BD-83SE. The drive was getting a bit noisy (servo correction?) so fear of impending failure was a motivator. The Audiolab is so much quieter and quicker besides sounding better. I had the SPDIF iPurifier on it, with a DC iPurifier cleaning the iPower, making a further 10% improvement.

Do you have pictures of your 005 mods you can share? [sorry for the late ask, but I rarely visit this forum as I'm mostly a speaker guy, despite owning HD800 and Neuman NDH20 (for recording).]

Haha, that was my review! On further consideration, I'll add that the 005 was hardly warmed up, so not at it's best. I got my unit back in mid November. Still love it and working on improved feeding of it. I got an Audiolab CDT and Ifi SPDIF iPurifier2, which both improved on my Oppo as a...

I am awaiting delivery of a 005. It looks great, but I can't find a single review anywhere!

While I have also experienced the audible benefits of homemade AC filters with high quality capacitors, there is a safety risk with the capacitors you have chosen. UL standards require Class-X and Class-Y certified capacitors to be used. The risk is that a high voltage spike can short...

Here is the USB receiver someone over at whatsbestforum got working in his Gustard X20 to do DSD512 reliably: http://www.diyinhk.com/shop/audio-kits/107-xmos-dsd-dxd-768khz-high-quality-usb-to-i2sdsd-pcb.html   There are many interesting products for sale on that site, like a ES9038pro DAC...

I've not really studied up on this all yet as the choices for DSD512 are still few.   The Gustard does have a funny problem with non-conventional wiring of the HDMI connector for I2S after getting it wrong for an older product and then keeping the same pinout for compatibility. You either have...

The USB card by Gustard is small and fits in a slot. You would just need a Torx driver to open the case and back panel to get it in. I don't know what they would charge for just the card. This card does not do DSD512, which people say is the best quality. The XMOS chip used by Gustard is not the...

You may want to read the Sonica DAC manual or look at the back panel again. I was responding to post #208, labeled as a test of the Sonica Analog to Digital conversion.   The Sonica DAC has one analog stereo input that feeds a PCM1808 A to D converter after going through electrolytic...

Oppo Sonica DAC for A to D?  Not really designed for that. Its an afterthought free feature thrown in using a mid-fi chip PCM1808 that will make analog always sound inferior to digital! Like the Sonica outputs, the AtoD goes through electrolytic capacitors.

I stumbled upon a Japanese diy web page on building a ES9038 DAC that helps explain why Oppo didn't design the DAC with more parallelism of DAC channels for better specs and sonics. The 9038pro is like a 9028pro with each channel being 4 of those dac channels in parallel. Four times the current...

Generally there are protection resistors at the outputs of DACs. The output impedence is set by the value of these resistors. Op amps have their own protection in case of short circuit of the output or too much current delivery and overheating, so protection resistors are not always necessary...

I only use ferrite on the power wires right by the connector on the input/clock board exactly because they can roll off high frequencies on audio boards. Twisting power leads does a similar thing, but at lower frequencies - adding inductance to filter rf noise. So, my strategy is to filter noise...

Too soon for that. People can return units to Opp prior to 30 days for a full refund.

What capacitors did you use where? What was the theory on replacing them? Lower ESR, lower df/da?   The stock caps are the lowliest of the Nichicon Muse "Gold Tune" capacitors - what caps where do you find better?   I often go with higher voltages or values when replacing, especially next to...

By the way, for those interested in the insides of the Sonica DAC, here are some high resolution images: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8n6TAaE9yPJVU1JSTNIT1FqbkE   Lowlights include use of fixed 3-termial voltage regulators for +5, -12, +12 (opamp), others not so low noise etc. 7805...

How many user-selectable filters does the Sonica Dac have?   ZERO.   The ~$800 Gustard X20uPro (dual ES9028pro chips) and the ~$300 Breeze Audio (single ES9028pro with swappable op amps) both offer the following pre-set filters: For PCM, the display reads FIR Apodizing (best to my ears)...

The Gustard x20Pro uses one ES9028Pro dac chip per channel, with all 8 outputs in parallel on each with the theoretical maximums below, assuming premium power supplies and output stages.   "The ES9028PRO is a pin-compatible upgrade for the widely used, previous generation ES9018S. It is based...

I hope you got an X20pro and not the older X20. The X20pro has front panel memory options to choose filters. If you remove the cover, dac chips should be marked ESS 9028pro and not ESS 9018.   My X20pro does hum for a few seconds after turning on as the transformers struggle to charge the...

Thanks for pointing out the hi-res images! I got my email invitation and also promptly ordered. I think its a fair value given the quality of a DAC in a streamer. What other streamer has that DAC quality for anywhere near the price?   From the innards photo, there is clear room for...

Oppo. I had previously entered my email address to be notified when the product could be pre-ordered, and they sent me an email, customized for just me to order. They stated product would be shipped in 2 or 3 days, and charged my credit card immediately. I've not yet gotten a shipping...

I just got a pre-order notification from OPPO for the Sonica DAC, and promptly ordered. $815.00 with ground shipping. I'm looking forward to comparing it with my Gustard, X20pro, using my Android phone as a remote, and trying its network capabilities.

There are two surface mount ADA4898-1 ultra low-noise op amps per channel, used for converting the ES9028pro differential current outputs to voltage output. They are not easily replaced. They are very, very good, so not sure you would want to replace them. These are like the famous AD797, but...

I ordered an iSilencer and plan to buy a 15v. iPower for my Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface (Thunderbolt, not USB version)   By the way, I just bought a 16 foot QVS USB3.0 active extender cable. It has a built in USB re-generator that seems like those used in much more expensive audio...

They have protection resistors giving them an output impedance. Op amps internally have current and thermal limiting protection.   This output impedance means bass will suffer using low impedance headphones. Line outs work better with high 300 to 600 Ohm cans and IEMs. Discrete output buffers...