Oppo 205 - wow!

Hi Geejay, glad to learn you're enjoying the 205. I've got a 203 & from what I understand the two models only differ in that the 205 has improved analogue circuitry for sound output, the picture quality should be identical. This was certainly the case with the previous model, the 103D & 105D looked no different as regards picture quality.

Thanks Tony - I was amazed by both models, however seeing a comparison yesterday for myself shows why the 205 is indeed the top model.  Somehow the picture was crisper and more detailed on the Planet Earth II content that I saw.  I spent about 3 hours in demo at BillyVee yesterday, and could definitely see a difference (same interconnect and same telly).  

If you ever get the chance to do a side by side comparison, I thoroughly recommend it.  As we know from these electronics (be it Naim or other gear), the specs don't always tell the whole story.

Believe me, if I could have gotten the same picture from the 203, I would have pocketed the £700 price difference, and spent it on something else!

The other difference I noted from my old 105 was the weight - the 205 is a beast (weight wise) - the new sturdier chassis and upgraded PSUs certainly can be felt!

ATB.  George.

I too have a 205 - didnt get a chance to install it into my set up till Wed last week and then only had the time to try our two movies - Passengers (in 4K) and also the same movie in standard Bly Ray - the up scaling of Blu Ray is very good, but the 4K is a big improvement - in terms of details but also of color depth... switching back from 4K to Blu Ray made the Blu Ray image seem a bit washed out...

Sound wise - since I was watching the films as night, I really didnt have the change to hear what the 205 is capable of for the film soundtrack.... I did have quick listen to a CD via the dedicated stereo output into the N272 analogue inputs vs the same CD streamed from my NAS into the N272.... initial listening it seems that the analogue from the 205 had more of a bass 'bloom' - but I didnt get a change to listen closely to get a better listen.

I have yet to try any of my SACD or the few DVD-A disks I happen to have...  

I would say that the only disappointment I have with the 205 is the disk draw- it seems a bit flimsy vs my Marantz UDP8004's draw - but apart from that, the 205 appears to have a good build - not as good as the Naim boxes - but similar to the Marantz unit I am swapping out...

Disk load times are very fast and the setup is relatively easy. Since the cable length between the 205 and the LG TV requires a 6m HDMI cable, I did find that I had to replace the my old HDMI cable with a new cable - as I had handshaking issues with the older HDMI cable.

Still a lot of things to try out - looking forward to giving the 205 a workout over the coming weeks....

Great news Fernar, and that your 205 has already started giving pleasure on the 4K discs.

I received my HDR 4K version of passengers last week - it is quite awesome to look at.  The colours, the inky blackness of space and the definition are all amazing - I've watched the film twice since receiving it.  Have been watching Star Trek (Beyond) tonight - excellent!  Have ordered 'Lucy' and 'Pacific Rim', as I hear good things about the 4K versions of these.

Yes, the disc loading time is phenomenally short - 5-10 seconds.  I remember my first BluRay play (Pioneer BDP LX-71) would take a couple of minutes to load a disc!

I'm playing audio of my 205 into a Pioneer SC-LX85 A/V amp through B&W CDM-1 speakers and a REL sub (hardly cutting edge), however the sound is pretty good!  Not really wanting to go the whole 'Atmos' route, and longer term, am planning on replacing the surround sound side of the system with a Naim Nova and a pair of B&W 804D3s (getting rid of the present Stonehenge of speakers).

Interesting that Oppo can get a product right straight out of the box on day one of a launch - other manufacturers take note!

ATB.  George.

Hi GeeJay..

Yes the load times are really very good - the Marantz player I am swapping out typically takes just under two mins from power-up to displaying the first Blu Ray menu on the screen... so it nice to be able to turn on and get going so quickly...

I have pre-ordered  the following in 4K on Amazon..

Ghost In the Shell; Logan; Alien Covenant

I will have to wait for these to be actually released - so will have to wait a while - I already have Lucy in Blu Ray and the 205 does such a great job up up scaling I dont want to get into the cycle of purchasing something I already have (even though I know that the 4K version will offer even better PQ )

I specifically waited for the 205 as I am using the analogue outs via my old but trusted Tag Mclaren AV32R, which then routes the front channel into N272 (for 5.1 duties and multi channel SACD) - the dedicated stereo-out are also feeding my N272 (for stereo duties).

I will find a opportunity to try our CD/SACD later this week in earnest... one interesting comparison I am looking to check is 205 as a CD transport vs 205 as a CD player vs same cd streamed from my NAS

One thing for sure is that for movies - the 205 is excellent -  I even tried a DVD last night and the 205 did a good job with this media as well... 

I have now had a chance to set up the Oppo 205 for both movie and DC/SACD duties..... I have used the dedicated stereo outputs only for two audio (it is possible to use this out for front channel duties as an alternative to the FL and FR outputs)...

From a 1080p performance point of view, it's excellent - I would say better than the £2k Marantz player I have now swapped out.... I even tried a few DVDs and it does a very reasonable job of ups scaling these to play on a 4K TV... but as good as it, I must say it's a bit like watching VHS on a HD TV - I think DVD is well and truly an old outdated technology now

With 4K, the picture was impressive - less motion artifacts, better contrast... level of details were better - but from the distance we watch TV (and the size of the TV - 55"), the difference in details was better but not huge....  however the better contrast, and better motion does give a much better viewing experience overall...

Additionally 3D movies are really great - very clear, good 3D depth....

The sound processing for movies was excellent - we really enjoyed watching Matrix again... music concerts are very immersive... my Marantz player did a great job on the sound side of things and I would say that the Oppo was a bit better.

