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Oppo Sonica DAC coming Fall 2016


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Now, I'm wondering how good their high end disc player will be...

 

I can guess. I have less than 30 SACDs that I acquired back when they were "hot". I've spent a good bit of time playing them in a friend's BDP-105D and always found the sound to be underwhelming. Oppo gear, in my experience is solid and reliable. I have an old DV-980H that has been a rock solid CD transport for years. I hesitate to call Oppo gear "audiophile". But then again, it's not priced that way. The Sonica is a great "digital audio hub", but it's no giant killer.

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I can guess. I have less than 30 SACDs that I acquired back when they were "hot". I've spent a good bit of time playing them in a friend's BDP-105D and always found the sound to be underwhelming. Oppo gear, in my experience is solid and reliable. I have an old DV-980H that has been a rock solid CD transport for years. I hesitate to call Oppo gear "audiophile". But then again, it's not priced that way. The Sonica is a great "digital audio hub", but it's no giant killer.

 

I have to say that after a few days and listening to many different sources, my DSD files ripped form SACD on my Oppo 105 sound better on the Sonica. Way more relaxed and added detail...not going to try and tell anyone that it is massively better but to my ears it makes my DSD files listenable especially with recordings I found to be forward and poorly recorded. For example, all my Rolling Stones DSDs are substantially more enjoyable on the Sonica, on the Oppo they were edgy and bright to a level that I could not enjoy them.

Digital: Synology NAS DS716+II > Netgear Nighthawk AC Wireless > Oppo Sonica DAC & 105

Analogue: Sota Sapphire, Well Tempered Classic Arm (LA Labs mod), Charisma Reference One MC, AcousTech PH-1 Premium Phono

The Rest: Conrad Johnson LS-17 Preamp, Conrad Johnson 2300A, Vandersteen 3A Sigs with 2Wq sub

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I also wonder how the Oppo DAC sounds with redbook CDs (I have 2,000 of those and a dozen SACDs)...

 

also Oppo vs. Teac??

I haven't really sat down with my 16 bit FLACs but Tidal sounds really good and I am mostly about the features on the DAC, wireless is a huge selling point for me. Having all my computer gear near my stereo caused unwanted digital noise which is all but gone by moving it all across the room and out of sight. I suppose I am a feature first customer...but it still needs to sound good but I am not expecting and unrealistic result.

Digital: Synology NAS DS716+II > Netgear Nighthawk AC Wireless > Oppo Sonica DAC & 105

Analogue: Sota Sapphire, Well Tempered Classic Arm (LA Labs mod), Charisma Reference One MC, AcousTech PH-1 Premium Phono

The Rest: Conrad Johnson LS-17 Preamp, Conrad Johnson 2300A, Vandersteen 3A Sigs with 2Wq sub

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Good.

The DacMagic + Cal Audio icon (with PowerBoss) sounded about as good as an Oppo 95 when I tested them side by side with just a few seconds delay between them.

 

My plan is to relegate the DacMagic + Cal Audio and my Sonic Frontiers pre-amp to the bedroom. I'll use the new all-disc Oppo to deal with CDs, SACDs (and Blueray video) via my ARC LS-25 mk II preamp. And the Samsung el cheapo Blueray player goes to Goodwill.

 

I mostly listen to ripped CDs thru an Apple TV anyway, the disc spinner is just for video and legacy audio discs.

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So it looks like I may be downgrading my OPPO 105 to a 103D and then using the Sonica as my DAC. Any opinions out there? The newest 205 will not support my Roku stick and will not have any apps. The 205 will have the same DAC and Wireless as the Sonica but I really like the ability to rip SACD....

Digital: Synology NAS DS716+II > Netgear Nighthawk AC Wireless > Oppo Sonica DAC & 105

Analogue: Sota Sapphire, Well Tempered Classic Arm (LA Labs mod), Charisma Reference One MC, AcousTech PH-1 Premium Phono

The Rest: Conrad Johnson LS-17 Preamp, Conrad Johnson 2300A, Vandersteen 3A Sigs with 2Wq sub

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So it looks like I may be downgrading my OPPO 105 to a 103D and then using the Sonica as my DAC. Any opinions out there?

