OPPO DV-981HD Universal DVD Player
May 8, 2007 22:20:11 GMT
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2007 22:20:11 GMT
Recently a friend of mine found an undocumented feature of this player-The ability to remotely control volume via SPDIF. I haven't been able to find any other players that do this. The player also plays SACD,DVD-A ,DIVX etc , and can upsample to 1080P via HDMI.
We did a test feeding the Oppo into the modded X-DAC V3 via SPDIF, and then DIRECT into my Class A Power Amplifier. The results on some material was absolutely stunning ,and the best that I have ever heard. So I bought one for myself for AU$405 delivered the next day! (from Canberra, Australia) I am having great difficulty in waiting a little while before replacing the SwitchMode power Supply diodes with faster,slow recovery types etc., as I know that my friends player is even better than mine on both video and audio after these mods.
Having lived with this player now for several days, I have found that some material isn't nearly as good as other material. I found from the Danish DACT2 specification, that my normal listening level when using my preamplifier , involves attenuating the DVD/CD player audio by around 30dB !!! This is obviously not the best scenario for best performance.
The Oppo has 2 tiers of attenuation, the top 10dB is in 0.5dB steps and the lower tier is much coarser. At present, I am in the coarse range, and the digital performance is reduced.
It appears that most of who are using Preamplifiers and Power Amplifiers are throwing away a helluva lot of signal to noise when listening at normal, comfortable listening levels.
IMHO,if the designers would stop increasing the sensitivity of their preamps and power amps, and return to the more commonly used 1V RMS for full power that was almost universal many years ago, most of us would hear a worthwhile audible improvement.
At present , I am investigating the best route to decrease the sensitivity of my Power Amplifier. USING PADS TO REDUCE LEVELS IS SIMPLY NOT AN OPTION ! Digital control of volume is very obviously the way forward. At present though, it also costs an arm and a leg!
If Graham Slee reads this post, I would be very interested in his opinions on this contentious subject.
SandyK
We did a test feeding the Oppo into the modded X-DAC V3 via SPDIF, and then DIRECT into my Class A Power Amplifier. The results on some material was absolutely stunning ,and the best that I have ever heard. So I bought one for myself for AU$405 delivered the next day! (from Canberra, Australia) I am having great difficulty in waiting a little while before replacing the SwitchMode power Supply diodes with faster,slow recovery types etc., as I know that my friends player is even better than mine on both video and audio after these mods.
Having lived with this player now for several days, I have found that some material isn't nearly as good as other material. I found from the Danish DACT2 specification, that my normal listening level when using my preamplifier , involves attenuating the DVD/CD player audio by around 30dB !!! This is obviously not the best scenario for best performance.
The Oppo has 2 tiers of attenuation, the top 10dB is in 0.5dB steps and the lower tier is much coarser. At present, I am in the coarse range, and the digital performance is reduced.
It appears that most of who are using Preamplifiers and Power Amplifiers are throwing away a helluva lot of signal to noise when listening at normal, comfortable listening levels.
IMHO,if the designers would stop increasing the sensitivity of their preamps and power amps, and return to the more commonly used 1V RMS for full power that was almost universal many years ago, most of us would hear a worthwhile audible improvement.
At present , I am investigating the best route to decrease the sensitivity of my Power Amplifier. USING PADS TO REDUCE LEVELS IS SIMPLY NOT AN OPTION ! Digital control of volume is very obviously the way forward. At present though, it also costs an arm and a leg!
If Graham Slee reads this post, I would be very interested in his opinions on this contentious subject.
SandyK