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Best Universal Player?

P

Palmat

New Member
Hi!

I´m currently thinking of sacking my CD-player and blu-ray player and get myself a universal player that can handle both blu-ray and CD and produce great results. I've been reading up on universal players and haunted my local hi-fi dealer to try to figure out what player to go for.

So far I'm kind of leaning towards the following machines:

OPPO BDP 103
Marantz UD7007
Pioneer BD-LX58

I've read alot of positive things about them and how they all handle both movies and music with aplomb.

So I'm wondering if there is someone on this forum who could shed some light on this subject and maybe steer me in the right direction.

Thanks!
 
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Happy to see this thread. I am in the same situation, wanting to consolidate my disc players. I look at the Oppo BDP 105 but am hesitant to spend that much. Glad that the 103 is also well thought of.
 
Take a look at the older Oppo as an option too. I have the BDP-83, and the 93. The 93 has wi-fi capabilities, and streaming capabilites, so I would go with that one.
 
I narrowed it down to OPPO and Marantz. I went with the Marantz because its music presentation is less "forward" than the OPPO. OPPO is better with video, though, so it is a trade-off.

Good luck.
 
I have the Oppo 105d, it's a great player, dac, pre-amp, media center. Much better 2 channel machine then the 103.
 
My vote would be for the Oppo. The Marantz might have a slightly "warmer" sonic signature to it, but I would look to the Oppo for a highly detailed sound with very good imaging, and a huge soundstage. I have an old Oppo DV-980H DVD player that I use as a CD player, and it sounds wonderful in my system. Great clarity, detail, texture and nuance, with a huge soundstage. I am sure the BDP-103 will be even better than mine. I just don't have the money for one ATM. lol Or a BDP-105 for that matter. :P
 
I have an Oppo BDP-105 and its predecessor the BDP-95, and am happy with both. Both include “audiophile grade” DACs for stereo. Both sound great playing 24bit/192kHz FLAC recordings, SACDs, CDs, Pure Audio Blue-ray, etc. And they produce excellent picture quality on Blu-ray videos.

Oppo is good about providing firmware updates at no additional fee – sometimes providing new features.

The 105 can play FLAC files “gapless”. The 95 cannot.

The 105 does not have a fan. The 95’s fan can faintly be heard in a very quiet room.

I use the 105 as a DA converter for the TOS-link audio feed from my TV. I don’t think the 95 can do this. (I don’t have the need for this feature in the system where my 95 is installed.)

There are other differences that don’t affect me, like the 105’s headphone jack, iPad control app, 4k upscaling, etc.

Negatives: The 105 has a huge button on the remote control for Netflix, which I hate. I often accidently push the button when I intended to push “Pure Audio” (i.e., video mute) on the volume control. This takes me out of the movie, and the player does not remember where it left – i.e., you have to start over watching a movie – go through all of the credits at the beginning of the movie, and then try to find where you left the movie. The button cannot be disabled.

My only disappointment (other than the Netflix button) is that neither will play internet radio (e.g., kusc.org) - though both will play Pandora, and the 105 now plays Tidal (via Beta software).

Bottom line, I'm happy with the Oppos.

P.S. I've only briefly experimented with the BDP-105's Digital Media Player (DMP) and Digital Media Renderer (DMR) for in-home wireless audio. On my Windows XP PC with Windows Media Player it was very easy to get working. I plan to explore this capability more when I get a new Windows 10 PC.
 
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As a gadgeteer from way back i read this with interest. However the cost benefit ratio seems out of proportion considering the size of the actual box. Is there something I am missing? Why would this be a feasible option? I simply have two CD players stacked and they are thin and small. My investment is less than $200 with 3d video on my Samsung and my Teac for music with a Burr Brown DAC. I am not against your idea, I am trying to see if I can find value in it for me.
 
I have the 103, and would go for the 105 over the 103 if I were buying now.

I didn't hear much difference between the two (but wasn't demoing them under ideal conditions) - so why the 105?

my current configuration is running a Kodi box into the oppo (very nice interface for browsing my locally stored audio and video) and analog from the oppo into a five channel integrated, from there to my mains, sub and center.

I'm much more interested in two channel than multichannel, but when I want to watch something with a sub and dialog track, its available and I like the fact that the amp isn't doing processing - I'm happy to let the oppo deal with the processing for me.

so, why the 105? the 103, for a couple of reasons, needs a preamp stage to sound its best. the 105 can feed directly into an amp.

it's damned near impossible to find a multichannel integrated. it's not hard to find power amps that do multichannel, but integrated never took off, displaced by avr units with bypass switches.

there are other advantages to the 105, but for what I'm doing, I'm basically married to this integrated by the 103.

budgetwise, that may be a good thing, of course - finding a decent avr that can do 200w into a 4 ohm load isn't cheap, and includes a processing section which I don't want.
 
