Oppo dv-981hd

satow

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In terms of CD players, I believe that a multiformat player is the way to go. I was thinking about getting the OPPO DV-981HD. In 2007 in won the product of the year from Absolute Sound magazine, which I tend to respect the review more than the Stereophile based reviews. Apparently it has a sound quality that rivals standalone CD players many times it's price. The OPPO DV-981HD costs $229. Does anyone have any experience with this unit?
 
In terms of CD players, I believe that a multiformat player is the way to go. I was thinking about getting the OPPO DV-981HD. In 2007 in won the product of the year from Absolute Sound magazine, which I tend to respect the review more than the Stereophile based reviews. Apparently it has a sound quality that rivals standalone CD players many times it's price. The OPPO DV-981HD costs $229. Does anyone have any experience with this unit?

YOu should first search this forum as there are tons of threads that talk about this player.

if your preference is audio over video then the 980 is a better buy. other wise the 981. Nothing to sneeze at for the video performance on 980 or the audio on 981 but they serve distinct needs esp. if you have quality recordings and AV components.
 
YOu should first search this forum as there are tons of threads that talk about this player.

if your preference is audio over video then the 980 is a better buy. other wise the 981. Nothing to sneeze at for the video performance on 980 or the audio on 981 but they serve distinct needs esp. if you have quality recordings and AV components.

In terms of video performance, all standard DVDs are encoded at 480p so regardless of how good the player is, there is only so much one can do to improve video quality. It is equivalent to mp3 files. Since most are lossy, there is only so much one can do with audio playback. The quality of most CD recordings can be just as lossy. Spending $5000 on a CD transport to play a $25 dollar CD is moronic.
 
In terms of video performance, all standard DVDs are encoded at 480p so regardless of how good the player is, there is only so much one can do to improve video quality.

Absolutely agree with you. Some movies will look better with upscaling to higher resolution though.

It is equivalent to mp3 files. Since most are lossy, there is only so much one can do with audio playback.

Conceptually I understand your statement. However remember that audio formats are much different than video and need not be lossy at all.

The quality of most CD recordings can be just as lossy. Spending $5000 on a CD transport to play a $25 dollar CD is moronic.

Going by your logic then why would want to invest in a 229 player when another one from Wal-Mart or Costco for 50 bucks or less would do the job?

What you consider moronic is not accurate, though I respect your opinion.

High resolution discs sound fantastic with the right equipment. Not to say, you will ruffle many people who love their expensive CDPs since it might seem to give them the feeling of perfect reproduction. Lets not make judgement calls on these folks.
 
Absolutely agree with you. Some movies will look better with upscaling to higher resolution though.

Conceptually I understand your statement. However remember that audio formats are much different than video and need not be lossy at all.

Going by your logic then why would want to invest in a 229 player when another one from Wal-Mart or Costco for 50 bucks or less would do the job?

What you consider moronic is not accurate, though I respect your opinion.

High resolution discs sound fantastic with the right equipment. Not to say, you will ruffle many people who love their expensive CDPs since it might seem to give them the feeling of perfect reproduction. Lets not make judgement calls on these folks.

I love some of the high resolution discs that are available today, especially some newer SACD's are very well recorded. I guess the term moronic is a bit harsh, I take it back - to a certain degree.

There is a cost performance ratio in every item manufactured. The parts in the Oppo units may cost more than the ones used in $50 Walmart or Costco units because they are better performers and of build quality. For examples, take the D/A converter chips, the power supply, the resistors, the capacitors, PCBs, even the wiring and soldering quality. I'm sure comparing the innards between an Oppo and a really inexpensive unit will be quite different.

However, if the same build materials, chips, assembly, as well as basic electronic design used in the Oppo for $169 is used in an unit costing $5000, and performs almost equally, give or take certain objective and subjective criticisms, to me IMHO, it is sort of moronic to purchase the more expensive version.

But then if the person wishes to have a gold plated, RFI shielded, 120 lb. player, then I guess $5000 would not be as moronic as one may believe...
 
In terms of CD players, I believe that a multiformat player is the way to go. I was thinking about getting the OPPO DV-981HD. In 2007 in won the product of the year from Absolute Sound magazine, which I tend to respect the review more than the Stereophile based reviews. Apparently it has a sound quality that rivals standalone CD players many times it's price. The OPPO DV-981HD costs $229. Does anyone have any experience with this unit?