If I had a 105(D), I don't think I'd dump it. Analog multichannel is important to me, though. Do you really think that, given the uptick in pricing for used 103/5(D)s, you'd be able to come out ahead selling your *105 and buying a 103D?

- JediJoker

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If I had a 105(D), I don't think I'd dump it. Analog multichannel is important to me, though. Do you really think that, given the uptick in pricing for used 103/5(D)s, you'd be able to come out ahead selling your 105D and buying a 103D?

I have a 105 not a D model...but I am just conjecturing at this point. They are rearranging the Legos in a way that I have to do my research before completely committing to their product. Had they offered an upgrade path from the 105 > 105D then I may not be in the same boat.

 

Oh and multichannel for me is a non starter...dont need it

Digital: Synology NAS DS716+II > Netgear Nighthawk AC Wireless > Oppo Sonica DAC & 105

Analogue: Sota Sapphire, Well Tempered Classic Arm (LA Labs mod), Charisma Reference One MC, AcousTech PH-1 Premium Phono

The Rest: Conrad Johnson LS-17 Preamp, Conrad Johnson 2300A, Vandersteen 3A Sigs with 2Wq sub

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  • 3 weeks later...
Found a review for the OPPO.

Link:OPPO Digital Sonica DAC Reviewed

 

greyscale

 

That review is pretty much spot on but as I do have a 105, I find it superior in sound overall having more depth, detail and less glare. It really shines with DSD and hi Rez material. Lower resolution recordings do not seem to benefit as much IMO but I haven't really scrutinized red book recordings much either.

Digital: Synology NAS DS716+II > Netgear Nighthawk AC Wireless > Oppo Sonica DAC & 105

Analogue: Sota Sapphire, Well Tempered Classic Arm (LA Labs mod), Charisma Reference One MC, AcousTech PH-1 Premium Phono

The Rest: Conrad Johnson LS-17 Preamp, Conrad Johnson 2300A, Vandersteen 3A Sigs with 2Wq sub

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been using my Oppo Sonica DAC for about a month now. Been waiting for it, my Tube amp and speakers to all be burned-in well before commenting. speakers are Martin Logan Motion 15, which are pretty open and revealing. The setup is in my office which is a small room. I am using a Macbook Pro Retina with Audirvana Plus for playback of music files, no CD player connected yet.

 

Someone asked about red book CD music quality - just my opinion, they sound very good. Warm and fairly clean. DSD (from SACDs) sound excellent. I can deal with the somehow bright 96K Hi-res file playback, but the 192k is just too much highs and the overall sound does not seem balanced, even with my tube amp which has a fairly warm output. I plan to test the Oppo with my Rotel discrete amp as well to see how it would sound. I've played with the isotope settings under Audirvana and so far have not found a good setting that works for all the music formats and qualities. I am assuming Oppo will continue to refine the DAC firmware so hopeful things will get better. Tidal and MQA (using Audirvana since Oppo does not support MQA) sound very good. I have also upgraded some cables here and there, so things may settle-down and clean-up more as my cables get enough burn-in. If you have any specific questions let me know.

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Appreciate the response. You just described how I feel and hear my current HA-1. I also run Audirvana 3 software MQA Tidal Masters to the HA-1 then to my Hegel. It seems that is the OPPO sound sig and I am not sure I am chasing after that a second time especially running ATC speakers that are already very detailed. Again thanks for the reply. Wish Mytek or Aurender werent so expensive for just Tidal streaming. 

 

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone found a report of how the Sonica DAC compares to some other well respected USB DACs? Top on my list is the Ayre QB-9DSD USB DAC. I am primarily looking for sound quality & don't stream anything like Tidal or really need any extra inputs right now. I have a lead on a like-new QB-9DSD for not much more than the SDAC, so price is not a factor. 

Thanks,
kev

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On 4/15/2017 at 8:55 PM, bugeyed said:

Anyone found a report of how the Sonica DAC compares to some other well respected USB DACs? Top on my list is the Ayre QB-9DSD USB DAC. I am primarily looking for sound quality & don't stream anything like Tidal or really need any extra inputs right now. I have a lead on a like-new QB-9DSD for not much more than the SDAC, so price is not a factor. 

