4K UHD Blue Ray Player for quality audio

Vintage1953

New Member
I am hoping to find a 4k UHD Blue Ray player that will also serve as a quality audio CD player as well. Am I better served with separate components or can I truly have great audio sound from my CD's using a 4k UHD Blue Ray player.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
 
The players with hdmi only use a more integrated approach, like one or two chips. That is why.

I'm curious about this area as well. Why would the number of chips matter if its only passing the digital info? Basically as I understand it, if using HDMI only then the player would just be a transport and what would matter would be the DAC downstream. In that case I would assume the question would be is the DAC downsteam (AVR? Or External?) better than the one in a player with built in analog outs and internal DAC? Is that thinking correct?
 
I'm curious about this area as well. Why would the number of chips matter if its only passing the digital info?

Because the OP is asking for a 4K player that would make a CD player with great audio quality.

If you're of the opinion that any disc transport passing digital data will sound the same, then the number of chips won't matter. The OP could hook anything up to his AVR and since it's all playing through the same DAC, should sound the same.

My biggest problem with using BluRay players as CD transports is that they are slow(er) loading, they tend to lack front panel controls, and even front panel displays. I don't want to have the TV on just to see what track I'm on.
 
What do you mean by truly great audio sound from CD's. You could spend $3,000 just on a CD Player alone an many times that on a system with new equipment. That would be a truly great sounding CD system if carefully chosen. For semi-serious audio, I would go with a Cambridge CD transport and decent DAC. That combo might cost $900 US. Right now I am listening to a Sony smart 4K/3-D Blu-Ray disc player through an older Onkyo mid-range AVR and a pair of Energy bookshelf speakers. And I must say it sounds pretty darn good too.

I am using the players digital audio out to feed my AVR. Willyrover's post #9 has some valid points. Some BR players take forever to load a CD. I choose this Sony because it has a very fast processor and loads CD's instantly. The only display is track time and it is a bit clunky when loading. But for the most part, It pretty much does what I expected it to do, and then some.

So we can still get pretty decent sound even from a good 4K Blu-Ray disc player (like a $200 Sony), a mid range AVR and a decent 5.1 speaker package (buy recent used) that would fit in most families budget.

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I am hoping to find a 4k UHD Blue Ray player that will also serve as a quality audio CD player as well. Am I better served with separate components or can I truly have great audio sound from my CD's using a 4k UHD Blue Ray player.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
The first thing that pops into my mind is to ask you if you've looked at anything as yet?
 
I am currently looking at the Oppo UDP-203 or the Sony UHP-H1 (as examples). Price range +- $500.

Thanks for the input. I'm trying to stay on a budget here. Im more inclined to invest in vinyl and hi-res music down loads but need something to play my cd collection on and take advantage of 4k UHD discs as that become more available.
 
Your CDs wont sound any different from a CD player vs a Blu Ray unit. Like others have said, CD players generally play quicker and have displays that show the track # etc without the TV being on. I have a SONY DVD changer in my HT setup in the living room because playing audio CDs in the Playstations is slow and a pain. The HDMI DVD changer is fast to load and has its own display. I have a Sony SACD player on one of my vintage two channel systems and I finally got a SACD disc to play in it (Dianna Krall) and the difference between it and regular CDs is............. zero, at least at the volumes I use. Regular CD noise floor is so low that unless one plays the quietest passages at full volume (risking your speakers and ears when the level comes back up) that the even lower noise floor of SACD discs is not worth anything to most. Somebody telling you that one must have analog outputs instead of HDMI for better CD sound is blowing smoke.

http://www.aes.org/e-lib/browse.cfm?elib=14195

"Claims both published and anecdotal are regularly made for audibly superior sound quality for two-channel audio encoded with longer word lengths and/or at higher sampling rates than the 16-bit/44.1-kHz CD standard. The authors report on a series of double-blind tests comparing the analog output of high-resolution players playing high-resolution recordings with the same signal passed through a 16-bit/44.1-kHz “bottleneck.” The tests were conducted for over a year using different systems and a variety of subjects. The systems included expensive professional monitors and one high-end system with electrostatic loudspeakers and expensive components and cables. The subjects included professional recording engineers, students in a university recording program, and dedicated audiophiles. The test results show that the CD-quality A/D/A loop was undetectable at normal-to-loud listening levels, by any of the subjects, on any of the playback systems. The noise of the CD-quality loop was audible only at very elevated levels."

