Cross Road decision Sony or Oppo?

Ramseybella

AK Member
Recently picked up an Oppo BDP-103 Blue Ray 3D player a thrift store score.
I own a Sony X707ES that i love but finding the Oppo has something more to add to my Audio listening.
I am just interested in Audio not the video.
So my question is as i need to move some stuff as the wife and i want to move to a smaller place.
What would one keep for practical audio output reasons?
 
The OPPO offers you a company that is now out of the A/V business--Sony is not--just think about that. Great--as long as it works, until it dies, and then good luck!
 
Tough call.

The Sony is an ES model, but is significantly older than the Oppo. (where did you find an Oppo in a thrift store, anyway?)

Obviously the Sony was intended JUST for audio while the Oppo has other considerations for blu-ray.

Even though the Sony is an ES, the Oppo is built like a damn tank.

The Oppo will play SACD, DVD-A, and HDCD. I doubt the Sony will play any of those if those formats are important for you.

Unfortunately Oppo is out of the player business now. You did buy all the missing accessories while you still could yes?

It's a hard decision. Ultimately you might have to set up a switch box, equalize the levels, and have a friend switch between the two on the same system, unless my pointing out feature differences sways you at all.
 
Didn't know Oppo bailed out of the business 14 years is way short!!
I have a BDP 93 i bought around a year ago as well..
The 301 was a steal at $20.00 but the store had a store wide half off sale..
So yes $10.00 out the door.
 
That's insane. Even now they're going for over $300. The 203 and 205, last I checked, were selling at a premium over list. Crazy. But at the time they were discontinued there wasn't much serious competition in the high end 4K player market. I wish I could have had a last run 205, but my current circumstances couldn't justify keeping a $1300 player, especially when I still wanted to keep a 103 or 105 for some of its unique features.

Used to be one of the big selling features of Oppo players was being able to replace lost/broken accessories very reasonably. I bought a new wireless dongle for my 95 very cheap (it's not the same as 103/105) and other accessories over the years and their customer service was second to none. If you need anything that they still have, however, order it now as it appears that once they're gone, they're gone.

https://www.oppodigital.com/products.asp?cat=23

It is heartening that I see they're selling both new and refurb remotes for the 8x/9x players. I might order one for $8 as mine has some minor flaws. They were OOS by the time I got my 95 so I had to get a new non-backlit one until I could find a used backlit one. So maybe they will occasionally have things.

I would definitely get the wifi adapter if you don't have it. It looks like they're already OOS on the extension base. Reason for having the wifi is if you ever decide to use it to stream music from a NAS you will want it, although you will need a monitor to work it. And if you ever go to sell it, buyer will probably want that as well. It originally shipped with a power cord, HDMI cable, remote, WiFi adapter, WiFi adapter extension base, all in a black Oppo box. Also had a black Oppo logo tote bag that the player was inside. I have all the packing for one of my units save for the original manual; the other one I just have the black box and tote bag (I bought both used.)

Edit: I'm an idiot. The WiFi adapter they still have in stock is for the 9x, not the 10x. I was thinking 95 because that was the last thing I bought from them, but you did clearly say you had a 103. Sorry if I got your hopes up. They are not interchangeable, as I tried to use the one for a 103/105 on my 95 to test when I first got it, and no go.

Edit2: one nice feature of the Oppo I didn't mention is the ability to use it with an IR blaster output without having to stick anything over the IR receiver, you can just use a mono headphone cord direct into a jack in the back of the unit. I am actually using this feature on my 95 as I am using a two zone Luxman preamp.
 
I hooked another pair of speakers to my system and it does sound damn sweet...
It kicks the Sony's A$$ just a bit.
The Sony was sounding in your face and the Oppo was just in the right spot without being fatiguing.
 
yes, Wildcat makes another good point that I temporarily forgot about, the 103/105 can be used to rip SACDs because it has a certain chipset. The main reason that I will keep my 105 even if I manage to find a 205 I can afford... although that is not looking likely these days. And I still will use my 95 for disc spinning duties in my 2 channel rig because it's built like a damn tank.

One of the things that the 105 does that the 103 does not is that you can use it as a USB DAC. Which is the main reason that I upgraded last year when I was able to work a really contrived deal to make that happen. If you have the opportunity to buy a 105 for a fair price I would give serious consideration to doing so and then sell the 103 to recoup some of your costs.
 
Sorry, but the only way I would buy an OPPO right now is if the price is really "right"--and then just to flip it, because the minute it starts to fail, the only place for it is a landfill--but that's just me. At least I can get parts for a Sony, either from Sony, or from "donor" units (since they sold 100X as many units per model as OPPO).
 
