Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Advice on all in one player

Hi all,

I use DSP5200, a 507 CDP and (not connected to the speakers) a simple Bluray player.

I would like to have one player that does all formats to connect directly to the DSP5200 (and a Panasonic plasma). It should also be able to do good CD sound so I can use only one player.

I read a lot of people use Oppo players. Could that be something for me? I obviously use the digital outputs.

Thanks in adcance for the input!

My personal choice is the Yamaha BD-S1067 - CD, DVD-A, SACD, DVD-V, Bluray, DivX, DLNA, 192khz/24bit DAC, and 7.1 analogue channel output - all for a very reasonable �540.

http://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/audio-visual/blu-ray-players/bd-s1067___g/?mode=model

Looks nice and a good price. Lots of Oppo fans here simply because, originally, their DVD transports were such great value, as was the BDP-83 (which can also be modified for multi-region Blu-Ray and DVD).

will i be getting comparable CD sound (compared to M 507) from a bd player when i use the digital out into DSP speakers?

I would say no.

In my all-digital system, my CD-capable sources are a Sony BD550 and an old Pioneer laserdisc player. The laserdisc is signicantly better than the Blu-ray player. I would expect a similar improvement over the laserdisc if I were to use a dedicated Meridian CD player.

Perhaps the Oppo is better than the Sony in this regard?

I am thinking of similar. Looking at either Sony S370 or Panasonic BD60 which are both below �100. Any comments from Meridian users - AndyS (?) I understand that you have the Sony but are experiencing issues. Are these player related?

More interested in use for online and networked content and DVD rather than Bluray so this possibly favours the Sony S370 (I don't think that BD60 has BBC iPlayer) but I have read that Sony have knobbled some of the genres of the online iPlayer type applications due to licensing which partly defeats the object.

Or I may simply wait it out until later in the year and upgrade my Freeview box to an HD YouView enabled box. I tried the Humax Freeview HD box but it didn't work with my DVI/HDCP TV and at the time did not have its interactive services running. I am not impressed with the Freesat channel selection which I have on my bedroom TV but BBC iPlayer on this platform is great which has prompted me to look at online services for my main TV.

Things like the Oppo do not seem to have very mature online services.

Definitely not.


I put a G68d in my system the other night and long story short there was a problem with it, so the 568.2 went back in, on reconnection I had no sound from the DSPs, after messing around for ages and thinking I had fried the DSPs I grabbed a Sony 370 Bluray player from the bedroom and set the DSP5000s to 2 channel.
I plugged the Bluray player in directly and all was working fine, but my god what an awful sound!!
I quickly plugged my AppleTV in to test and the difference was staggering, and the AppleTV is not none for its low jitter etc.!

The PS3 sounded so much better than the stand alone player, which sounded thin, brittle and bright, and all round pretty damned nasty.

My goodness! What does that say about the Sony? The jitter from the digital (RF) outputs of laserdisc players is supposed to be in the order of a few NANO*-seconds!!!

* 1ns = 1000ps. State-of-the-art CD replay is approx 150ps.

Or maybe I like jitter? I just did a couple of quick, subjective, non-blind tests using today's Amazon delivery (so not familiar music). The blu-ray just sounds nervous and edgy while the laserdisc is smoother.

I knicked The Lady-Killer (Cee-Lo Green) back from SWMBO. It sounds harsh, edgy and unpleasant through the laserdisc. But through the blu-ray the already very over-blown bass just was awful, especially using Trifield.

As a contrast, Siesta (Miles Davis) is ok on blu-ray but slower and cooler on laserdisc. At the start of Conchita I had to check if my sub was playing the synth-drums were so low.

I wonder if it is down to the dreaded compression? The Cee-Lo Green mix is so loud and crowded while Siesta is sparse. Add to that a 23 year difference in recording studio practise.

Interestingly in "F*** You" his feelings about his friend and ex are much errr clearer than in "Forget You" and the rude mix is more listenable.

Funny you should raise this point Gianni,

I currently have a number of CD capable transports in the "big rig", a 598DP, an EAD T8000 LD/CD, a Toshiba HD-XA2, an Oppo BD83, and a Sony PS3. The venerable Enlightened Audio T8000, a digital audio optomized modded Pioneer laser disc player with a number of low jitter output options is the best of the lot for CD. -And by a non-trivial margin.

Happy Trails!
MTB Vince

How do you think the Oppo 83 performs with CD??
I keep hearing good things but every time I have tried it I think it stinks.

You guys are making me want to get my TEAC VRDS10 and my Toshiba SD9500 out of their boxes and try plugging them straight into my DSP5Ks to see how they fare against my Squeezebox.

The Tosh even upsamples (*) so if I had 24/96 DSPs (which I don't) that would have to be worth a try, eh?

Duncan

(*) I don't know if it puts out an upsampled digital signal, or whether it only upsamples when it is doing the D/A conversion