Thanks for all your input!!! It seems I can narrow down my options to Oppo or Marantz. Luckily my local dealer carries both machines so I will try them out and see what they can do!
 
olderroust said:
I have the 103, and would go for the 105 over the 103 if I were buying now.

I didn't hear much difference between the two (but wasn't demoing them under ideal conditions) - so why the 105?

my current configuration is running a Kodi box into the oppo (very nice interface for browsing my locally stored audio and video) and analog from the oppo into a five channel integrated, from there to my mains, sub and center.

I'm much more interested in two channel than multichannel, but when I want to watch something with a sub and dialog track, its available and I like the fact that the amp isn't doing processing - I'm happy to let the oppo deal with the processing for me.

so, why the 105? the 103, for a couple of reasons, needs a preamp stage to sound its best. the 105 can feed directly into an amp.

it's damned near impossible to find a multichannel integrated. it's not hard to find power amps that do multichannel, but integrated never took off, displaced by avr units with bypass switches.

there are other advantages to the 105, but for what I'm doing, I'm basically married to this integrated by the 103.

budgetwise, that may be a good thing, of course - finding a decent avr that can do 200w into a 4 ohm load isn't cheap, and includes a processing section which I don't want.
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So If I understand you correctly, I can use the analog out of the 105 to my 5 channel amp for a surround sound setup, whilst still keeping my 2 channel setup happily feeding the front mains?
 
FWIW

I have a UD5007. Not the greatest experience, still having a couple intermittent problems.

Other than performance considerations I would suggest asking your dealer about customer service. In my area Marantz has cut back on authorized service centers. I had problems with my unit and I waited over 4 months for its return. Needed new mother board, complete run around. The local audio shop was great giving me a loaner unit however their overall impression on the Marantz "system" was poor. This is because of the dealer network BS that seems to be happening. The local guys are considering dropping Marantz. They are not a start up shop either, respected and have been in operation for many years.

Point >>> ask about the warranty and support.
 
c-atle-79bay said:
So If I understand you correctly, I can use the analog out of the 105 to my 5 channel amp for a surround sound setup, whilst still keeping my 2 channel setup happily feeding the front mains?
Click to expand...

I think that what you're suggesting would work. I am thinking it would look like this:

Oppo - FR, FL - feeds your 2 channel rig

Oppo - FR, FL - continues to feed your 2 channel
Oppo - C, SR, SL, SBL, SBR - feeds your 5 channel amp

Assuming you have a powered sub, you may want it with your mains in which case you'll need a 2 channel rig with an attenuating sub out, or you may find it'll work with your 5 channel - but likewise, you'd need something to address the signal gain headed to the sub.

The other challenge is in level matching the 2 channel and 5 channel systems.

And this, frankly, is what I love about this honking Dussun integrated. It sounds pretty nice, and I leave everything connected. If I'm not listening to multichannel, I have the Oppo in stereo mode. The center channel isn't getting fed signal, and any noise it chooses to amplify is inaudible.

I'm watching something with a worthwhile multichannel track? I flip over to 5.1 mode, and since I don't have surrounds, just a center and sub

- I'm still getting most of the grunt the amp is capable of
- volume management is all in one place

So, the real question for you gets to be, would you be willing / able to use the multichannel amp as your main amp, for both 2 and multichannel?

If, after testing, the result is good, then yeah, the 105 can be standalone. Oppo says the 105 can be used without a preamp. I would want to test it for myself. The 103 should not be, they say because the 103 noise floor is too high (and I can hear it once the volume gets down to around 40) but the other issue is that the 103 uses digital gain control, and decreasing volume with a digital gain control involves throwing away bit depth, more the quieter you get. So, I'd want to hear SQ at civilian volume levels, but I have not seen people saying they've had problems or noticed artifacts with the 105 at lower volumes.

For me, the 103 is standalone with an integrated. I have a lot of digital sources, but they are easy to fold into the 103, and I'm not using a turntable.

I happen to have a lot of analog ins that I never use. If I want to add a turntable, for instance, I'd need a dedicated phono preamp but once I had that it would be easy to run it into one of the unused lines in.

It is all pretty fragile, though, and if the amp blows out one day, I'll be looking at replacing it and the disc player, quite possibly at the same time.
 
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