Resolution Audio Opus 21 Full Stack
Dec 24, 2009 at 8:54 AM Post #31 of 55
Resolution Audio Opus 21 Review


Slightly more than two years ago, I purchased my Resolution Audio Opus 21 system which consists of the CD Player and Power Centre, S30 Power Amplifier, and Xtra Sources because I wanted a compact system that had musical sweetness, versatility, and simplicity along with being affordable to extract the maximum sonic performance out of my red book CD collection. The reviews by professional audio writers and RA owners were unanimously positive (which my review will be no different in that regard). However, the purpose of my review is to delve into the sonic performance and feature set of my Resolution Audio Opus 21 as a headphone high fidelity system. Here are the reasons why you should audition this jewel for yourself.


Musical sweetness:
First and foremost, the Resolution Audio Opus 21 system is not neutral in characterizing its tone and overall sound. In fact, it possesses a naturally warm and round sound in reproducing notes that thickens slightly in the lower midrange octave. Deep bass notes sound fleshed out in meaty proportions without losing rich textures. Detail retrieval is superb due to the 24bit/705.60bit resolution: every note breathes in its own space as the music blossoms organically. Warmth defines the midrange and the sound stage is expansive. Trebles sound clear without fatiguing edginess. The most astonishing qualities of the entire system are the dynamic scale and timing. Every note is reproduced in its own full-bodied size and the pace, rhythm, and timing are very precise.


Versatility:
The Xtra Sources box is nifty for several reasons. I use it for the AM/FM radio, USB audio, and headphone amplifier features. Signal quality and strength is quite good in the Tri-State area with New York City being less than twenty minutes away for AM/FM radio. USB audio depends upon the source material and it can be a maddening way to listen to CD quality audio rips with the pops, clicks, and background tasks that pop up with their own warning sounds alerting you from a state of musical bliss. The Resolution Audio Opus 21 headphone amplifier is good, but it is not quite at the level of my Ray Samuels Emmeline HR-2.


Simplicity:
One remote control handles everything with aplomb. It toggles among sources and outputs though it is not back lighted or illuminated. One Cardas Golden Reference Power Cord provides the electrical juice for the entire system as well. The only cables that I need are a Blue Jeans Cable Digital Video, the 25 pin computer serial cable, the 5 pin DIN, and my Cardas Golden Reference Unbalanced Interconnects to my RSA HR-2. That's it!


Affordable:
While certainly not cheap, each box represents a good value in this author's humble opinion because it is hard to find this level of sound quality and versatility in such a compact system.


Final words:
The Resolution Audio Opus 21 system represents one of the current state of the art designs in high performance Red Book CD playback especially considering its excellent sound quality, versatility, simplicity, and value for the money. If you are in the market for a damned good CD player that can handle just about any connection, you need to audition this high end audio system immediately.
 
Mar 16, 2010 at 7:50 AM Post #33 of 55
I just finished an extended audition period to compare the Resolution Audio Opus 21 system against the Meridian Audio 808.2i and Oppo Digital BDP-83SE. In general, I am writing about vast differences in terms of price, features, and sound quality. The Oppo Digital BDP-83SE lists for $899.00 USD and it is a truly universal player that plays all of the major audio and video formats including Compact Disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, Blu-Ray, Super Video CD, etc. It features the new ESS Sabre32 DACs in which four are stacked for the unbalanced stereo output jacks. Getting onto the sound quality, it has a warm sound with very good detail retrieval in terms of its overall tone. Bass is tight, punchy, and fairly well extended, but it does lack quite a bit of texture and bloom when compared to the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i. The mid-range is warm, smooth, and involving with good texture and balance. I would say that the Oppo BDP-83SE has about 80% of the mid-range sound quality compared to the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and perhaps 70% compared to the Meridian 808.2i. Trebles sound airy and better extended with some distortion and peaky highs especially when replaying CDs; both the Opus 21 and 808.2i trounce the BDP-83SE in this department (among others). The BDP-83SE sound stage is fairly boxed in and imaging is not nearly as precise as the Opus 21 and 808.2i. In terms of PRaT, I would characterize the BDP-83SE as middle of the road: neither too laid back or too fast paced either. The king of PRaT is the Meridian 808.2i followed very closely by the RAO 21. When comparing SA-CD and DVD-Audio to the Compact Disc format, the differences become closer by a smaller margin. Depending upon your music preferences, the BDP-83SE plays Super Audio CD better than DVD-Audio (that's just my humble opinion because I love classical and jazz music). Still, the RAO 21 trounces the BDP-83SE in terms of richness and resolution on CD format than SA-CD and DVD-Audio formats respectively while the Meridian 808.2i just kills both players stone cold (especially when playing DVD-Audio discs). The Oppo Digital BDP-83SE has good dynamic range, but it does indeed sound a bit hemmed in all of the audio formats that it supports compared to both the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i.

