Holy Cow Oppo BDP-103

[J. PUPSTER]

OK - realized that since it was a new in box (NOS) 103D I needed to download the latest firmware and that got the pics to show

Also, looks like it doesn't preview the pics on the menu tree, only when you start the file to play (duh!)

Another reason I bought this one, was my old Denon DVD-3910 had no USB or Network in, and doesn't play wav., flacs etc.
I'll be hooking up, analog out, to the SMv2 at some point in order to do conversion work. Before I'd have to make some kind of disc that the Denon would eat (accept) in order to process stuff.

 

[par4ken]

So in part due to Sonik's suggestion I started looking for a 105 for my "Man Cave". I was finding that all the offerings were going for much more than I wanted to pay. I expanded my search to look for another 103 as well as the 105 and then expanded the search further to include the 93, 95 and even the 83 and 85. Well I was able to snipe an eBay auction for a BDP-95. It had been advertised as missing the remote, but they found the complete accessory box sometime before auction close and all the accessories look to be completely unused!

I received the unit yesterday and got around to playing with it today. Well I found out that .dsf files won't play via the USB, also my large external USB hard drives are not recognised by the player. So after initial installation of the 95 in the man cave and the installation of the 103 in the living room, I decided to swap them around. I can get by without the ability of playing DSD via USB upstairs in the living room but really wanted to keep that function downstairs!

I don't know it the fan turned on during use or not but I feel that if the fan noise bothers anyone then they aren't playing it loud enough!!

 

[par4ken]

I have all my drives directly attached to the 103 via the USB ports on it.

I found out that to get the streaming to work properly I had to go to Windows Media Player to update the media library, after that was done the Oppo could see all the drives. Who would've thought? I don't even use Media Player!

 

[Guy Robinson]

I'm wondering if this could sound better than using JRiver to the Oppo via HDMI.

Not sure but with a direct connection there are no streaming issues even with large 7.1 .wav files. You will need a USB hub if you go past the (two, I think), USB connectors on the Oppo. With the hub I currently have 6 drives attached to it concurrently. You won't get the pretty JRiver interface and sorting etc but I have no issues with this either. I have partitions called "Rock Blu-rays", "Surround Music", "Stereo Classical", "Stereo Rock etal" etc etc.

 

[himey]

I'm wondering if this could sound better than using JRiver to the Oppo via HDMI.

Doubtful if you are using WASAPI. Does it sound good now?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Not sure but with a direct connection there are no streaming issues even with large 7.1 .wav files. You will need a USB hub if you go past the (two, I think), USB connectors on the Oppo. With the hub I currently have 6 drives attached to it concurrently. You won't get the pretty JRiver interface and sorting etc but I have no issues with this either. I have partitions called "Rock Blu-rays", "Surround Music", "Stereo Classical", "Stereo Rock etal" etc etc.

OK but the browsing/sorting is so slow and cumbersome with the Oppo interface that I find it too painful to consider. FWIW, I have no streaming issues via JRMC or, for that matter, using the Oppo GUI to access my NAS.

 

[himey]

Not sure but with a direct connection there are no streaming issues even with large 7.1 .wav files. You will need a USB hub if you go past the (two, I think), USB connectors on the Oppo. With the hub I currently have 6 drives attached to it concurrently. You won't get the pretty JRiver interface and sorting etc but I have no issues with this either. I have partitions called "Rock Blu-rays", "Surround Music", "Stereo Classical", "Stereo Rock etal" etc etc.

Curious if you have ever used a player that organizes music files like Kodi, jRiver, Musicbee, ect? Cumbersome is the word that comes to mind when thinking back to the days of connecting USB drives to various Oppo's, rather than using dedicated media software for playback through Oppo's.

edit...Kal is quicker than my onscreen keyboard/mouse. Haha.

 

[Guy Robinson]

OK but the browsing/sorting is so slow and cumbersome with the Oppo interface that I find it too painful to consider. FWIW, I have no streaming issues via JRMC or, for that matter, using the Oppo GUI to access my NAS.

