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Post by Boomzilla on Jan 28, 2018 7:53:19 GMT -5
Don't see much there that would justify using anything beta - but thanks for the heads-up!
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Post by gregm19 on Mar 14, 2018 12:13:00 GMT -5
Sorry for posting this twice..I just received the 205 to replace the 105. Running with XMC-1 and HDMI. Exact set up as 105. EMO mono's and Mac Amps. Legacy Whispers and Marquis with studio rears. The music sounds awful. Noticeable immediately. I have tried everything except switching to analog and rca cables which I know many people like. I was happy with 105 and HDMI. I listened to multiple artists in hi res on a usb stick and then multiple high quality recorded cd's. Best I can describe is it sounds like a very detailed and clear transistor radio (probably a bit dramatic) but no depth or breadth. Vocals sound very compressed. My wife even went eewwww. Thanks for your advice. Greg
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Post by Boomzilla on Mar 14, 2018 12:29:22 GMT -5
Hi gregm19 - I'm with you, amigo. My old Oppo BDP-105 was a sweet sounding machine for both movies and music. The new UDP-205 sounds bright, and almost so much so that I could say it glares. This isn't something that's going away, either. The current internet term for this is "Sabre-DAC glare." It sounded so bad that at first, I thought I'd received a defective player. But no - they all sound that way. Whatever tin-ear at Oppo voiced the 205 should be shot. There's no excuse for a component costing that much to sound this bad. So for audio use, I'd recommend the BDP-105, but NOT the UDP-205. For movies, I find the sound less distressing, but still not what it should be. Shame on Oppo. |
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Post by MusicHead on Mar 14, 2018 14:54:38 GMT -5
But if both the 105 and the 205 are connected via HDMI (thus bypassing the internal DAC), where is the DAC glare coming from?
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Post by Boomzilla on Mar 14, 2018 14:58:19 GMT -5
On my rig, VIDEO goes to the display via HDMI. But AUDIO comes straight from the analog outputs of the Oppo. So the Oppo's DAC IS being used.
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Post by MusicHead on Mar 14, 2018 15:01:43 GMT -5
Thanks Boom, I was referring to Gregm19 post
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Post by gregm19 on Mar 14, 2018 16:33:35 GMT -5
That's what is confusing to me. I am going to try the analog...as I was told "that's what you are paying for anyway on the 205." It just baffles me that it sounds so bad from the HDMI unless they put some crap in there assuming everyone used analog. I will see and let you know. Greg
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Post by fbczar on Mar 14, 2018 17:35:24 GMT -5
That's what is confusing to me. I am going to try the analog...as I was told "that's what you are paying for anyway on the 205." It just baffles me that it sounds so bad from the HDMI unless they put some crap in there assuming everyone used analog. I will see and let you know. Greg If you connect your 205 via HDMI you are listening to the DAC in the XMC-1. If you connect via Analog you are listening to the DAC in the 205. I suppose it could be a setting, but I suggest you connect the 205 to the XMC-1 via the SPDIF Coax output if you have such a cable available. That way you will be listening to the XMC-1's DAC play the digital bitstream from the 205 just as you do via HDMI. At least it will give you one more data point to consider, before you check the settings. Also check to be sure the firmware is up to date and remember to power cycle the 205 if you updated the firmware earlier or if you do need to update the firmware now. You are basically correct. The only reason to buy a 205 instead of a 203 is to use the DAC's in the 205. Connecting the analog outputs via XLR cables is a good idea if you have balanced amps with your XMC-1. |
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Post by gregm19 on Mar 15, 2018 6:57:57 GMT -5
Thank you for the advice. I haven't had much time to tinker with it however I found some old interconnects and hooked up analog. It was worse....very muffled and no volume. Could be bad cables. Went back to HDMI and turned "Loudness ON" on XMC-! that made a big improvement but still not what it should be. In the 2+ years I have never used Loudness on. I DID firmware updates on both OPPO and XMC-! last weekend. I will unplug the OPPO and re-engage. I have XLR cables from XMC-! to Amps. I will try SPDIF/Coax output. I have a cable in the cable grave in storage room HA. Will try to call OPPO today too since I haven't done that yet. May also go up to Magnolia and get a SONY 4kUHD blu ray player and plug it in and see what happens. Think they also have an open box 203 I could try. Thanks again, Greg
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Post by Boomzilla on Mar 15, 2018 7:10:19 GMT -5
One other comment, Greg -
If I remember correctly, the Oppo 205 gives you some choices on the FILTER used with their DAC:
Brick Wall
Corrected Mini-Phase Fast
Apodizing Fast
Mini-Phase Slow
Mini-Phase Fast
Linear-Phase Slow
Linear-Phase Fast
I think these can be chosen in the setup? I don't know what the default is.
Some of these may provide better sound...
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Post by gregm19 on Mar 15, 2018 7:16:52 GMT -5
Thanks, yeah I saw that. I think Mini Phase Slow is default. I didn't get a chance to run through them yet. So far off I didn't think that could make enough difference. When I call today see if they give me same response as you....just voiced differently than some people like. If that's the case it is on the way back. Can't believe professional reviewers aren't saying anything about this...makes you wonder???
Any chance "break-in" is needed?