Onto the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i, things get much more interesting. In a nutshell, I would honestly say that the Opus 21 gets 95% closer to the 808.2i, but its approach is leaning heavily in the analog vinyl side. The RAO 21 sounds very very close to the state of the art in vinyl playback systems while the Meridian 808.2i is the ultimate digital player that I have auditioned thus far. I thought the differences would be night and day, but they are not as much as I had listened to for the duration of a month now. Let's talk about common characteristics. Both have a laid back, smooth, and transparent overall tone, but the RAO 21 takes it in a vinyl direction to a new level of refinement (at least for solid state digital playback systems is concerned). Both have tight, deep, and textured bass, but the RAO 21 has a slight upper bass bloat while the 808.2i lacks thunderous slam found elsewhere with other digital players. Both have fantastic mid-range that sounds intimate, full-bodied, rich with heaping amounts of pure high resolution that reveals inner details in complex music such as classical and opera genres. Both have airy, extended, and smooth treble, but the Meridian 808.2i takes it a few notches higher than the RAO 21 with greater clarity and resolution. Both have terrific imaging and cast a wide, deep, and tall sound stage, but the Meridian 808.2i takes it further than the RAO 21. In terms of dynamics, the Meridian 808.2i has a wider range with hyper fast speed which makes it slightly superior to the Resolution Audio Opus 21.

In conclusion, the Oppo Digital BDP-83SE is an outstanding high value digital player that lets its owners enjoy the major standard and high resolution audio and video formats with little fuss over configuration settings while still remaining trouble-free in terms of daily usage. Updates to the firmware are announced in a timely manner and upgrading is simple and fast. With the NuForce modification package, existing owners can take their BDP-83SE to a higher level for a premium while knowing that they have the very best truly universal player on the market today. If I were in the market for one do it all digital player, this would be it. The Resolution Audio Opus 21 system is approximately 95% close to the Meridian 808.2i in terms of sound quality, but it is more than 50% off the MSRP. A new Meridian Audio 808.2i costs $16,995.00 USD while the Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD Player, Power Centre, Extra Sources, and S30 power amplifier costs $7,500.00 USD. In terms of features, both are highly upgradeable and future-proof given Meridian Audio's card bus design and Resolution Audio's unique computer centric design. It all comes down to whether you want a warm, rich, smooth, vinyl house sound or a state of the art digital sound when choosing between the RAO 21 or Meridian 808.2i.

I am glad that I had this terrific opportunity to audition these fine digital source components and I hope you learned as much as I did through this extended read. Thank you.
 
Mar 17, 2010 at 9:39 PM Post #34 of 55
Thanks for the updates and notes.. I had not seen this thread until now.

Cheers,
 
Mar 21, 2010 at 9:53 PM Post #36 of 55
I am building my music server now. My Toshiba NB205-N310/BN-G netbook is my PC and I am using Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Netbook Remix for my operating system of choice; it has a 160GB hard drive. The software I use is Ruby Ripper and Audacious 2 to rip, encode, and playback my vast Compact Disc collection. For my purposes, I am encoding everything into LAME V 5 .MP3 files to save on HDD space.