Nope. I am so used to using the Oppo 103 now that to me using something like JRMC is fixing a problem that frankly I don't have. But I am a tech guy so never say never.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

So in part due to Sonik's suggestion I started looking for a 105 for my "Man Cave". I was finding that all the offerings were going for much more than I wanted to pay. I expanded my search to look for another 103 as well as the 105 and then expanded the search further to include the 93, 95 and even the 83 and 85. Well I was able to snipe an eBay auction for a BDP-95. It had been advertised as missing the remote, but they found the complete accessory box sometime before auction close and all the accessories look to be completely unused!

I received the unit yesterday and got around to playing with it today. Well I found out that .dsf files won't play via the USB, also my large external USB hard drives are not recognised by the player. So after initial installation of the 95 in the man cave and the installation of the 103 in the living room, I decided to swap them around. I can get by without the ability of playing DSD via USB upstairs in the living room but really wanted to keep that function downstairs!

I don't know it the fan turned on during use or not but I feel that if the fan noise bothers anyone then they aren't playing it loud enough!!

Congrats on the new Oppo addition to the family. And certainly I agree that the newer/better unit belongs in the Man Cave.

Like others here I don't have NAS set up for my Oppo.Just a couple of large HDD's I use via USB front panel. I truly understand comments about the slow & painful GUI compared to J River. But I've never met a media organizer player I liked as I have so many, many, disc RIP originals, intermediate work files, & various upmixed & other "final" files that it doesn't work out so well. I'm with Guy Robinson, for me it's trying to fix a non-existent problem. Using the Oppo interface successfully
depends a lot on a persons ability to organize it into partitions (yes the Oppo is happy to see multiple partitions), folders, files....just like a regular PC.

I'm quite happy with playing my SACD's from discs so I've never experimented with DSD.

And I'd be happy if my 105 had a fan. I doubt it would be louder than my projectors fan & would give a bit more peace of mind, keeping things cooler.

 

[himey]

Congrats on the new Oppo addition to the family. And certainly I agree that the newer/better unit belongs in the Man Cave.

Like others here I don't have NAS set up for my Oppo.Just a couple of large HDD's I use via USB front panel. I truly understand comments about the slow & painful GUI compared to J River. But I've never met a media organizer player I liked as I have so many, many, disc RIP originals, intermediate work files, & various upmixed & other "final" files that it doesn't work out so well. I'm with Guy Robinson, for me it's trying to fix a non-existent problem. Using the Oppo interface successfully
depends a lot on a persons ability to organize it into partitions (yes the Oppo is happy to see multiple partitions), folders, files....just like a regular PC.

I'm quite happy with playing my SACD's from discs so I've never experimented with DSD.

And I'd be happy if my 105 had a fan. I doubt it would be louder than my projectors fan & would give a bit more peace of mind, keeping things cooler.

That is a funny comparison. Organizing the machine, rather than the files may get you part of the way there but even a simple folder view with Kodi or Musicbee will get you much further than the Oppo interface.

Having every music file tagged properly is the only way to reach organization perfection and the added benefit is the ability to use multiple servers and players simultaneously.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Nope. I am so used to using the Oppo 103 now that to me using something like JRMC is fixing a problem that frankly I don't have. But I am a tech guy so never say never.

Wanna race?

 

[atrocity]

And since I posted this the transport in the 103 no longer works. I can't be bothered sending it for repair or opening it myself so now the X800 will be my disc player. The Oppo is only doing the server thing now. I'm quite okay with that.

I'm not trying to talk you into doing anything that doesn't interest you, but a friend just went through this with an older model, can't remember if it's an 83 or 93. Oppo fixed it for $99.

Just pointing out to any who might be interested that Oppo is still in the reasonably-priced service business.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

That is a funny comparison. Organizing the machine, rather than the files may get you part of the way there but even a simple folder view with Kodi or Musicbee will get you much further than the Oppo interface.

Not sure what you mean "organizing the machine" when indeed I referred to organizing the files. But doing it manually instead of having a media app do it for me. The folder view of Kodi or Musicbee brings up another point, indeed the need to see the view of these apps. I look at the many pics posted here of someone playing music through whatever with the art, track titles, other data & it looks pretty cool. But unlike most people here I do not have some smallish LCD/OLED etc direct view measured in inches. I have a largish front projector with a screen I measure in feet. And to burn a $400 bulb just to look at a still picture & navigate selections seems like quite the waste. And in general for music only enjoyment It is a distraction.

