nothing but satisfied with my OPPO 980 using its analog outputs. Using it as a transport with an outboard DAC further improves performance.