So, I tried a test to compare the sound quality of the original CD, .WAV file, .FLAC file, and .mp3 file via my Resolution Audio Opus 21 Extra Sources box which has a USB 2.0 type B port. The test results were perplexing. .Wav and .Flac files did not sound identical or as good as the original CD regardless of which one I tested. .mp3 files sounded darker even murkier with less resolution and focus than the original CD; I expected this outcome. For what it is worth, I switched USB 2.0 cables and ports on my netbook with the same results.

Why is it that bit perfect and completely lossless files do not sound as good as the original CD?
 
Mar 21, 2010 at 11:30 PM Post #37 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I just finished an extended audition period to compare the Resolution Audio Opus 21 system against the Meridian Audio 808.2i and Oppo Digital BDP-83SE. In general, I am writing about vast differences in terms of price, features, and sound quality. The Oppo Digital BDP-83SE lists for $899.00 USD and it is a truly universal player that plays all of the major audio and video formats including Compact Disc, Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio, DVD-Video, Blu-Ray, Super Video CD, etc. It features the new ESS Sabre32 DACs in which four are stacked for the unbalanced stereo output jacks. Getting onto the sound quality, it has a warm sound with very good detail retrieval in terms of its overall tone. Bass is tight, punchy, and fairly well extended, but it does lack quite a bit of texture and bloom when compared to the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i. The mid-range is warm, smooth, and involving with good texture and balance. I would say that the Oppo BDP-83SE has about 80% of the mid-range sound quality compared to the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and perhaps 70% compared to the Meridian 808.2i. Trebles sound airy and better extended with some distortion and peaky highs especially when replaying CDs; both the Opus 21 and 808.2i trounce the BDP-83SE in this department (among others). The BDP-83SE sound stage is fairly boxed in and imaging is not nearly as precise as the Opus 21 and 808.2i. In terms of PRaT, I would characterize the BDP-83SE as middle of the road: neither too laid back or too fast paced either. The king of PRaT is the Meridian 808.2i followed very closely by the RAO 21. When comparing SA-CD and DVD-Audio to the Compact Disc format, the differences become closer by a smaller margin. Depending upon your music preferences, the BDP-83SE plays Super Audio CD better than DVD-Audio (that's just my humble opinion because I love classical and jazz music). Still, the RAO 21 trounces the BDP-83SE in terms of richness and resolution on CD format than SA-CD and DVD-Audio formats respectively while the Meridian 808.2i just kills both players stone cold (especially when playing DVD-Audio discs). The Oppo Digital BDP-83SE has good dynamic range, but it does indeed sound a bit hemmed in all of the audio formats that it supports compared to both the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i.

Onto the Resolution Audio Opus 21 and Meridian 808.2i, things get much more interesting. In a nutshell, I would honestly say that the Opus 21 gets 95% closer to the 808.2i, but its approach is leaning heavily in the analog vinyl side. The RAO 21 sounds very very close to the state of the art in vinyl playback systems while the Meridian 808.2i is the ultimate digital player that I have auditioned thus far. I thought the differences would be night and day, but they are not as much as I had listened to for the duration of a month now. Let's talk about common characteristics. Both have a laid back, smooth, and transparent overall tone, but the RAO 21 takes it in a vinyl direction to a new level of refinement (at least for solid state digital playback systems is concerned). Both have tight, deep, and textured bass, but the RAO 21 has a slight upper bass bloat while the 808.2i lacks thunderous slam found elsewhere with other digital players. Both have fantastic mid-range that sounds intimate, full-bodied, rich with heaping amounts of pure high resolution that reveals inner details in complex music such as classical and opera genres. Both have airy, extended, and smooth treble, but the Meridian 808.2i takes it a few notches higher than the RAO 21 with greater clarity and resolution. Both have terrific imaging and cast a wide, deep, and tall sound stage, but the Meridian 808.2i takes it further than the RAO 21. In terms of dynamics, the Meridian 808.2i has a wider range with hyper fast speed which makes it slightly superior to the Resolution Audio Opus 21.

