Oppo Sonica DAC coming Fall 2016

[Ralf11]

On 5/9/2017 at 6:28 AM, Birddogthecat said:

OPP0 UDP-205

 

[I own and have posted here regarding the Sonica DAC]

 

Is there a thread for the OPPO UPD-205? I received an email a couple of weeks ago that I could per-order from OPPO.

 

Does anybody know:

1) Is the 205 only available in Black (105/105D was available Black & Silver) ?

2) Are there no embedded APPs (as is the case with the 105)?

3) Is it TIDAL or/or Pandora ready?

 

If I posted this in the wrong place send me to the proper thread.

 

 

 

 

start one!

 

Black only AFAIK

 

I am actively interested in this player and it has the same EES chip(s) as the stand-alone DAC

[Birddogthecat]

17 hours ago, Hikmer said:

Reading the comments on this thread suggest Roon Ready may be in the works soon.

 

Also Please post your subjective and objective findings with the new firmware....really want to know what people think.

I have no opinion as to the advantage(s) of the Beta Firmware. I have not installed it and probably will not get around to it. It's just fun to know it's out there.

[DSotM073]

Ok, so the official firmware has been out since the 15th. I have had a few days to sit with it, so I thought I would let everyone know what I thought.

 

In a word..... Wow.

 

The official firmware notes describe the change as "Improved the jitter and digital filter performance". I must say the difference is not subtle to my ears. Any harshness in the top end is now gone. The result is a very smooth and balanced presentation. The soundstage seems to have opened up and now allows the listener to follow any instrument in the mix. I have been listening to strictly 16\44 streaming from Tidal and I am thrilled with results. Has anyone else had a chance to give this new firmware a listen? Obviously, I am very happy with it.

 

Well done, Oppo.

[Hikmer]

13 hours ago, DSotM073 said:

Ok, so the official firmware has been out since the 15th. I have had a few days to sit with it, so I thought I would let everyone know what I thought.

 

In a word..... Wow.

 

The official firmware notes describe the change as "Improved the jitter and digital filter performance". I must say the difference is not subtle to my ears. Any harshness in the top end is now gone. The result is a very smooth and balanced presentation. The soundstage seems to have opened up and now allows the listener to follow any instrument in the mix. I have been listening to strictly 16\44 streaming from Tidal and I am thrilled with results. Has anyone else had a chance to give this new firmware a listen? Obviously, I am very happy with it.

 

Well done, Oppo.

I haven't done a critical listen but there was an improvement to my ears.  Wish they had gapless playback bundled with this...but I'll take a performance update any day of the week!

[rayfar]

On 5/19/2017 at 6:32 AM, Hikmer said:

I haven't done a critical listen but there was an improvement to my ears.  Wish they had gapless playback bundled with this...but I'll take a performance update any day of the week!

Agreed, there is an improvement in sound with new firmware. More pronounced with higher resolution music such as 96 and 192kHz encoded songs (mine are Flac). Before it seemed the sound was almost too bright and somehow harsh, but now much cleaner and balanced. 44.1KHz music seem to be slightly cleaner, but I don't hear much difference. I use Audirvana Plus 3.x and I had played with the iZotope converter to get better sound with previous firmware. Now I've switched back to almost the default settings if iZotope and overall I think the sound is better. So far I have not found any issues with this firmware, so sticking with it.

[MemoryPlayer]

On 2017-5-28 at 2:35 AM, rayfar said:

... Before it seemed the sound was almost too bright and somehow harsh, but now much cleaner and balanced. 44.1KHz music seem to be slightly cleaner, but I don't hear much difference. I use Audirvana Plus 3.x and I had played with the iZotope converter to get better sound with previous firmware...

Audirvana with iZotope has harsh and too bright sound!

I can't listen Audirvana with iZotope for more than 15 minutes..., fadigue comes very soon!

Try Apple Audio Core that for me sounds much more smooth.

[sdolezalek]

4 hours ago, MemoryPlayer said:

Audirvana with iZotope has harsh and too bright sound!

I can't listen Audirvana with iZotope for more than 15 minutes..., fadigue comes very soon!

