[ForSure]

The headphone amp in the 205 is great! If all you listen to is CD and Spotify, I think this will be all you need. Just add a Chromecast and you are all set. Tidal Master collection will require a computer.

 

[dawktah2]

It may be time to upgrade

 

[zackzack]

How would yo compare this to Oppo 203? As far as the audio quality is concerned?

 

[musickid]

any updates on headphone out with usb in???

 

[Hooster]

How would yo compare this to Oppo 203? As far as the audio quality is concerned?

A large step ahead I would guess. The 205 is essentially a 203 with a better audio section. The price difference should give you an idea how much better. The Oppo UDP-205 is the best dac I have ever heard by a large margin. It is good enough to kill my upgrade bug for a long time.

any updates on headphone out with usb in???

I tried the headphone out with digital coaxial in yesterday. I was not using top of the line headphones, but to me it sounded fantastic. I think it would work as an excellent headphone amplifier for most moderately and easy to drive headphones.

 

[musickid]

going to audio affair in west midlands to listen today with oppo pm1 headphone. if sound quality is excellent does it make sense to buy if only using as a usb dac with my imac. bluray etc not really needed??

 

[Hooster]

going to audio affair in west midlands to listen today with oppo pm1 headphone. if sound quality is excellent does it make sense to buy if only using as a usb dac with my imac. bluray etc not really needed??

I would say yes. Good luck finding a dac that is so well made and functional in the world of high end audio. There are great dacs out there, but the ones that are well constructed and have a remote, etc. tend to cost many times more than the Oppo.

The Holo Spring DAC is for example supposed to sound pretty good, but does it have a remote and variable output? No. Does it cost more than the Oppo? Yes. Then there are the Schiit dacs. They are supposed to sound good, but they lack in build quality and functionality.

There is more to the Oppo. I use mine with a chromecast plugged into the HDMI in. It make Netflix, and probably most other streaming video look amazing.

 

[pibroch]

going to audio affair in west midlands to listen today with oppo pm1 headphone. if sound quality is excellent does it make sense to buy if only using as a usb dac with my imac. bluray etc not really needed??

I would say no - you’d be paying for a whole lot of stuff you don’t need. Also Oppo traditionally focussed on marketing average sounding products as high quality - for example I used an Oppo 105D for its dac to play stereo music, then compared it to a stand alone dac. The stand alone retrieved massive detail that was totally absent using the Oppo. Oppo has always been full of bulsh about the dac chips it uses implying that they are responsible for allegedly great sound. The fact is that the model of dac chip used is almost completely irrelevant - it’s the implementation of any particular chip that determines sound quality. I doubt Oppo have suddenly changed their profit making strategy.

 

[musickid]

having listened today with pm'1 and hifiman ed x vs2 i have to agree with remarks concerning the dac section. it was fluid smooth and retrieved plenty of detail through usb tidal. the build quality was superb too. i was almost convinced it bettere'd mojo apart from one major hiccup. on 80 volume the pm1 sounded distant, quiet and way underpowered. this was the same for hifman. i had to turn the volume up to at least 90 with the remote to begin to get the full bodied sound i get with mojo. mojo amp is definitely more powerful than oppo. it was not a question of wanting loud sound more that at even at 80 the headphones just sounded feint and lacked the body and fullness i'm used to. on the mojo at 80 percent not only is it too loud the sound becomes too powerful for comfortable listening. the oppo did not offer me anything i already have. if its amp was as powerful as the HA1 oppo i would have gone for it. the combo of 205 dac plus HA1amp would be a killer. at present there is no sign of a HA1 version 2. real shame really i don't know why these designers can't give a full product without compensating and cutting corners. luckily i came across the icon hp8 mk 2 british built valve headphone amp marketed as a mini loudspeaker valve amp. i'll visit audio affair again and take my mojo and 600 ohm beyer dt880. if the sound pleases me i may use line out to beyers and mojo direct to oppo pm1. the adventure continues..........

