Oppo 83SE replacement

An Oppo 103D. I replaced my 83SE with one & it's great. The inbuilt Darbee video processing makes a real difference to the picture quality, & I feed all my other video sources through the player.

I replaced mine with the Oppo 105D, which gets a firm recommendation from me. Replaced my Oppo83/DVD5/AV2 for AV duties, and raised the game.

M

Thanks.  I think the 103 would probably be adequate for my purposes.

Thanks, Tony.  SWMBO is muttering under her breath that either there is nothing wrong with the 83 or I've broken it deliberately so that I can have something new (not true!   ).   IIRC you're using an Anthem AV amplifier now rather than the Naim AV2.  If so, do you still use Naim power amps for centre/rear, or are you happy with the Anthem's own power amp stage for that purpose?  I ask because my AV2 is getting rather flaky as well, and I'm debating replacing it with an AV amp with HDMI inputs, and wonder whether it is worth hanging onto the 145 and 200 I use for that purpose.

Hi D,

No probs, I wanted to play with the full range of DAC inputs.

For info I continue to use both my 250s for the centre and rear ....and the inbuilt pre-amp to replace my AV2.

M

Hi Dungassin. Yes, using the Anthem MRX700 which replaced my AV2 and I use its inbuilt amplification for centre & surrounds (I'm using 7.1 at the moment). I was previously using the 145 for centre & a pair of 150s for surround. Ultimately the Naim amps are superior, but it's marginal & when you add in the benefit of room correction software built into the processor the result is better. I use an HDMI switcher to route the video outputs from Sky HD & Amazon Fire TV through the Oppo so I can use its video processing.

Mr Underhill's 105 has better audio processing for the analogue outputs than the 103 and of course you can use that in place of a separate processor, feeding the analogue outputs into the naim amps. I wouldn't like to guess which is better but certainly the Anthem has very good amplifiers on board. I did listen to the competition from Onkyo, Pioneer & Yamaha but although these had more 'Bells and Whistles' than the Anthem the latter trumped them on sound quality.

Thanks for the replies, Tony and Bilbo (sic)

I decided some time ago that most of the time the sound quality when watching TV was less important than when listening to music (that's why I've got the 552 etc hooked into the system!)

For explosions, dialogue and sound, I would probably find myself unaware of the superiority of my Naim power amps most of the time, so the 105 is probably overkill, and if I can persuade SWMBO to let me get an Anthem, I will do probably do as you do, Tony.  May have to wait a couple of months, though, as SWMBO remains intent on rationing my hifi/audio spending.  Don't know why, because if I don't spend it on that, or yet another guitar etc, I will probably just give the excess income to my kids!

Thanks again, John

Worth bearing in mind that the Oppo105D is not only about twice the price of the 103D but also twice the height which might be an issue for the rack if the 83 is on short shelf.

Mike 

I've ordered a multiregion 103.

Thanks for the info re size of 105, that was the final deciding factor.

Well done sir, a choice you'll not regret! 

I agree. I've had a 103D on demo and I might yet get one to replace my 93U as I can relegate the latter to TV duties in another room.  Excellent machine for a very good price.  

I'm just hoping that the 103 uses the same remote control codes as the 83SE.  That will save me the hassle of reprogramming the Harmony remote!   

Just checked for you & yes, the main ones do. The 103D's got additional controls though, so you might need to reprogram some things.

Hi Dun,

Good machine. I think the Darbee processing is very good and does raise the quality of the DVD output.

M

I looked at the various websites and found as usual the great pricing:- $500. in US, £ 500 in UK  and 500 Euro in Europe.

Why do we always have to pay a direct Dollar to Pound rate? Even allowing for 20% VAT in UK that £500 is almost £100 more than US.

Whatever the vagaries of pricing I don't think it warrants spending that much for the amount of use we would get out of it.

So many other choices and methods of getting films at home these days.

I ceased to worry about such things Howard. It's a question of how good the player is and in the case of Oppo you really can't get better in terms of features, picture and sound quality and company support.

If all you want to do is watch Blurays and DVD through HDMI & on an average display then you can get a much cheaper player but if you also want to play SACDs, DVD-As and even CDs, and you've got a large enough display to warrant the inbuilt Darbee video processing and superb picture quality then the Oppo's well worth 500 smackers.