So the Oppo remote phone app works great for this. In some ways it's a bit speedier than the hand held remote. Maybe the popular media apps have a phone control as well. But seeing how fast I can access my music selection doesn't really add to my music enjoyment. Different strokes.

 

[barfle]

New toy in the house

now I just need to figure out why the album covers aren't showing up; and does it have an album database like the 205

I have a 105, so maybe my advice is flawed, but if I’m playing a CD, the unit needs an Internet connection for the cover art. If you’re playing files, the file needs to have the artwork embedded in it.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

I have a 105, so maybe my advice is flawed, but if I’m playing a CD, the unit needs an Internet connection for the cover art. If you’re playing files, the file needs to have the artwork embedded in it.

Thanks, but I got it working I believe, I just stick a jpeg image titled "folder" into the associated album folder and also embed with either Foobar2K or Mp3Tag and that usually does it. Next I need to get JRiver and play with that some.

 

[barfle]

Thanks, but I got it working I believe, I just stick a jpeg image titled "folder" into the associated album folder and also embed with either Foobar2K or Mp3Tag and that usually does it. Next I need to get JRiver and play with that some.

I embed (and rip to FLAC) my CDs with Goldwave. While it doesn’t give me access to all the metadata (properties), it’s been foolproof so far. It’s an excellent editor that I’ve been using for over a decade. Best $40 I ever spent.

 

[quicksrt]

Doubtful if you are using WASAPI. Does it sound good now?

I'm, never happy with 16/44 sound, maybe rarely - but not often enough. So many CDs with average sound quality compared to higher res and vinyl.

And I think I will need new speakers before a better DAC, as I will hear more improvement in the DAC if and when I get new speakers.

Lately, I have been more unimpressed with my JRiver music player and outboard DAC. I think I outgrew the speakers actually.

 

[quicksrt]

I embed (and rip to FLAC) my CDs with Goldwave. While it doesn’t give me access to all the metadata (properties), it’s been foolproof so far. It’s an excellent editor that I’ve been using for over a decade. Best $40 I ever spent.

I LOVE GoldWave for vinyl transfer editing. I do the recording on a Tascam, and do the ending and track splits / fades in GoldWave, and it has been wonderful.

But you need dBpoweramp for your CD ripping to FLAC and metadata embedding.

You need dBpoweramp for your ripping

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

I'm, never happy with 16/44 sound, maybe rarely - but not often enough. So many CDs with average sound quality compared to higher res and vinyl.

I don’t know. CD’s sound good to me. It’s mostly the compressed stuff that gets released. And, yes. Some of the earlier CD’s sounded bad too.

 

[quicksrt]

I don’t know. CD’s sound good to me. It’s mostly the compressed stuff that gets released. And, yes. Some of the earlier CD’s sounded bad too.

I'm getting fussy in my old age, or something. But I am starting to hear a lot of stuff from CDs that does not have that "jump outta the speakers at you" sound I like to hear. Like DVD-A, SACDs, MFSL, good vinyl, and my good needle drops from vinyl. And this stuff has that snazzamazz punch. And I put on some average label CD, and it just sounds dull and average. It's not the compression and jacked up levels, but copy tapes used sound like 3rd generation to me. I don't want to specify which artists and exactly which album becuase they are other folks favorites I can see from read the music forums. Lots of corporate schlock is still hot with some people.

It could be due to a lot of things. My hearing might be aging sure, I'm getting fussy and particular with more experience. And some types of music is starting to really bore me. My real favorites still sound terrific like I listened to Cat Stevens "Tea for the Tillerman" the other day and it sounded so great right from the get go. And then other hit rock albums sounded awful and congested.

I am hoping new speakers bring back some breath of life. It's been at least 15 years with these speakers and I did re-foam them 5-6 years when the rings were disintegrating. So maybe that is all. And I need to stay away from the corporate rock stuff, some of which I liked, some of it I never liked, but others I can see from the forums is still rather popular. But I am losing some interest in certain things. Thankfully it is not the quad mixed rock stuff of 73-74 - which still sounds amazing to me.