The Oppo has landed

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-95/


Beefier power supply, better DACS on the multichannel section, balanced stereo outputs (dammit!), dual HDMI outputs, 3D -- what's not to love?

I saw this yesterday and was wondering if you'd also seen. It looks nice. Oppo has definitely gone up market in the last few years.

The stepped up DACs and balanced outs are certainly nice. Just think, you could use the balanced inputs on your Krell . . .

As for the what's not to love? I couldn't care less for 3D. That's about it.

Incidentally, I'll be heading out of town for a few days. I will check in again on Christmas Eve.

Have a great trip!


No, I am not a big fan of 3D either, but it still helps future-proof the player if I change my mind. The balanced outputs are the real stinger for me. I would dearly, dearly love to have them!

You could sell your 83SE to fund purchasing the 95. From what I have seen, the 83SE has held its value well.

It appears to have done so. However, the release of the 95 will probably change that. Regardless, despite the nice addition of the balanced outs, I will likely stick with the 83SE. Plenty of other things on which to spend money. (Speaking of which, Deadwood just came in the mail.)

Enjoy! I am interested to hear what you think of the series.

If the itch to buy the 95 becomes too great, let me know. I may be interested in buying your 83SE, if you were selling. In my set up, I cannot take advantage of the balanced outs, so the upgrades would be limited mostly to the cosmetics, the new DACs and 3D support. I only really care about the DACs and I'm not sure the new ones will make that much of a difference.

Ah, now you have me thinking, you helpful bastard . . .



I have only watched the first episode of Deadwood. Unforunately, I picked up the PS3 version of Fallout: New Vegas and that has been a bit time-consuming.

Yes, games. There are many out there worth playing. They are huge time sucks, but strangely satisfying.

Well, and my primary love is RPGs, so the time suck indeed sucks. But they are a great way to escape reality for a few hours sans chemicals.

Very true. Nothing quite like interacting with a good story.

Speaking of which, let me know what you think of Heavy Rain if you ever give it a shot.

I think I will have a chance to play it this coming weekend. Looking forward to it.

You will notice the plot holes and the occasional cliched character, but bear with it. It is really engrossing.

Have you seen NuForce's take on the new Oppo players?: Link

Some fairly pricey options!

I have seen some people swear by the NuForce version of the 83SE. The one for the 95 seems to be a bit over the top, though -- especially since Oppo has not announced a price for the stock version yet!

Music Direct has the 95 listed for $979 and a release date of February 2011. Perhaps Oppo has shared pricing with its retailers.

NuForce are a bit vague on what they're doing to the stock unit. It is difficult to determine if the player is worth the extra $1500 over stock, especially since the public have yet to get their hands on a 95.

Seems that Cambridge is releasing a new Blu-ray player: Link.

Judging only by the rear-panel layout and the text in the article, it looks like the player will be based on the same kit as used in the Oppo BD-93. However, this time around, Cambridge have made some notable changes, including replacing all audio DACs with Wolfson DACs, including dedicated stereo outputs and allowing user-selectable digital filters (a carry over from their DACMagic, I presume).

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Incidentally, I did pick up and have started playing Heavy Rain. I am only about two-and-a-half hours in, but I'm enjoying. The interface can be a little clunky and still feels a bit foreign to me at times, but I'm catching on. I am a bit worried that I'll be too slow responding to inputs later on during key scenes. I may have to dial down the difficulty. We'll see.

Dial down the difficulty. It really does not make that huge of a difference, but you will need the slightly longer reaction time that it gives you, especially in the action and timed sequences. I dialed it down and do not feel guilty about it one bit.


I will take a look at the Cambridge player tonight. It looks interesting.

Yes, that definitley has to be based on the 93, but I agree that it looks like they are carrying over the DACMagic into their modifications. That player may be a killer. I wonder how it will compare to the upcoming 95? In theory, the Cambridge could actually have an advantage -- I have never listened to a DACMagic in action, but they are very well-regarded.

Hard to say. The Oppo, of course, does have balanced outs for those who can take advantage of that connection type.

A preview of Oppo BDP-95: Link. Sounds exciting.

Oh, the Oppo will likely be fantastic. The XLR outputs would really be a big selling point for me. I just meant that Cambridge's approaches to D/A conversion have been very well-regarded. On the other hand, so has Oppo, so there you go.

I have a suspicion that Cambridge will price the BD-751 too high, making the decision between that and the Oppo a no brainer. Early reports are that the BD-751 will go for £800. Their earlier model, the BD-650, was priced at £400 or $600 in the US. Assuming the ratio ramains the same, the BD-751 could sell for around $1200 and I think that is a bit too high. As always, time will tell. Now, if Cambridge had inlcluded a digitial input, that might have changed things, though I'm guessing most people wouldn't plug much into a universal player, besides perhaps a media server and digital cable box.

It is true though that if you are putting a sufficiently high quality DAC and analogue stage into a player, digital inputs are rather a nice feature. Even one would do. But in the end the Oppo will unquestionably be a better value.

I read that they have already sold out of the stock that they had for "early adopters." I think that they have definitely found a market for what they do.

The early adopter shipment only included 100 units, so I am not surprised that those were sold within hours of being announced. The first full shipment arrives early March and supposedly includes 10,000 units.

The more I read about the BDP-95, the more I like.

As do I, and no, you are not going to convince me to spend the money!