Oppo Sonica DAC Being Dropped
- Thread starter Mamrak1
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Audioraven
Well-Known Member
Man, it didn't last for very long. I wonder why they gave it the boot so fast?
ddhd
New Member
Kind of a bummer as I've never ownered a DAC and this pcs of equipment with its versatility was exactly what I was looking for. I was appreciative of the knowledge that it's was a newly designed device by a respected company with longevity, solid R&D, with the prospect of continued support on its device app.
whoaru99
Epic Member
With zero actual inside info it's hard to say.
Could be clearing the shelves for a new model, could be some parts became unavailable, could be it's not meeting sales or profit margin targets. Probabably other things it could be too.
Mamrak1
Super Member
Per a follow up with Oppo, there is no new model coming. They are getting out of the DAC line of business completely.
probably a battle between the let's-do-a-DAC-for-extended-product-lines vs
let's focus-on-core-technology-that-we-own. or a battle with suppliers and
customers to have custom features and can't win the profit/loss battles.
so, the question is whether these are good enough to "invest" a couple of $$$
and buy a dozen, sealed and new, to keep for a few years and flipper for a
small fortune?
my guess is not, due to advances in DAC technology and control by the DAC
chip companies.
let's focus-on-core-technology-that-we-own. or a battle with suppliers and
customers to have custom features and can't win the profit/loss battles.
so, the question is whether these are good enough to "invest" a couple of $$$
and buy a dozen, sealed and new, to keep for a few years and flipper for a
small fortune?
my guess is not, due to advances in DAC technology and control by the DAC
chip companies.
I was really pumped to see this released, but upon discovering it still couldn't do gapless playback over a network, I completely wrote it off. Beyond that bug, I've heard both the stock Sonica DAC (no slouch on its own) and the Modwright version, which took it to even greater heights. At least it is an adaption of the DAC capabilities of the UDP-205, so all of that design work is not completely lost. It's a shame, as it had such potential, and I know a few out there who really wanted to buy this.
I would bet the flippers have already beaten us to it...
This was my thought process when I purchased the UDP-205. The UDP could be used as a standalone DAC, a universal disc player, and a headphone amp. However, it was $500 more, so when I found an 'open box' deal on for $300 more (instead of $500), the decision was a little easier.
So to your point, it came down to: A DAC vs. A DAC, a Ultra HD disc player, and a HP amplifier.
I wonder if that means the end of firmware updates for the Sonica DAC. I'm glad I didn't buy one now.
You would think there is some remaining stock out there, but, no. Unless Oppo recalled them for some reason. A few opportunistic sellers already have "gouge" pricing in place. I see two used ones on eBay. But that's the extent of it. MusicDirect only shows the Sonica speaker now.
I just sold mine. While I thought it was an excellent sounding DAC, I didn't care for the transition between songs. I thought songs began too abruptly, and sometimes sounded like they didn't play the first second or two of a song. I intended to sell it before finding out they were discontinuing it. Glad I did. I also didn't care for the way OPPO insinuated there would eventually be Roon and MQA support but never came through.
They probably put that technology into the UDP-205 rather than the DAC. I just don't want to pay $500 more for a disk drive and video circuitry I'll never use.
No biggie--there are bigger/better DACs out there getting my attention now.
AvFan
Super Member
Same here. I couldn't bring myself to buy a Sonica and then hope OPPO would fix the lack of gapless playback. I bought a Cambridge Audio CXN and have been very happy with it. I'm still an OPPO customer as I have a UDP-203 in my family room home theater.
I still feel Oppo is a winner in terms of video--home theater forums rave about their players. It's saddening that they are just enough into audio to give us a tease, yet don't quite make it all the way. They easily could have produced a better model of DAC to sell for, say, $999, still using some of the best DAC chips available, improve the analog circuitry even further, fix the gapless bug, add support for newer technologies (like Roon and MQA, for those who want it), and tweak up the user interface further. I'd be demanding them to "take my money" if that were the case. Heck, the Sonica DAC was so popular at the last audio show I attended that I saw them in quite a few rooms, including some of the Modwright* versions.
It's like they're 95% of the way there--it wouldn't take much more for it to happen. It's a shame they are just abandoning the DAC business, rather than just pushing that little extra and deliver the knockout product they are capable of. They already have a few major things on their side--good customer service, brand loyalty, a bang-for-the-buck reputation with components punching well above their price range, great build quality, you name it. And there are customers who are waiting (such as myself) for that type of product they can deliver. I would bet they could also come up with a really nice media server product if they put their minds to it.
* I bet Dan Wright at Modwright is very disappointed in this decision as well--I know he felt the Sonica DAC with his modifications made it one of the best sounding products he's ever sold. He can still modify the UDP-205, of course, which had similar results.
It's like they're 95% of the way there--it wouldn't take much more for it to happen. It's a shame they are just abandoning the DAC business, rather than just pushing that little extra and deliver the knockout product they are capable of. They already have a few major things on their side--good customer service, brand loyalty, a bang-for-the-buck reputation with components punching well above their price range, great build quality, you name it. And there are customers who are waiting (such as myself) for that type of product they can deliver. I would bet they could also come up with a really nice media server product if they put their minds to it.
* I bet Dan Wright at Modwright is very disappointed in this decision as well--I know he felt the Sonica DAC with his modifications made it one of the best sounding products he's ever sold. He can still modify the UDP-205, of course, which had similar results.
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
For classical music you need gapless playback.
Try listening to Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini" when all of the 26 variations are on individual tracks, most of them under two minutes in length. (For those not familiar with this work, the pieces are all played as one performance, straight through, no breaks.) Makes you want to chuck a player through the nearest window...or at the very least, convert a person to gapless playback.
I'm not about to go through thousands of files and merge them so I can play entire classical works back with gapless.I'm not a fan of it, but I would imagine that listening to the Goldberg Variations is just as frustrating. (Unless it's that early single-track Glenn Gould CD that Columbia released, where the CD marked the movements with CD's rarely-used "index" feature.)
runnin'
Super Member
Well that's the thing, isn't it. Disc player sales are on a downward spiral as streaming replaces it. Yes I know that some will always prefer Disc/bluray players(yep, Oppos stream as well), but the market place has changed.
I bought a streaming device for under $100 that does HD and dozens of other apps. That's the future, which is why Oppo has been trying the headphone and dac markets. They've apparently got a real winner with their headphones, but other than that, they seem to be floundering.
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