Thanks,
kev

 

Did you ever get your network issues worked out?

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53 minutes ago, nhtran1 said:

 

Did you ever get your network issues worked out?

Didn't work on it much. OPPO engineer is still trying to get the app fixed so it doesn't sort album tracks alphabetically. I have set up an Ayre QB-9DSD to audition & compare. I have the SDAC hooked up to a laptop server, so the 2 DACs can be compared while operating the same way. The Ayre is only USB DAC. I think the network issues were partly the slow operation of the app & my impatience with it. If I keep the SDAC, I will revisit it's network functionality. 

kev

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21 hours ago, GUTB said:

I listened to a few Sonica setups at AXPONA. One was modded and one was vanilla. Neither impressed me IMO, but of course room/system caveats apply.

Gutb, curious what you did not like about the sound and if they played different music through these DACs. I have the Sonica and I feel it does well with certain music file formats (44.1kHz-96kHz encoded) and not so good with others (192KHz for example). The sound seems to be too bright and almost on the side of harsh and I use a pretty warm tube-amp. Also curious if you felt there was any difference between the sound of the modded version and vanilla. Thx!

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FYI, that Oppo released new firmware, as well as an app update yesterday, April 28th. I haven't had a chance to look into the changes yet but here is the fix log from the Oppo site:

 

Release Notes:

  1. Added Sonica app support for source switching on Sonica DAC.
  2. Reduced the low level noise caused by Wi-Fi interference that could be heard when using the balanced output.
  3. Resolved an issue where pause would not work with certain audio formats when using Logitech Music Server.
  4. Resolved an issue where the Stop All function would not stop a Spotify stream to the Sonica.
  5. Resolved an issue where Sonica devices that had been playing a stream from Spotify would be temporarily locked to Spotify.
  6. Resolved an issue where all of the directories on a USB drive would be seen as empty.
  7. Resolved a stuttering issue when playing certain 192/24 FLAC files.
  8. Resolved an issue where tracks would inadvertently be skipped when pressing "seek" multiple times.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up who is still following this device. Mine has had a good break in at this point and I think it's great. That UDP-205 is staring at me on the Oppo site though, haha. I wonder if it has absolutely all of the functionality of Sonica DAC with a universal disc player thrown on top, or if there are subtle differences. Anyone know the answer to that?

 

Anyway, enjoy the firmware\app update folks!

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10 hours ago, DSotM073 said:

FYI, that Oppo released new firmware, as well as an app update yesterday, April 28th. I haven't had a chance to look into the changes yet but here is the fix log from the Oppo site:

 

Release Notes:

  1. Added Sonica app support for source switching on Sonica DAC.
  2. Reduced the low level noise caused by Wi-Fi interference that could be heard when using the balanced output.
  3. Resolved an issue where pause would not work with certain audio formats when using Logitech Music Server.
  4. Resolved an issue where the Stop All function would not stop a Spotify stream to the Sonica.
  5. Resolved an issue where Sonica devices that had been playing a stream from Spotify would be temporarily locked to Spotify.
  6. Resolved an issue where all of the directories on a USB drive would be seen as empty.
  7. Resolved a stuttering issue when playing certain 192/24 FLAC files.
  8. Resolved an issue where tracks would inadvertently be skipped when pressing "seek" multiple times.

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up who is still following this device. Mine has had a good break in at this point and I think it's great. That UDP-205 is staring at me on the Oppo site though, haha. I wonder if it has absolutely all of the functionality of Sonica DAC with a universal disc player thrown on top, or if there are subtle differences. Anyone know the answer to that?

 

Anyway, enjoy the firmware\app update folks!

Awesome!  Wanted to change the source via app...glad they listened.  As for other comments about the device, there are very few DACS that support wifi streaming at 5G. 

Digital: Synology NAS DS716+II > Netgear Nighthawk AC Wireless > Oppo Sonica DAC & 105

Analogue: Sota Sapphire, Well Tempered Classic Arm (LA Labs mod), Charisma Reference One MC, AcousTech PH-1 Premium Phono

The Rest: Conrad Johnson LS-17 Preamp, Conrad Johnson 2300A, Vandersteen 3A Sigs with 2Wq sub

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