Didn't know Oppo bailed out of the business 14 years is way short!!
I have a BDP 93 i bought around a year ago as well..
The 301 was a steal at $20.00 but the store had a store wide half off sale..
So yes $10.00 out the door.
$10 for an Oppo? Keep it and enjoy it. Or tuck it away for later when that Sony bites it.
 
I know you're trying to pare down for a smaller place. But, for $10 I'd just keep it till it dies. Doesn't take up too much space. ;)
 
After pawing with it trying other speaker combos with the Heresy's and tweaking the Audio Control C101 EQ a little i like it more than the Sony but the Sony plays CD-R's the Oppo doesn't.
I guess i keep both for now.:naughty:
Sell the BDP93 and the Nakamichi..:thumbsup:
 
How many modern formats (i.e., newer than the 30+ year-old Redbook CD format) does the Sony player support?

The availability of modern hi-res recordings varies by music genre. FWIW, I listen to classical music, and almost all modern recordings are available in a hi-res format. My preferences for consumer deliverables are:

My favorite is Blu-ray audio/video (featuring DTS-HD MA 5.0 (or 5.1) surround-sound). A few Ultra HD Blu-ray classical recordings are starting to become available.

My second choice in formats are SACD and Pure Audio Blu-ray that feature surround-sound. (No video.)

My third choice are 24bit/96kHz or 24bit/192kHz FLAC stereo downloads (e.g., HDTracks).​

Based on the genre of music I listen to, I use “universal players”, i.e., Oppo UDP-205, BDP-105, and BDP-95.

$64k question: What genre of music do you listen to, and what formats are relevant?
 
Didn't know Oppo bailed out of the business 14 years is way short!!
I have a BDP 93 i bought around a year ago as well..
The 301 was a steal at $20.00 but the store had a store wide half off sale..
So yes $10.00 out the door.
Hell of a deal!. For $10, I'd say keep the Oppo!!
I'm on my 4th Oppo- got an older DV980HD for my 2 ch system, Audio only use.
Like it so much when I went BlueRay I got a BDP 83, replaced for a BDP 93 couple years later and replacxed that for the newer tech in a BDP 103-D last year at closeout prices ($500).
Only had one OPPO unit fail over 10 years - a DV-981HD I got 10 years back had intermittent power supply probs after 5 years.
Video is great and it also plays most any kind of disc you can get.
Oh, do a search for "Superdisc" and download a code you can burn to a DVD to makethe BDP models region free for DVDs.
 
Sorry, but the only way I would buy an OPPO right now is if the price is really "right"--and then just to flip it, because the minute it starts to fail, the only place for it is a landfill--but that's just me. At least I can get parts for a Sony, either from Sony, or from "donor" units (since they sold 100X as many units per model as OPPO).
If you’re lucky it will start to fail. Mine fried, twice. When they fixed it, they swapped in another power supply board with the same crappy capacitors on it that failed even faster than the first one. Instead of getting it fixed again and recapping the board, I said screw it and bought a Marantz.

Of course, if I got one for $10, I’d throw it in my other system until it died. But I wouldn’t pay real money for one. For the OP, I think the question is: are you willing to pay to replace this thing when it dies? If the answer is yes, keep it if you think it sounds better than the Sony.
 
Only had one OPPO unit fail over 10 years - a DV-981HD I got 10 years back had intermittent power supply probs after 5 years.
I’m pretty sure that’s the one I had that died. Maybe it was just a bad model, but I swore off them after I paid them to fix it and they just swapped another bad board into it. I think it maybe lasted five years total.
 
I'd sell the $10 Oppo and keep the Sony. Use the profit to pick up a spare KSS-xxx laser for the Sony and it will last forever. To me, there is zero comparison.

Oppo is just another Chinese machine, a little better made than many but their mechanisms are simply dreadful- all plastic. Put it this way, there's yet another Oppo in front of me now, with yet another failed power supply...
 
Again, the one that failed on me was an early, NON-Bluray multidisc player bottom of the line. I bought it from WOOT for $100.It failed at 5 years, OPPO repaired it for $50 and it made it another 5 years.So, 10 years for a player I had $150 into - and it played every non-BR I tossed at it - CD, HDCD, SACD, etc.
Never had a lick of trouble with any of the BluRay Disc players.

Now, chances are, you could sell the Oppo BDP for good money on the used market -
but its bound to be as good as anything else you'll find in the low price range.
 
Sorry, but the only way I would buy an OPPO right now is if the price is really "right"--and then just to flip it, because the minute it starts to fail, the only place for it is a landfill--but that's just me. At least I can get parts for a Sony, either from Sony, or from "donor" units (since they sold 100X as many units per model as OPPO).

OPPO claims that they will continue to support their products, just not build new products.

https://www.oppodigital.com/farewell.aspx
 
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