Topic: ISO 24/96 DVD player advice

[lynchie]

looking for a DVD played with 24/96 playback. Any suggestions?? don't wanna spend more than $400.

[nickgregory]

www.oppodigital.com

I have the 981 HD (and the HDMI switch) and it compares really well against my Denon 2900 for audio

[JasonSobel]

Does the Oppo have 24/96 digital output?  I thought that it was limited in that regard.  Although Lynchie didn't mention it in the original post, he did just buy a Grace 901, so I'm guessing he wants a DVD player with 24/96 digital out.

[nickgregory]

Does the Oppo have 24/96 digital output?  I thought that it was limited in that regard.  Although Lynchie didn't mention it in the original post, he did just buy a Grace 901, so I'm guessing he wants a DVD player with 24/96 digital out.

the 981HD has a coax out...no idea as to if anyone has "proven" it is 24/96 out, but it has the coax output

[lynchie]

thanks for the info Nick.

[nickgregory]

thanks for the info Nick.

no problem and if you may use it for video as well, the 981HD picture quality is incredible

[lynchie]

not so much for video but good to know.

+T for the advice.

[johnlynn]

The coax output on the 981HD was truncated to 16 bit when I tried tested mine. While it does sound good on it's own, I wouldn't recommend it for use with an outboard DAC. Oops, I had the 970HD.

[Kyle]

I have a Pioneer DV-578A that outputs 24/96 from the SPDIF out - onboard DAC is ok but it has played every disc I have thrown at it. It is only available used  now, but is worth tracking down. No playback gaps with DVD-A as well.

[ts]

OPPO 981 HD

Optimized Audio Features:

High-resolution multi-channel digital audio output through HDMI supporting CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, Dolby Digital and DTS sound tracks.
Individual analog 5.1-channel surround and down-mixed stereo outputs
24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs with DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro-Logic II and Linear PCM support
3D Surround (Virtual Surround): Concert, Live, Dance, Techno, Classic, Soft
Built-in equalizer, channel trim and channel delay functions

[pjdavep]

OPPO 981 HD

Optimized Audio Features:

High-resolution multi-channel digital audio output through HDMI supporting CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, Dolby Digital and DTS sound tracks.
Individual analog 5.1-channel surround and down-mixed stereo outputs
24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs with DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro-Logic II and Linear PCM support
3D Surround (Virtual Surround): Concert, Live, Dance, Techno, Classic, Soft
Built-in equalizer, channel trim and channel delay functions

That doesn't mean that the Oppo will output 24/96 linear PCM out of the coax.  Many of the players will downconvert 24/96 to 24/48 when outputting linear PCM via digital.   I don't know if it does/doesn't, but find out for sure before you buy.

I use a Denon 2200 with my 901 and am pretty happy with it.  The only issue is that after 2 hours 5 minutes (approx) of listening to a long live show, the unit will lock up.  I have to eject the disc, put it back in, and find the spot I left off.   I doubt the newer Denons have this problem.

Later,
   pjdavep

[StuStu]

I have both the Denon 2200 and 2900. They've both been great. I rarely use either for dvd video, just audio. I recommend trying to find a 2900 or 2910 on eBay. Good luck.

[ts]

OPPO 981 HD

Optimized Audio Features:

High-resolution multi-channel digital audio output through HDMI supporting CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, Dolby Digital and DTS sound tracks.
Individual analog 5.1-channel surround and down-mixed stereo outputs
24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs with DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro-Logic II and Linear PCM support
3D Surround (Virtual Surround): Concert, Live, Dance, Techno, Classic, Soft
Built-in equalizer, channel trim and channel delay functions

That doesn't mean that the Oppo will output 24/96 linear PCM out of the coax.  Many of the players will downconvert 24/96 to 24/48 when outputting linear PCM via digital.   I don't know if it does/doesn't, but find out for sure before you buy.

I use a Denon 2200 with my 901 and am pretty happy with it.  The only issue is that after 2 hours 5 minutes (approx) of listening to a long live show, the unit will lock up.  I have to eject the disc, put it back in, and find the spot I left off.   I doubt the newer Denons have this problem.

Later,
   pjdavep

  It says right in the description - 24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs with DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro-Logic II and Linear PCM support

[JasonSobel]

OPPO 981 HD

Optimized Audio Features:

High-resolution multi-channel digital audio output through HDMI supporting CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, Dolby Digital and DTS sound tracks.
Individual analog 5.1-channel surround and down-mixed stereo outputs
24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs with DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro-Logic II and Linear PCM support
3D Surround (Virtual Surround): Concert, Live, Dance, Techno, Classic, Soft
Built-in equalizer, channel trim and channel delay functions

That doesn't mean that the Oppo will output 24/96 linear PCM out of the coax.  Many of the players will downconvert 24/96 to 24/48 when outputting linear PCM via digital.   I don't know if it does/doesn't, but find out for sure before you buy.