 

[Hooster]

having listened today with pm'1 and hifiman ed x vs2 i have to agree with remarks concerning the dac section. it was fluid smooth and retrieved plenty of detail through usb tidal. the build quality was superb too. i was almost convinced it bettere'd mojo apart from one major hiccup. on 80 volume the pm1 sounded distant, quiet and way underpowered. this was the same for hifman. i had to turn the volume up to at least 90 with the remote to begin to get the full bodied sound i get with mojo. mojo amp is definitely more powerful than oppo. it was not a question of wanting loud sound more that at even at 80 the headphones just sounded feint and lacked the body and fullness i'm used to. on the mojo at 80 percent not only is it too loud the sound becomes too powerful for comfortable listening. the oppo did not offer me anything i already have. if its amp was as powerful as the HA1 oppo i would have gone for it. the combo of 205 dac plus HA1amp would be a killer. at present there is no sign of a HA1 version 2. real shame really i don't know why these designers can't give a full product without compensating and cutting corners. luckily i came across the icon hp8 mk 2 british built valve headphone amp marketed as a mini loudspeaker valve amp. i'll visit audio affair again and take my mojo and 600 ohm beyer dt880. if the sound pleases me i may use line out to beyers and mojo direct to oppo pm1. the adventure continues..........

Bangs head against wall.. The people in the shop have clearly not installed the latest firmware update for the Oppo. "mojo amp is definitely more powerful than oppo". The mojo simply plays louder for a given position on the volume control scale, the way it happens to be calibrated. It is not necessarily more powerful. (There is something known as loudness wars going on, both in terms of hardware and software. Manufacturers have the tendency to make their equipment go very loud, very fast and consumers may then believe that their products are therefore very powerful. This will easily fool people who are comparing equipment in a shop. They set the volume to the same numerical level but product A is louder than product B and it must therefore be better/more powerful. The same goes for recorded music. It is often compressed and set to play consistently loudly. While some people may think that loud = good sound the fact is that it is loud and compressed and all dynamics have been sucked out.)

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/149-b...205-uhd-blu-ray-player-owner-s-thread-84.html
"I just installed the latest firmware and it completely changed the way the volume control is calibrated. It gets very loud very fast and I can't believe there is any media that will not play sufficiently loud when it is set about 70 or so. The volume level was much lower for a given numerical setting before the update."

Don't judge the power by that volume scale. It seems to have been incorrectly calibrated initially but the latest firmware update has corrected this. The shop should have installed the latest firmware. It takes about 5 minutes so there is no excuse. I stand by my remarks that the SQ is miles ahead of Mojo.

If you try the Oppo again, then insist that it has the latest firmware installed. Otherwise you will mistakenly think it is weak. It is not. Failing that, set it to 80 or 90 or whatever you like and imagine it is set to around 40 to 50.

 

[Hooster]

The fact is that the model of dac chip used is almost completely irrelevant -

Fascinating. Thanks for your insight.

 

[pibroch]

Fascinating. Thanks for your insight.

You’re welcome. Have you, by any chance, used the dac in the 105? If the dac in the 205 is so much better I might consider getting one to replace the 105 I’m currently using as a general purpose entertainment centre hub.

 

[Hooster]

You’re welcome. Have you, by any chance, used the dac in the 105? If the dac in the 205 is so much better I might consider getting one to replace the 105 I’m currently using as a general purpose entertainment centre hub.

No, but I have used the DAC in the HA-1 which uses the same chip. To me the dac in the 205 is far superior. I even thought the Chord Mojo sounded better/different from the HA-1, but to me there is no contest between the Mojo and the 205. As soon as I heard the 205 I boxed my Mojo and put it up for sale.

 

[D2Girls]

No, but I have used the DAC in the HA-1 which uses the same chip. To me the dac in the 205 is far superior. I even thought the Chord Mojo sounded better/different from the HA-1, but to me there is no contest between the Mojo and the 205. As soon as I heard the 205 I boxed my Mojo and put it up for sale.

what other dacs have you compared to with this? the oppo 205 was my original choice before i decided on schiit yggy

 

[Hooster]

what other dacs have you compared to with this? the oppo 205 was my original choice before i decided on schiit yggy

Just Oppo HA-1 and Chord Mojo. I think the Yggy is an entirely different product and I would not be surprised it it sounds better than a 205. Why would I take a 205 over an yggy? Build quality, functionality, service (if it needs repair the shop is just a 15 minute drive away), it plays DVDs and Blu rays to a state of the art standard, it makes Netflix look and sound amazing, it is a great remote controlled digital preamplifier and it even has an excellent headphone output.. It is good enough for me to forget all about upgrades for a long time.

Once upon a time I had a very high class Sony Elite Series CD player. It was a fantastic machine and cost quite a bit more than the Oppo. The Oppo is a better CD player and it does all that other stuff. Isn't progress amazing?