Some OVERRATED High End Gear. - Page 11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yikes 

I agree Oppo's are overrated (Sound quality). That being said I own a modified BDP-83SE. The BDP-83SE stock was sort of uninspiring, hardly a world class source. After modification by Exemplar Audio it was dramatically better, but still not exactly world class. Stock it's good, modified it's very good, but according to many here and elsewhere the Oppo's (BDP-83/SE and now the 93/95) are world class audio sources, They're not. They're good, and I whole heartily recommend them, but they are overrated.

 

Many people like to believe that they have found the magic bullet (That happens to fall within their budget). They have found the single best value in audio, that if you purchased a less expensive alternative you are ignorant and if you spent more money on a different product you are obviously insane or an idiot, or both. These products are generally fine products, but the belief that they punch so far above their weight class that considering anything else is idiotic is at best unfounded, at worse it is delusional or dishonest.

I agree, even the nuforce version of the oppos are nowhere near as good as truly outstanding sources, like nuforce's own cd-8

The one draw back with the Oppo BD-95 (BD-93 is not meant to be Oppo's flagship analog source player) imo is the way it handles the bass by adding a +5 gain. However considering the fact that the BD-95 has a dedicated 2CH stereo analog RCA and balanced XLR outs using its own dedicated 2CH ES9018 DAC chip, plus it uses a second ES9018 DAC chip for MCH analog. Now add all the formats and steaming capability's for audio and video, plus it also has 2 HDMI ports (same as the BD-93) one for video and one for audio, makes it a great buy for its price range. You tell me how much more would you have to pay for something like this source player to get improved analog audio along with everything the BD-95 can do???

When it comes down to a DAC chip most modern day DAC chips are over kill, what makes or brakes a DAC is how the chip is integrated into the DAC and how well the DAC is designed and the hardware and maybe the firmware.

The biggest reason why I like the over kill ES9018 is because it uses its own clock that is Incorporated into the chip, However the ES9018 seems to be a hard chip to incorporate into a DAC.

That said, imo the most overrated thing with the BD-95 is having a expensive modification done to it.

controversy time: (as if this thread isn't controversial enough)

future overrated gear prediction: grado ps500 (cough cough.... hf-2 rehash)

I like my Oppo 95. In my IMO its over-rated because it is being compared with higher priced competition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik 

They're only bought because they're cheap.

People are so eager for the glow of tubes that they will buy compromised equipment or amps where the tubes barely provide any amplification at all.

Also, I only run name-brand transformers. "Mystery meat" transformers are a risk I'm not willing to take.

If the cheapies ran good iron, they'd cost about the same as the amps that run good iron.

Those amps are not cheap because of labor costs. They're cheap because they run the cheapest possible power supply with the cheapest possible parts.

And, no, a very expensive and rare NOS tube rolled into it doesn't make a cheap power supply any better.

Oh so true Uncle Erick, These cheap amps from over seas are just built with crap parts and will not hold their values or hold up period......over time.... The most overrated equipment made today anywhere are today's big buck speakers...... The same technology used for yrs. oh yea, the cabinets might be made from special materials, but come on 30 grand and up for these huge boat anchors....... I guess they'd rather sell 10 thousand at these FU prices then 1 million at about 5 to 10 grand tops, in price......this is what's killing high end audio.......IMO
 

The power supply is the heart of any audio amplifier, tube or solid state. The Harman-Kardon Citation II tube amp made in the 60s are still sought after today because of their transformers. Even Audio Research amps' schematics are all over on-line yet cannot be copied because their transformer's specs are not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by oqvist 

Speaking of oppo now this is an overrated brand

Overrated for its intended application - blueray playback? or 2 channel audio?

I can't see how Oppo are overrated - they offer very good products. The BD-93 for $500 you get an extremely sleek looking BD/CD/SACD/DVD-A player with good build quality. Oppo are constantly updating it with more features/fixes based on customer feedback. Its also has very speedy load times, comparable to that of the PS3. Two channel audio performance is nice as well, as good as the DacMagic if not better. The only downside I can think of is the remote which well and truly sucks in every way.

I'm strictly an iTunes, iPod (& vinyl) guy for audio-only playback but my BDP-83 gives me everything I could possibly want in a Blu-ray player for my HTR and plays SACDs to boot. 7.1 analog, ethernet, two USB ports, etc. etc., not too bad for $289 shipped. I'm very pleased with it and it works way better than my older and more expensive Samsung.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik 

Oppo is overrated?

Apparently Lexicon thought it was good enough to recase and mark the price up to $3,500.

And what does that prove? They do measure badly without exceptions as well.  It really is not good bang for the buck focusing in audio. I don´t have a reference monitor anymore run LCD so can´t comment much on that :) The DAC in the Sony BDP-S370 is more impressive and it´s a 99$ blurayplayer managing to be much more transparent. analogue out is not bad though but as mentioned not anyway near reference. Case work for a then a plus 1200+$ bluray player is nothing that impress when you watch at what just about all the other bluray players in this priceclass down to half the cost! You can´t stack anything on top of it.

It was also quite slow loading bluray discs in general and overall really didn´t give a premium feel as I got less desillusioned :).

The LCD-2 is my biggest disappointment probably. Muddy, congested and poor soundstaging. Not to mention they weigh a ton (but that´s to be expected).

edit: and easily the most overrated thing is all balanced headphones and headphone amps in general. Sure, they might be a small difference, but it´s nowhere near the trouble and the added cost. 

The LCD-2 is one of my biggest surprises also, but the other way. On break-in, these were very muddy sounding. After 100 hours, no more muddinessand  with a huge soundstage. The only ,imitations I see of the LCD-2's  is the source and the amplifier. The LCD-2's are a reference headphone. GI=GO.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrln 

The LCD-2 is my biggest disappointment probably. Muddy, congested and poor soundstaging. Not to mention they weigh a ton (but that´s to be expected).

 

edit: and easily the most overrated thing is all balanced headphones and headphone amps in general. Sure, they might be a small difference, but it´s nowhere near the trouble and the added cost. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by vrln 

The LCD-2 is my biggest disappointment probably. Muddy, congested and poor soundstaging. Not to mention they weigh a ton (but that´s to be expected).

 

edit: and easily the most overrated thing is all balanced headphones and headphone amps in general. Sure, they might be a small difference, but it´s nowhere near the trouble and the added cost. 

Not for me. They sound great and contribute heavily towards my enjoyment of music. I hear a large soundstage with well placed performers and audience, when well recorded. I enjoy them balanced and unbalanced.