I use a Denon 2200 with my 901 and am pretty happy with it.  The only issue is that after 2 hours 5 minutes (approx) of listening to a long live show, the unit will lock up.  I have to eject the disc, put it back in, and find the spot I left off.   I doubt the newer Denons have this problem.

Later,
   pjdavep

  It says right in the description - 24-bit, 192kHz high resolution audio D/A converters
Optical and coaxial digital audio outputs with DTS, Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro-Logic II and Linear PCM support

yes, but it doesn't say that it will output a 24/96 LPCM digital signal.  There are many players on the market that will downsample from 96 kHz (or 192 kHz) to 48 kHz, and will output a LPCM signal that is 24/48 (or even 16/48).  They do this because not all recievers can take a 96 kHz signal.  My Denon 2200 has the option to output a full 24/96 signal or to resample to 48 before outputting (I choose to go with the full signal, of course ).  I've never used this Oppo model, so I can't speak to whether or not it will output a full 24/96 digi signal.  I'm just saying that it is something to watch out for.

[Jammin72]

Stereophile verified that the 970 does output 24/96 I don't see why that would be dropped in the 981.

[Jammin72]

Oh... and FWIW the 980H was built more as an audio player, it's analog output sounds better than the others (mostly differing output stage op-Amps).  Though I believe the new 983 Has also received this treatment.

[ts]

Stereophile verified that the 970 does output 24/96 I don't see why that would be dropped in the 981.

thanks

[Nick's Picks]

the 970 only outputs 24/48.  stereophile is wrong.
hook it up to your DAC and see what it clocks at.  I did.

good sounding deck though.
Lynchie...
if possible, bypass a deck entirely.  but a nice DAC and stream digital from your PC.
fuck burning discs!  thats so....2000

[Jammin72]

the 970 only outputs 24/48.  stereophile is wrong.
hook it up to your DAC and see what it clocks at.  I did.

good sounding deck though.
Lynchie...
if possible, bypass a deck entirely.  but a nice DAC and stream digital from your PC.
fuck burning discs!  thats so....2000

hmmm.... That's interesting.

As soon as my motherboard supports 20 SATA or IDE drives that's an option until then discs seem to be the way to go for indefinite storage.

I've been eyeballing the 980HD but if it doesn't do 24/96 as reported it's off the list.

[JasonSobel]

I was over at Lynchie's this evening, and he's already got the Oppo.
We burned a 24/96 DVD-Audio disc (with DVD-Audiofile to create the image, and ImgBurn to burn).
The Oppo was definitely outputting a 24/96 signal, because the little 96 kHz light on the 901 was glowing

but here's the weird thing.  The Oppo has a volume control.  According to the manual, audio options menu allows you to choose between "raw" and LPCM mode.  LPCM mode forces all digital output to be LPCM, while the "raw" mode outputs whatever the original digital format is.  So if you have a DAC that cannot understand a DTS signal, or Dobly Digital, then you would want to set it to LPCM.  So that's what I told Lynchie to do (because the 901 only accepts PCM signals, and it can't decode DTS or dobly digital).  But then we realized that the Oppo volume control was affecting the volume of the music.  Which we interpretted as "bad", because that means that the Oppo is doing some digital processing before it outputs the signal.  So we went back to the manual, and it said that if you switch the audio mode to "raw" (instead of LPCM), than the Oppo volume won't have any affect.  That sounded like what we wanted (have the Oppo output the original digital signal), so we switched it to "raw" mode.  (in this case, because the source material is PCM anyway, "raw" mode still outputs LPCM).  but the weird thing was that the Oppo volume still could control the volume of the music.

At that point, I had to go - but we couldn't really figure out how to get the Oppo to just output the original digital signal, without any processing.  Anyone have any thoughts?

[Nick's Picks]

what model oppo ?  My 970 truncated things to 24/48.  I believe we discused this in length here on the board.


IMO..., listening to 24/96 is a futile effort.  Its worth mastering at that resolution..but given the PITA of playback and the very, very minimal...if any...audible benefits over a well done redbook...., fudge it.

Enter the Cambridge audio Azur 840c / 740c
just a straight up CD player that upsamples to 24/384mHz and has digital INPUTS..., so you can use it as a DAC as well as a deck.

Its a grand though.

[Jammin72]

If we're going to spend thousands, lets just step up to the real deal... any transport and the Meitner DCC2     Truly holographic sound.

what model oppo ?  My 970 truncated things to 24/48.  I believe we discused this in length here on the board.


IMO..., listening to 24/96 is a futile effort.  Its worth mastering at that resolution..but given the PITA of playback and the very, very minimal...if any...audible benefits over a well done redbook...., fudge it.

Enter the Cambridge audio Azur 840c / 740c
just a straight up CD player that upsamples to 24/384mHz and has digital INPUTS..., so you can use it as a DAC as well as a deck.

Its a grand though.