Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Restaurant at the End of Universe Hitchhikers - Meridian Equipment Oppo BDP-83 Universal Player with 4x SPDIF Powerbuy!

That should be a choice in the Blu-Ray Disc menu to choose what audio track you wish to listen too. So yes all bd players should allow this choice.

Certainly, as George points out, the Oppo can select audio tracks on the disc like any other Bluray player. Not sure, however, if one can change the audio tracks 'on the fly' to allow a useful A/B comparison. I was thinking that if
I also connected the standard SPDIF digital audio ouput to my 861 that I could more easily compare just by switching phantom inputs.

I have spent further time with the Oppo and can report the following:

1. On Bluray discs the lossless tracks are relatively easy to distinguish from the lossy tracks. This is less to the Oppo than the fundamental gains you get from the lossless tracks me thinks. I'm not suggesting the differences are dramtic, but they are pretty clear, particularly on music in the soundtracks.

2. I am not loving DVD-A on the Oppo. Perhaps I have some settings amiss I will have to go back and actually read the manual. For now, I find DVD-A playback from my 800 clearly superior (as it should be). Incidentally, I am getting the same 'soft popping' sounds with multi-channel DVD-A as I do with multi-channel SACDs. This can be solved in the short-term by either unplugging the HDMI cable or just turning on a downstream device like a scaler or display. No doubt Oppo will solve this with a firmware upgrade.

3. I'm not sure that I'm not starting to prefer CD a bit more clearly on my 800. It just seems to have a level of ease and smoothness that the Oppo doesn't match. My bias tends to be 'a spinner is a spinner' so this is interesting.

Playing wuth these machines over the next few months is going to be fun.

Very interesting report, Simon.

Based on your findings it would appear that for an audiophile the real reason to go for the Oppo BDP-83 is if one wants to play Bluray lossless and SACD formats.

For a videophile the video upscaling might be worth it as well.

But, based on your comments, the Oppo should be a dedicated Bluray / SACD playback device, not used primarily for CDs, DVDAs.

Thanks for your writeup!

Yes, I think that is a fair assessment. Just a couple of things to remember:

1. I have an external scaler, so all video impressions are with the Oppo as a transport.
2. My audio impressions are with the 4xSPDIF mod. I cannot speak to the relative performance of Bluray or SACD via the analog outputs.

Let's remember he is comparing the BDP-83 to an 800. Perhaps the performance gap would not be as large (if any) if the BDP-83 is compared to a 500-series or G-series disc spinner. Since an 800 isn't happening around these parts, I interested in the latter comparisons too.

thanks for the feedback Simon, I think DVD-A will only improve as firmware updates go on, Oppo had a heck of a time getting it going

I also have to say that you guys are such audiophile nuts that I would not want to hear what you thought of a stock Oppo vs say the 800, the fact that my modified unit can even be discussed in the same breath as a piece like that makes me happy, even if it loses, plus it must be pointed out that the BDP-83 is a Blu-Ray machine, that is what it was made for, everything else is extra

thanks again Simon, there are more units heading out by friday, so look for more feedback soon

Welcome back, Gary. Would you respond/comment on the posts here since 5/30/09 and sent to your website re the balanced power issue? Is there any way to talk with you directly on the phone?
Thanks in advance,
Roger

Are there any objective measurements which demonstrate the effectiveness of the BDP-83 modifications (other than with respect to the 4xS/PDIF board)?

Has anyone here done a subjective comparison of a stock BDP-83 with a modded BDP-83 (other than with respect to the 4xS/PDIF board)?

Well, objective measurements, likely not. There will be two groups on this, those who suggest the mods cannot possibly make a difference and those who swear they do. Perhaps the truth is somewhere in between.

I had the 4xSPDIF board done at the same time as the other digital transport mods so am unable to make any judgement on what improvements accrue to each one individually.

It is my subjective judgement that the mods do make a small difference in video quality - slightly smoother with better contrast. But these improvements are small and elusive and may, in fact, be impossible to distinguish in proper A/B testing.

Audio quality is much improved but, again, this is more a result of using the 4xSPDIF mod to bypass extra A/D conversions and avoiding the Oppo analog section (that in a $500 player is unlikely to be best-in-class).

Good points Frank. On paper Gary's mods especially improved power supply and higher grade clocking should produce a cleaner, smoother sound compared to the unmoddified Oppo 83. But like you, I'm dying to hear about some more impressions.

Regards,

Paul

I am firmly in the camp that mods can make a difference. Whether they actually do or not, however, should be verifiable by some objective data. I am leery of simply swapping out parts and then claiming an improvement with nothing to back it up. You see these types of mods all the time - like swapping out a bridge rectifier with four fast acting Schottky diodes or replacing generic power supply caps with Black Gates. Are there any objective measurements ever given that show a change much less an improvement in some measurable parameter? Not that I have seen. You've got to wonder why.