Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Oppo 93 v 95 sonic benefit?

I went through the same thought process myself. In the end I replaced my PS3 with the 93, no regrets but I didnt actually audition a 95. Just couldn't really justify the extra (quite considerable) cost.

2 points I would add, the streaming features are very basic to the point of being unusable. As somebody else mentioned, stick with a Dune for that, although I actually use a PopcornHour.

Secondly, it is not multiregion out of the box, which was a misunderstanding on my part. I bought a widget from www.BlurayChip.dk which was very easy to fit and makes it multi region for both Bluray and DVD.

Cheers
Greg

I found it much improved with the New firmware (which is in beta). Are you using that?

Wow, yesterday !

No I was using the previous version. I will install this one tonight. Compared to some other companies I could name they really are proactive on improving their firmware.

My issue really was to do with the user interface. PopcornHour now have an 'iTunes' like front end as standard. This makes navigating around your music a breeze. Its not as nice as Apple Remote or the Sooloos iPad experience, but its not far off.

But the Oppo is pretty much just a file browser. I played some FLAC files and it sounded nice but its just not usable day to day.

I also played a couple of films from my NAS and the audio didnt play correctly. Im sure this will be fixed but again, if you've tried Plex on the mac or one of the Video front ends on the PopcornHour, the Oppo just doesnt cut it.

But really Im getting sidetracked.

The Oppo as a Universal Disc Spinner is a great product and if you are using HDMI, Im sure the 93 will fit your needs.

Cheers
Greg

I actually meant the June version - only just realised that there's a July release.

I spoke with Oppo last week about their FLAC streaming capability and they told me they will be releasing another firmware update that includes meta data with FLAC streaming. I don't know if it will include more sophisticated browsing though.

Ken

That should read 97. Typo..

Ummm. Still, I assume you are not referring to an Oppo.

Kal

His signature implies he is... (though it is not a model I am familiar with)

Duncan

Hi Kal,

Oppo 97 : I believe it's a HD DVD/CD player from around 2006.

Regards,
Carl

Oh. Before my time.

Kal

Gents:

1. As I said previously, I do not believe the improved power supply affects the HDMI output (however, I cannot now find where I had read that, so ....), I think it is just used for the analog outputs.
2. A friend of mine has the 95, I have the 93; so I spent some time doing 1:1 comparisons of the two via HDMI and I could detect NO difference. Did not compare analog though.
3. Oppo themselves suggest that the 93 is the unit to buy if you are going to be using it as a digital transport.
4. If I recall, Kal, in his review of the Ayre unit (Oppo 83 based), suggested he could not hear any difference when comparing the Ayre to the Oppo 83 with just the better power supply in play (the dedicated Ayre audio output was another matter).

I was certainly intrigued by the 95, and considered it despite my four points above, but ultimately went with the 93 and have had no regrets.

Simon

Thanks for all of the comments.

@ Simon - thanks; that's precisely the comparison that I hoped someone had done.

Looks like it will be a 93 then. Now, if I could work out how to package it in the G98DH case ...

Cheers, Ian