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Post by fbczar on Mar 15, 2018 7:47:39 GMT -5
Thank you for the advice. I haven't had much time to tinker with it however I found some old interconnects and hooked up analog. It was worse....very muffled and no volume. Could be bad cables. Went back to HDMI and turned "Loudness ON" on XMC-! that made a big improvement but still not what it should be. In the 2+ years I have never used Loudness on. I DID firmware updates on both OPPO and XMC-! last weekend. I will unplug the OPPO and re-engage. I have XLR cables from XMC-! to Amps. I will try SPDIF/Coax output. I have a cable in the cable grave in storage room HA. Will try to call OPPO today too since I haven't done that yet. May also go up to Magnolia and get a SONY 4kUHD blu ray player and plug it in and see what happens. Think they also have an open box 203 I could try. Thanks again, Greg If you want to connect via HDMI it would be a good idea to set the output to Bitstream in the setup menu. I am not sure if the filters Boom mentioned actually effect anything if you choose the Bitstream output because the XMC-1 would be doing the processing. No doubt Oppo can tell you what the filters do. All that said, it seems to me you would be better off with the Oppo 203 than the 205 if you prefer to connect the player to your XMC-1 via HDMI because the DAC's in the 205 never come into play when you use HDMI or SPDIF. The Oppo 203 connected to the XMC-1 via HDMI is spectacular for movies or music and you can use Dirac so what's not to like. If you want to improve the sound of your system for music it is likely a stand alone stereo DAC might be a better way to go than the Oppo 205. All that said, since even the analog outputs from the Oppo 205 sound bad I think you have a defective unit. |
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Post by Boomzilla on Mar 15, 2018 9:09:34 GMT -5
...Any chance "break-in" is needed? Mine's THOROUGHLY broken in, and although there have been very, very slight improvements, by and large, the sound is what it is. If I had it to do over again, I'd have kept my BDP-105 and skipped the UDP-205. And some "professional Reviewers" are more worried about offending advertisers than stating what they hear. I'm a reviewer, but for what I get paid for a review (a token fee, I assure you), I don't have any restraints on what I say. And I like it that way. I don't like the sound of the Oppo UDP-205. Never have, never will... Its video performance is spectacular, but the audio, not so much. |
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KeithL
Administrator 
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Post by KeithL on Mar 15, 2018 10:11:02 GMT -5
An HDMI connection is digital, so there really shouldn't be any difference (and a difference in something like jitter would be extremely subtle). I would suggest checking your settings.... (maybe you've got it set to convert to PCM, or to convert to two channel, or something else odd going on). Make sure the XMC-1 shows the same audio mode coming in. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the DAC in the Oppo because, with an HDMI output, you are NOT using the DACs in the Oppo at all. Of course the Sabre DACs in both Oppos will sound somewhat different than the more neutral DACs in the XMC-1. Sorry for posting this twice..I just received the 205 to replace the 105. Running with XMC-1 and HDMI. Exact set up as 105. EMO mono's and Mac Amps. Legacy Whispers and Marquis with studio rears. The music sounds awful. Noticeable immediately. I have tried everything except switching to analog and rca cables which I know many people like. I was happy with 105 and HDMI. I listened to multiple artists in hi res on a usb stick and then multiple high quality recorded cd's. Best I can describe is it sounds like a very detailed and clear transistor radio (probably a bit dramatic) but no depth or breadth. Vocals sound very compressed. My wife even went eewwww. Thanks for your advice. Greg |
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stiehl11
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Give me available light!
Posts: 7,269
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Post by stiehl11 on Mar 15, 2018 12:05:04 GMT -5
Thank you for the advice. I haven't had much time to tinker with it however I found some old interconnects and hooked up analog. It was worse....very muffled and no volume. Could be bad cables. Went back to HDMI and turned "Loudness ON" on XMC-! that made a big improvement but still not what it should be. In the 2+ years I have never used Loudness on. I DID firmware updates on both OPPO and XMC-! last weekend. I will unplug the OPPO and re-engage. I have XLR cables from XMC-! to Amps. I will try SPDIF/Coax output. I have a cable in the cable grave in storage room HA. Will try to call OPPO today too since I haven't done that yet. May also go up to Magnolia and get a SONY 4kUHD blu ray player and plug it in and see what happens. Think they also have an open box 203 I could try. Thanks again, Greg Stupid question as I'm sure you've already checked: when you did your firmware update on the XMC-1, did you save your settings and reapply? Maybe DIRAC needs to be ran again as the saved setting got corrupted? |
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Post by gregm19 on Mar 16, 2018 9:35:18 GMT -5
Thanks for the suggestions. I have both manuals out and I have gone through the menus on player and processor multiple times and all seems to be set right. I will spend more time this weekend. I will put the 105 back in and see if it still sounds good. That will help narrow it down to a setting in 205 or it's just the player. This is driving me crazy because I am not a tinkerer....get it set right and leave it....until something bugs me. May also go up to Magnolia and get a 203 and see what happens....or maybe just get the $239 Sony and try it.
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Post by gregm19 on Mar 18, 2018 7:15:19 GMT -5
Well, I wish I could with absolute certainty describe what I did to fix it but not sure and it is working great. Sound is as it should be and will have a chance today to put through paces. I went through the menus on both the OPPO and XMC-1 looking for anything that might not be right. I had 8 pages of notes from this thread and AVS Forum. I disconnected and reconnected all the cables including the power cable and if I had to guess I would say that was probably the fix. Feel silly for not doing that first. If nothing else I learned a lot and was a great review of all the setting and why. Thanks again for the help.
I can ship a like new OPPO 105 tomorrow if anyone interested. Greg
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