Satow:

I bought 981H from UK two months back and indeed it brought life to my dead and buried 100 INR dvd's and also some original dvd's. Stunning PQ i got it in my Panasonic 42" plasma, one can safely say it was very close to a HD DVD playback. Ok, I bought long time back 'Black Hawk Down and SWAT' for 100 INR, and I watched them in my 1,500k Sony DVD till i got my Oppo. I was in shock when I watched 'Black Hawk Down' in Oppo, wow, it was stunning.

Just my thought on 981.
 
Satow:

All the points you are raising have been discussed ad nauseum across this forum. As Marsilians has said, please go through the various threads. Many of us own Oppo players and we have discussed the procurement, usage, and value of the Oppo players.

I am a little surprised by your statement, 'The quality of most CD recordings can be just as lossy'. Are you referring to a standard Redbook CD, or are your referring to a CD containing MP3 files? If you are talking about MP3 files, then this discussion is meaningless.

Regarding your statement, 'Spending $5000 on a CD transport to play a $25 dollar CD is moronic'; well, every individual has his or her own way of reaching audio or video nirvana, and we cannot begrudge them that, can we? Aside that, if you have some way of scientifically and objectively proving that an Oppo player can extract and present data the same way a 5000$ CDP can, I am sure all us will be all ears. If not, your statement sounds very much like that of an 'argumentative Indian', if you understand what I mean. It also sounds very much like the topics we used to get when we had group discussions in college and interviews. The only way of winning these arguments was to start first and just shout everybody else down.

Reputed manufacturers of expensive equipment will not use the same deign or electronics that are used in a $169 player. For example, Cyrus was using stock drive units till last year. In the models they have introduced last year, they have designed and built from scratch their own drive units. Such manufacturers have a reputation to maintain, and they will not fool around with that. You might be surprised to learn that Oppo actually went to one of these manufacturers and 'borrowed' their circuitry for just the audio part which they are using on their 980 and 983 models. And they use that same 5000$ units as reference to test their own circuitry. The VP of Oppo has acknowledged that Oppo does not have the technology for superior audio, and they went to others looking for that. There must be some very tight legal agreement that the technology is not stolen, and used as is given by the audio manufacturer.

BTW, a CD is a media, and all media have to low priced. Other wise they will not sell at all. If you take a few Michael Jackson numbers and cut say a 100CDs. each CD will cost $10,000. If you cut a million copies of the same CD, it will cost just a dollar. The 10,000$ CD and the 1 dollar CD will be exactly the same in all ways. The 10,000$ CD will play exactly the same way the 1 dollar CD will play in the same CDP. The cost is not in the media per se, but in the value we place on the singer and the songs inside. This is called royalty.

I have been feeling for a long time that driving a Mercedes or a BMW on Indian roads does not make sense. But that has not stopped these companies from selling some 5000 units every year. At 25 lakhs a piece, imagine what all you can do with 1,250 crores!!

Cheers
 
though i agree to the point of economies in an MFD, i went in for a 980 for audio (since my CEC was pure RBCD, no SACD) and a 981 for video. also, separate rooms.

they deliver as claimed.
 
Satow:
...You might be surprised to learn that Oppo actually went to one of these manufacturers and 'borrowed' their circuitry for just the audio part which they are using on their 980 and 983 models.

Hi Venkat,
That's a suprising bit of news for me! Do you know who the manufacturer in question is?

Thanks!
 
That's a suprising bit of news for me! Do you know who the manufacturer in question is?

Oppo is very tight lipped about it. I am sure they and the audio company do not want the information out. But it is confirmed by Oppo itself that they have taken the complete audio circuitry designed by someone else.

Cheers
 
I think this was what I was referring to.

OPPO Digital DV-980H User Review

'You'll notice that the Mediatek chip used in the 980H has OPPO's name on it. OPPO apparently worked with Mediatek to make some custom changes to the chip used in the previous OPPO players as a means of optimizing the 980H's performance. The DAC chip (a Cirrus Logic CS4361) and opamps are visible in the first picture, but not well enough to be apparent. The four opamps line up fairly well with the 7.1 analog output, and the CS4361 is roughly in line with the optical output.'
 
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