Do I Need a DAC With The OPPO BDP-83SE NuForce Edition

Just curious, if anybody knows, where does the NuForce OPPO BDP-83SE fit into the grand scheme of things?

Doing double duty as a Blu-ray player is a good thing but with money limited and the thought that one would need a headphone amp, is this a good way to go?

???

I have an oppo se (not nu force edition), and think that the SE's dac and analog section is pretty damn good for the price paid for the unit.  What people fail to understand is that dac's are subjected to the laws of diminishing returns, and as such you're better off spending the cash elsewhere.  I have an audio-gd dac3se and find that it is only marginally different to the oppo.  Its not necessarily better or worse, but it has a different sound signature. 

And if you really want the best of both worlds, wait for the new audio-gd dac that uses the same ESS 9018 dac in the NFD 01 dac

IMO to get the most from a dac, a dedicated transport is needed. So unless you need blu ray, forget the Oppo and get a dedicated transport instead.

Buy an Oppo BD-80 if you need a universal player otherwise get a solid dedicated transport as suggested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fmzip 

Buy an Oppo BD-80 if you need a universal player otherwise get a solid dedicated transport as suggested.

Seconded. If you are going to be using an external DAC, might as well save the $$$ and buy the 80 for under $300. The only real downside would be the lack of Anchor Bay VRS upscaling, which may not be an issue if you already have a receiver with a high end scaling chip, or even a TV that does a good job.

I love my SE (not nuForce), it sounds great but I really mostly use it for video. When I purchased it, my receiver didn't have a great upscaler, but now I've got a Silicon Optix Realta in my AVR. If this might be your situation at some point, go for the 80.

As for DACs, that's another discussion, plenty of great options. The usual suspects include Benchmark, Audio GD, and Lavry. Interesting alternatives include Yulong and Mytek.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Audiophilehi 

Hi All,

I am about the pull the trigger on the OPPO BDP-83SE NuForce Edition. I currently have a Singlepower MPX3-12SN7 headphone amp with Sennheiser 650 headphones.

My question is do I need a separate DAC for better performance? If yes can you recommend one in the 1k range.

Thanks

^^ If you really want to do this then no IMO unless you have other sources that you want to get a boost and benefit. Computer and other things like that.

No need, as the BDP-83SE already have a DAC built in.

An external DAC may benefit in a positive way sound wise though.