Playing SACD and CD via the dedicated stereo analogue outputs showed the Oppo to have good detail, a wide sound-stage an firmer bass. I would say that my N272 streaming the same CD gave a better presentation and cleaner sound to my ears, but the Oppo was not too far behind - it is different, and I prefer the N272 sound. I have yet to try the Oppo as a CD transport into the N272

Playing two channel SACD - gave a strong clear sound - but I think with SACD, the production quality of the SACD has more influence....

SACD multi-Channel was very good - but on some of the disks I have, it didn't feel  natural to be right in the middle of the band that was playing - I guess this sort of mixing was in the very early days of SACD mixing where they tended to put the listener in the middle with sound all around.... my Goldfrapp SACD was very impressive....

Just for interest.... In the Oppo setting -  have set all my speakers to 'Large' even though my rear speakers are of the bookshelf type - I do have these wired to the subwoofer - but I find that for music I switch off the subwoofer and the bass from the front stand mount speakers is more than sufficient. i have set the cross over frequency to be 40Hz - but I understand than when 'Large' is selected for all the speakers, the Oppo does not steer bass and leads to a better sound... (I have not tried any other option yet).

Overall very impressed with the Oppo 205

Impressed too with the sound quality in my system both via HDMI and analogue, a clear step-up than both the Oppo 105 and Samsung K8500 I have used previously.

However, there is a glitch using the dual HDMI outputs when feeding the separate audio feed into my Classe processor causing drop-outs or no sound from DVD or CD media (main HDMI goes to an OLED B6). There are no problems though with Blu-ray and UHD discs. Obviously there is an easy workaround by using coaxial SPDIF for sound when playing DVD/CD.

Seems there is a US beta firmware just released that may cure this.

fernar posted:

SACD multi-Channel was very good - but on some of the disks I have, it didn't feel  natural to be right in the middle of the band that was playing - I guess this sort of mixing was in the very early days of SACD mixing where they tended to put the listener in the middle with sound all around.... my Goldfrapp SACD was very impressive....

Is the Goldfrapp SACD Supernature? I have that and have wondered what the multi-chan sounds like... I haven't got a(n) SACD player or a surround system.

Hello, 

could you please share if you have tried AirPlay compatibility with Oppo 203/205? Can Oppo see and read an external hard drive attached - music and movies, written by Apple MacBook Air? 

ATB,

Ivo

Does the 205 have Apps to stream 4K content from Amazon et al?

if I use streaming, would it better through the oppo as vs the built in app in the TV?

4K discs seem DOA - as far as the rental market goes - and I don't see myself buying every movie I want to watch (once)..

Not sure about the 205 but I think it's the same as the 203 in that there are no streaming apps Netflix, Amazon etc. Apparently a conscious decision as these slow down start up time etc

So - let's say I have an Apple TV or Amazon Fire Stick.

Do these look any better If they go through the 203/205 via the additional hdmi port - as opposed to directly into the TV?

MM... simple answer, yes.

Likely down to the fact that the Oppo can convert the image from the native feed into the native colourspace of the screen, and can do a better job of it than the TV does.

Watching BBC news via iPlayer on my Amazon Fire TV right now, the Oppo's info tab shows me the Fire is outputting 1080p@60Hz, RGB 8bit, but the Oppo is sending my (1080) screen a 1080p, 60Hz, 4:4:4 12bit image.

This is the perfect match to what my panel can handle, and it looks better than connecting the  source directly.

 In fact, I'm running 3 HDMI sources into an HDMI2.0 capable switcher, and sending audio & video through my 203, largely as I've retired my AV2 and am using the Oppo as a processor.

Hope this helps

Mike

Hi Mike

I am looking to retire my AV2, so the OPPO interests me greatly.

Are you saying that the OPPO can do all the processing that the AV2 did, and I assume it can be connected to the unity gain on a naim preamp?

Thanks for your input

Trev

Yes, it can.

You'll need some custom made cables to hook the RCA Preouts to the rest of your Naim amplification. However the Oppo can process stereo audio into NEO6 Surround (although not Dolby ProLogic), but the limitation is in the single HDMI input.

By way of a switcher between the sources and the Oppo, and some detailed programming of a Harmony remote, I have taken out the AV2, improved the sound and picture for all sources (was running Oppo 83, and all othe rsources video to screen, audio to AV2), and it's all working smoothly.

Hi Mike

Thanks for the reply.

So if I want to watch 4k and bluray movies, the Oppo can perform all the relevant sound processing through the naim preamp as described above, which means I don't need to buy a separate 4k processor?

Thanks

Hi Mike, as a matter of interest what type of HDMI switcher are you using?

This one really interests me. Can I send an optical out from my LG 4K TV into the oppo 205 optical in and have surround decoded by the player if it is in the signal? For example with Netflix or free to air?

Sounds too good to be true.

thanks 

Mario.

Impy... yes.. that's how I run my 203. Direct replacement for AV2

Tony, got it from Amazon. It's a LiteXim HDMI2.0 Switch (5 to 1). It comes with a remote, but it wasn't on the Logitech Harmony list... so I found one that was and learned the LiteXim's IR codes over the top of that (I used a PPA International switcher as a template to learn the codes over). It's important to do it this way with a Harmony as you need enough input commands to overwrite, as general commands can't be used in power/switching macros, only input & power commands.

Mario... not certain. I know you can feed optical into the 205 (203 doesn't have that input). No reason to believe that input doesn't support 5.1/Neo6, but I'd probably try using the HDMI ARC between the screen & player (they should both support this) and then only go to optical if I had to.

All the best

Mike