In conclusion, the Oppo Digital BDP-83SE is an outstanding high value digital player that lets its owners enjoy the major standard and high resolution audio and video formats with little fuss over configuration settings while still remaining trouble-free in terms of daily usage. Updates to the firmware are announced in a timely manner and upgrading is simple and fast. With the NuForce modification package, existing owners can take their BDP-83SE to a higher level for a premium while knowing that they have the very best truly universal player on the market today. If I were in the market for one do it all digital player, this would be it. The Resolution Audio Opus 21 system is approximately 95% close to the Meridian 808.2i in terms of sound quality, but it is more than 50% off the MSRP. A new Meridian Audio 808.2i costs $16,995.00 USD while the Resolution Audio Opus 21 CD Player, Power Centre, Extra Sources, and S30 power amplifier costs $7,500.00 USD. In terms of features, both are highly upgradeable and future-proof given Meridian Audio's card bus design and Resolution Audio's unique computer centric design. It all comes down to whether you want a warm, rich, smooth, vinyl house sound or a state of the art digital sound when choosing between the RAO 21 or Meridian 808.2i.

I am glad that I had this terrific opportunity to audition these fine digital source components and I hope you learned as much as I did through this extended read. Thank you.


Awesome work MR Wu.. How is the OPPO83SE sound stage compared to similarly priced players? I know the Opus and Meriden are much more expesnive. I will order my OPPO83SE next week or save up for the HD800. Wish I could get both. I would never the house. Wow, 17,000 CD player. Thats erious audio. Wish the OPPO83SE had balanced outs.
 
Mar 22, 2010 at 12:53 AM Post #39 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Welly Wu have you tried comparing the files using an optical or coaxial out? Assuming your PC has them.


No, I can not try out either one because I have a netbook and it does not have either coaxial or optical outputs. It only has three USB 2.0 ports which I use with my RAO 21 XS to stream music and movies.

I still do not understand why there are sonic differences among the original CD compared to either .wav, and .flac files.
 
Mar 22, 2010 at 4:33 AM Post #40 of 55
I would expect a digtial signal transmitted over USB to sound worse than a CD. USB is still a weak link as far as transmission of digital signals to dedicated DACs. The new Ayre USB DAC is supposed to sound pretty good, although it gets mixed reviews (i.e. "it sounds good for a USB DAC").

PS Audio's Perfect Wave DAC has a USB input but PS Audio does not recommend using it unless necessary. They instead recommend using a computer to rip files to a dedicated NAS, which then connects to their DAC wirelessly. Obviously, there must be a big sonic advantage to this, since it is much harder to set up than plugging a computer into a DAC via the USB input.

I wonder how Resolution Audio's upcoming Cantata DAC will handle USB sources. The website is pretty vague about whether it uses an asynchronous clock (like Wavelength and Ayre) or the computer's clock, which is much more prone to jitter.
 
Mar 22, 2010 at 4:51 AM Post #41 of 55
minimus:

I read reviews that state USB audio is inferior to coaxial or optical digital too, but I am limited in my options. I may try the USB M2Tech Hiface in the near future, but I would rather spend my money on other things (i.e., more music or Sirius XM Satellite Radio).

I can not write about the Cantata, but I wish Mr. Jeff Kalt good luck in selling as many of those new products as possible.

In the end, I am very happy that I purchased my RAO 21 full stack.
 
Mar 22, 2010 at 7:31 AM Post #42 of 55
I am going to have an opportunity to audition the Wadia 781i CD/SACD player this upcoming week. I will post my impressions within this thread especially as it pertains to the RAO 21. Thank you.
 
Mar 22, 2010 at 5:40 PM Post #43 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Why is it that bit perfect and completely lossless files do not sound as good as the original CD?


Are you sure that "bitperfect" in this case is in fact perfect? I know that some CD-Rom players do not read audio very well. And hide it by "error concealment" - that is by interpolation of missing data...

Try it by encoding the same CD multiple times and then examine the resulting files. If really perfect, they should be the same even on bitlevel.
 
Mar 22, 2010 at 11:26 PM Post #44 of 55
Quote:

Originally Posted by Welly Wu /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I am going to have an opportunity to audition the Wadia 781i CD/SACD player this upcoming week. I will post my impressions within this thread especially as it pertains to the RAO 21. Thank you.


That's sweet.
 
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