Won't the US price also be subject to the addition of state sales tax?

In any event, I'm with Tony.  For the performance, build-quality, ease of use (and even Apple-grade packaging) makes the 103D something of a bargain.

Mike 

Well, the new player arrived this morning.  Then I must have had a little bout of 'stupid'.   

Didn't bother reading the manual, just unplugged the 83 and substituted the 103 (HDMI, mains plug, coax digital, 5.1analogue audio leads).   Switched on, nothing appeared on the TV screen.  Tried substituting a different HDMI lead (in case my one had gone duff).  No joy.  After a bit of head-scratching, realised I'd plugged into HDMI IN on the 103, and moved the lead.   Should have RTFM first, I suppose!

As luck would have it, it was a Region 1 disc, and the player reported 'wrong disc'.  Realised that the player was not yet setup for auto detect region, and adjusted accordingly.  Disc now visible but no sound via coax digital, although the AV2s multi audio input was working OK!

Much bad language from yours truly.  Plugged coax lead back into old player, and found that there was no sound from that either!   Decided that the AV2 must be playing silly b*ggers, powered it on/off, and sound via COAX DIG was restored.  Plugged Coax dig lead back into 103, and all seems well.

I did say in an earlier post that my AV2 is becoming rather flaky of late, and seems to need power on/off about twice a week. Perhaps it's time to send it back to Naim for a bit of TLC or perhaps I should replace it (if SWMBO will agree)

Haven't actually sat down to watch any DVDs, Blurays etc yet.  Much more important to try to perfect the jazz arrangement of 'Embraceable You' which my guitar teacher has me mangling ATM.  I think the bloke who arranged it must have bigger hands than me, as it involves a chord using a 5 string Barre at the 5th fret, with the pinky on the first string on the 10th fret.  Can just about manage that stretch!  I have a lesson tomorrow and don't want to embarrass myself too much!

John

It's time your trusty AV2 was put quietly out to grass John.

I'm about to sell my guitars; Rheumatoid arthritis is being a real pest and unlikely to improve. Perhaps I'll just hang 'em on the wall as decoration...

I would change my AV2 now, but, as I said, it is diplomatic to get SWMBO's approval first!  If I decide on Anthem, I may have to go to a different dealer.  Alas, Cymbiosis don't handle them, although there is a Naim dealer in Derby which does.

I'm still slowly collecting more guitars - again with SWMBO's (dis)approval.  My right index finger is still stiff and a little painful since acquiring a 'mallet' finger, which makes playing a little more difficult than it used to be.  

Sorry ... LEFT index finger. I'm right handed.

So how's the 103 settling in John?

Settling in very well, thank you.  I was a little lazy and just entered the same distance and speaker volume settings (for the analogue setup) as I had been using for the 83SE.  Checked them again yesterday with my sound level meter, and they were correct.

I have resisted the slight urge to try to A/B the analogue sound quality output against the 83SE to see if the possibly less good DAC chips in the 103 make any significant difference.  That would involve plugging/unplugging of cables, and the 83SE hiccoughs/freezes to often.

Picture no better than the 83SE.  I didn't go for the Darbee version, as I don't envision a 4K display in my study - couldn't accommodate anything bigger than a 42" display in there, as it's only 13ft by 8ft!

I'm just off to play the DVD of 'La Traviata' (using the coax digital output) which I bought at SWMBO's request, because it has one of her countrymen (Joseph Calleja) as Alfredo.   I offered to take her to one of the final performances of La Boheme in London with him singing, but she said no, much to my surprise.   

Only other thing of note (not video related) is that my PRS Pauls Guitar intonation seems to have gone off, and I can't see how to adjust it (no little screws which to twiddle that I can see), so I suppose I'll have to get my local dealer to fix it for me (sigh).

So if I got a 103, I'd put it on my Naim rack, and run a long HDMI cable over to TV? 

Put the analog output into Naim XS?

Would also give the same advice. OPPO's are still very good blu ray players and the one with the Darbee Chip is really on a high level. The typical problems around faults always tend to happen with DVD players in the past and Blu Ray Players nowadays after some use....... It's just not the type of device for 30 years of usage.