I only started looking for articles about SACD vs CD after I got the SACD player and heard zero difference. I consumed tons of material including a lot of it on this site claiming the huge difference between SACD was disappointed but not surprised that there was zero difference in sound. I have learned a lot on this site but not all of that is correct. I would recommend Googling phrases like "do I need a DAC?" etc and read several points of view and decide what is best.
 
Look at the Oppo UDP-205 when it is released. If it's like the 105 BD player, it will have dedicated 2 channel high quality balanced audio out.
 
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I certainly plan on waiting for the release of the 205 (this month I hope). Just hope Oppo doesn't price it beyond my "stretch" budget.
 
I've had an Oppo 203 for about six weeks now, and I have nothing but positive things to say about it, especially its audio output quality.

The core of my system is a Pioneer Elite AVR, a VSX-82TXS. Great amps. And, when it came out, great DACs. Now that the machine is 10 years old, or several generations of DACs old, the 203's analog outputs allowed me to upgrade my DACs by connecting my AVR to the Oppo via the Oppo's analog outputs and the AVR's 7.1 analog inputs.

The Oppo handles virtually every form of disc out there, but the ones I care most about are SACD and DVD-Audio (as well as the obvious formats like Blu Ray, DVD, CD, etc...).

Additionally, the Oppo handles high-resolution digital file formats like FLAC and DSD (essentially an SACD format).

The upgrade in sound quality was immediately apparent. Much greater resolution of details, in particular. Sustained notes and cymbals tapering away, the singer's breath, wiind instrumentalists' tonguing the notes (I know that sounds disgusting, but when I played trumpet, we called it tonguing - you know, like double- and triple-tonguing).

Build construction is unbelievable. My previous Blu Ray machine, a Pioneer Elite BDP-62, another universal disk player, weighed in at six pounds while the Oppo tips the scales at 9.5 pounds. Obviously, weight alone is not an indication of either build quality or performance, but it certainly helps convey that sense of solidity (and, conversely, if a manufacturer skimps on things that add weight in an effort to reduce manufacturing costs, you have to wonder what else they skimped on).

Support is outstanding. They issue firmware updates to tweak performance, and the speed of their response to customer questions is outstanding. Once I swapped my Oppo over to analog out audio, I wasn't able to get any subwoofer output from 2.0 sources, so I emailed their support group. They had a response to me within two hours that was not only easy to do, but worked beautifully!

The Oppo also has a significantly more intuitive and speedy user interface than my Pioneer Elite unit had. On my Pioneer, when I accessed my external hard drive to play FLAC files, the player failed to load files at least 50% of the time, and, when it did load them, it would often take upwards of a minute for the track to start playing (though once that first track loaded, the rest played just fine). By contrast, with the Oppo, stuff just works. And works fast. When I'm playing FLAC or DSD files, you click Play on the remote, and the songs start!
  • Audio quality is outstanding, especially if you have older DACs on your AVR or pre-amp/processor.
  • User interface is great
  • Build quality is frickin' incredible
  • Plays just about every known disk and file format (while early literature says it doesn't process HDCD, I'm playing my only HDCD through it now, though I presume it's processing the disk as a CD)
  • Oh, yeah, and then there's that funny little thing: it puts out just about the best picture you'll see ... until the 205 comes out
 
Thank you cwall99 for the informative overview of your new Oppo 203. From your post and other reviews and articles I have read, it would appear to be perhaps my best choice. I will wait to see the price differential between the 205 and the 203, then place my order.
 
I use an Oppo udp 203 and owned the 105d as well and I must admit the audio from the 203 is on par with the 105. With that said I plan on buying the Sonica DAC to complement it.
 
The video processing will be identical with the 203 and 205, it's the audio that pushes the 205 way up although the 203 is definitely no slouch, I'm extremely impressed with its sound with music. I'm still going to add the Sonica DAC to it to put it on par with the 205 but if that level of sound isn't as important to you then the 203 is more than good for both music and movies.

Audiofreak71
 
Support is outstanding. They issue firmware updates to tweak performance, and the speed of their response to customer questions is outstanding. Once I swapped my Oppo over to analog out audio, I wasn't able to get any subwoofer output from 2.0 sources, so I emailed their support group. They had a response to me within two hours that was not only easy to do, but worked beautifully!

I was having the same problem. What was your fix? I had to go into the Oppo settings and increase sub trim level to the highest setting +10. Now I am getting adequate sub output. It's a great unit!
 
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