Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Oppo recomendation

I have a G98DH. I am considering replacing it with a new Oppo unit.

I am a little confused about the audio interface with an Oppo. I have a DVDO Quick 6 and I am assuming I will use SPDIF output from the Quick 6. This of course is a single coax running from the Quick 6 the the processor.

Can this audio setup be has good as the MHR 3 coax connections that Meridian provides with the G98?

Also looking for Oppo recomendations.

Thanks,

Brad

Probably a good idea to do a Google search. This question comes up quite frequently.

Search for Vanity, HD621 etc.

In terms of recommendations, you are running a digital system, so the 3 version is going to be fine. I use a 93, the latest version is the 103. Im very pleased with mine, but I use it for Bluray and DVD playback. As a music spinner, Im less convinced. I have never owned a G98, but by all accounts were good performers in their day.

Cheers
Greg

In short the SPDIF connection from the DVDO will be nothing like that of an MHR connection. There is a physical hardware limitation in providing multichannel high resolution audio to multiple channels over one coaxial connection. This is why Meridian uses the 3 connections for MHR multichannel use.

There is also a decoder in the HD621 that maintains copy protection for the MHR source taken from the HDMI signal. Meridian is one (maybe the only) company who can legally do this. Most equipment have to use the HDMI connection with HDCP to get any sort of high resolution multichannel audio.

Any signal from the coaxial output of your DVDO will be of the same variety as that of the digital coaxial output of the Oppo. That source will be compressed. Some think that the DTS core signal (availably by a single digital coaxial signal) at 1.5Mbit/sec is audibly identical to it's DTSMA uncompressed brother. So you may get decent audio this way.

On another controversial note I would imagine the Oppo would have better audio quality than the DVDO due to it's superior processing abilities. I hope this helps.

Nick

The latest Oppo spinners (103 and 105) also have optional D versions which include additional Darbee video processing. I think this adds ~ �100 to the ticket price. If you are considering this I would recommend a dem if possible; some people (including people on here) swear by it, others don't like the effect or are at best neutral.

The effect is user-adjustable for each disc you spin so you need to ask yourself if this hands-on approach would appeal; I don't think it would for me.

I can recommend the 103D or 105D, depends if you want to run analog or not.

The Darbee processing is incredible and lift the image quality to a new level.

If you are playing music CDs ...
I do not know your specific kit but the Meridian 800 DVD player is far better than the Oppo 105D - more full, smoother, rounded, musical etc. etc.

What you have should possibly not be TOO dissimilar in many respects.

Is there any particular reason to use the coax output of the Quick 6? As far as I'm aware, the audio permitted over that connection will be identical to the audio out of the coax of the Oppo, except the audio from the Quick 6 will have undergone a transmission via jittery HDMI interface first?

If you wanted the hi-res soundtracks, you'd probably be best off with an HD621.

Neither the Oppo nor the HD621 will accept and process the HD formats DTS-MA, etc.) from their HDMI inputs. It is PCM/LPCM only.

The Oppo 103 with vanity lite is a nice poor-man's HD621 and 800 combined. It has just about all of the connection abilities and media sources it just doesn't have any processing at all, which is where Meridian really shines.

The multiple digital outs from the vanity let your Meridian system use the latest formats (converted to LPCM by the Oppo).

Poor man's deluxe with a Quick 6 in front of it.

For the HD621, you can access the HD formats - you simply set the Oppo to decode them to PCM first.

Yup. That's what I am doing. Oppo decodes into the HD621 and magic appears!

+1 on Oppo 103D. Darbee seems to make a substantive difference on my old Fujitsu plasma