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!

I am quite keen to hear from other users on, in particular, the SACD performance of this player versus their prior solutions? I may be in something of a unique (or at least uncommon) situation in that my SACD player prior to the Oppo also had a 3xSPDIF modification so my comparisons did not involve removing the extra D/A abd A/D conversions that I suspect most people have been putting up with.

I am still hearing some noise artifacts with SACD playback (pops, clicks), however, Oppo has suggested these will be fixed with future firmware upgrades. More concernng, though, is my sense that SACD (and CD) from the Oppo via SPDIF seems a bit 'harsh' compared to my prior references (Denon 3910 for SACD and M800 for CD). I suppose I'm less concerned about CD since there was never any plans on my part to dispense with the 800 - plus one would hope (expect) that a mega$ player like 800 would be better than the budget-priced Oppo. SACD playback is an issue, however, as I want to use the Oppo - otherwise the digital mch input limitations on my 861 become a problem.

I'd love to hear other peoples opinions. Perhaps subsequent firmware upgrades will solve this 'harshness' I am hearing, or perhaps the 'harshness' is a result of the Oppo just being more revealing than my Denon, or perhaps with extended listening I will conclude that, in fact, the Oppo (or my ears) needed to 'break in'.

Simon

Simon, my take on this is that the Oppo is more revealing(especially the fully loaded modded versions), all these mods pull everything that can be gotten from the unit

sort of like HD-SDI for video, you get to a point where things are so revealing that you realize half the media out there is not all that great

just wanted to let everyone know that region free should be available next week, I will update the powerbuy page

thanks

region free mod is ready guys, order page updated

it is going to take around 3 weeks to fill the order after the date received, this is due to the severe demand of the Oppo player and how hard it is to get stock on them right now

thanks

Gary,

I have already purchased a BDP-83 from Oppo. Is the powerbuy available to those that already have a BDP-83? Pricing for a just he 4 SPDIF mod? Thanks.

of course, send me a email to orders "at" custom-ht.com and I will be glad to accommodate you with any mods you need

thanks

I'd be careful with the "more revealing" equals "more harsh" argument.

Folks on this forum have some very "revealing" systems and you don't hear the word "harsh" too often. Some folks have systems well over $100K.

Meridian's DVD-A players are amount the best you can get for getting every nuance out of a recording and I've never heard anyone mention "harsh".

I will mention though that when you feed a Meridian Processor 24bit data it will bypass the resolution enhancement which includes dithering which gives the sound a bit of warmth. However anytime I've listen to 24/96 or 24/88 on good recordingings (from several sources) I never found it harsh.

I have a PS3 with SACD running through a Clux with same Shawn design mod and it is not harsh in the least.

I recommend you listen to concerns carefully before writing them off as more revealing.

One thing I suggest is a sanity check with a DTS CD and see if the Meridian can processor can decode it. I forget if someone already did this on the BD-83 modded player or not.

What I have found over the years as things have improoved I can play it louder and louder because it's less and less harsh. I accidently had a bug in remote that cranked the volume up to 99 and I thought for sure I would blow a tweeter or something. Amazingly it didn't distort or sound all that bad. I find I actually have to be careful because things are so clean that I can have up to loud with out it "hurting". Sort of like it's too easy to speed in newer and newer cars because they handle so nicely.

I've been experimenting with my system this week (after I solved the dynamics problem with the forum's help) and have yet to hear any harshness on any media while using the modded BD 83. I have 3x5kdsp's 96/24 at the front, 2xm30's surrounds and 2 HSU subs. While this system is used primarily for HT I do listen to SACD's DVD-A's and CD's. If anything, the sound is a touch laid back--certainly not harsh. Currently I'm running the mains set to small and playing with the crossovers, trying to get the best integration with the subs possible. But with the L&R set to large I didn't hear any harshness.

A few weeks ago I visited JimK and brought along my Shawn modded 980H. We played it through his 861 and didn't hear anything approaching harshness. We AB'd with his 800 on CD's and while we did hear a bit of a difference I don't think we gave much of a nod to either one.

Ken

For those of us in Europe who's probably now taking notice of this due to the region free mod, can you please explain the operation of the region free mod.

ie. is it DVD & Bluray?
Do you just stick a disc in and it works automatically, or do you have to select the region, power cycle the unit etc etc.

Also, what quantifiable advantage does your Meridian edition or digital transport edition+HD621 mod give over a stock region free mod Oppo + HD621?

For reference, what the rrp of a stock unmodified Oppo?

Thanks

Gary - How much extra is the RS232?

I'm certainly not ready to conclude that the harshness I think I hear is a result of the Oppo being more revealing - although, as I said in my earlier post, I cannot rule it out as a possibility. I'm also not suggesting the harshness has anything to do with Gary's mods.

I think it will prove to be one of two things. Most likely is that the implementation of SACD in the BDP-83 still has its quirks and may be causing more than just spurious pops and clicks. I also may find that over time the harshness proves to be a figment of my imagination. That is why I'm curious to hear of other users experiences.

while I will admit that I am more of a videophile type than a audio junky, this argument is very valid in that field(video), the more revealing a system you get the more you see the better or the worse a piece of media is, on a lower quality system everything is leveled in sorts, this correlates to audio as well

this is one possibility that has to be given and is one that I encounter with customers very often, especially with video, not saying this is the case here but a possibility

thanks

region free mod works auto for DVD and manual for BD, you power down and select the region and then power back up, on the Oppo this is a 15 second process

I make no claims numbers wise that my mods make any improvements, the improvements are there and customers have been happy so far, jitter is reduced alot with the digital transport mods, the Meridian 4x SPDIF mod delivers the goods that way and the HD-SDI does as well, the ultimate analog audio ed. is my favorite work I have done on this unit, I will be posting info and pics on it soon

thanks guys