Try Apple Audio Core that for me sounds much more smooth.

It all depends on what your iZotope settings are, settings that are fine for one DAC will sound too bright, or too mellow on another.  It may take a while to find the right settings for the new ES9038PRO chip.  I have found that the ESS chips often sound terrific when you upsample and convert everything to DSD256 or DSD512, but even then the right filter settings matter. 

[MemoryPlayer]

1 minute ago, sdolezalek said:

It all depends on what your iZotope settings are, settings that are fine for one DAC will sound too bright, or too mellow on another.  It may take a while to find the right settings for the new ES9038PRO chip.  I have found that the ESS chips often sound terrific when you upsample and convert everything to DSD256 or DSD512, but even then the right filter settings matter. 

I'm trying find an iZotope setting that doesn't sound bright and harsh e never found...

I declined and I'm using sometimes A+ with Apple Core.

But newest Amarra 4 with no upsample sounds much better than A+.

[rayfar]

2 hours ago, MemoryPlayer said:

I'm trying find an iZotope setting that doesn't sound bright and harsh e never found...

I declined and I'm using sometimes A+ with Apple Core.

But newest Amarra 4 with no upsample sounds much better than A+.

I also searched all over to find a good iZotope setting for the Oppo Sonica. Problem is that I believe the DAC is not the only thing to consider. The amp, speakers and pre-amp (if you use one) would also contribute to the overall sound. I use a tube amp that has a warm sound. The speakers I use are clean and revealing. With that setup, I have ended-up with the following iZotope setting that I like. But I suspect with a discrete amp this setting may sound too harsh. In any case, here's my current setting for iZotope (I found this on the Internet):

 

Steepness: 3

Filter max length: 200,000

Cutoff freq: 1.30

Anti-aliasing: 50.0

Pre-rining: 0.36

 

I also set "Forced Upsampling" to "Power of 2 oversampling only (2x, 4x, ...)"

 

Again, your setup may require a completely different setting. Comparing this to the Apple Core-audio, I definitely prefer iZotope. I also played with converting everything to DSD128 and DSD512. Doing this pushes the Mac (Macbook Pro with Core i7 3GHz) CPU utilization very high and the fan stays on almost all the time, which I don't like when listening to music. I also could not tell any real difference in sound quality, except for some slight improvement with 192kHz encoded songs. But not worth it IMO. 

[beerandmusic]

i don't see anything about galvanic isolation either?

 

I would think that any dac over $500 today should have that to be competitive.

[zilch0md]

On 9/12/2016 at 7:43 PM, Tieu Ngao said:

Hope it's NOT made in China!

 

It's having been manufactured in Dongguan, GuangDong, China has had no impact whatsoever on my appreciation of the Sonica DAC's excellent build quality and performance.  In fact, my favorite headphone amp is also made in China and has performed flawlessly for five years and counting. We can't stereotype all Chinese-made products as "cheap."  There are a lot of American companies who tightly control the quality of their products and many who don't (no matter where they are manufactured.)

[davero]

Hi i have a problem my oppo cant see folder and music from usb hdd

I use android system and i try samsung, segate hdd and patriot , esperanza , kingston pendrive.

 

How can fix this problem ?

[jdjaye]

6 hours ago, zilch0md said:

 

It's having been manufactured in Dongguan, GuangDong, China has had no impact whatsoever on my appreciation of the Sonica DAC's excellent build quality and performance.  In fact, my favorite headphone amp is also made in China and has performed flawlessly for five years and counting. We can't stereotype all Chinese-made products as "cheap."  There are a lot of American companies who tightly control the quality of their products and many who don't (no matter where they are manufactured.)

 

iPhones are built in China and they have great build quality.

 

 I've had an electronics product built in China for work.  Once the line is set up correctly and the software & firmware are ready, I would think that an electronics factory in China would have no trouble meeting whatever quality metrics are specd by the client.  It's up to the producer, in this case Oppo, to have a robust spec and ensure that it is implemented.

[jdjaye]

You should try Oppo cust svc and their support forums...

[davero]

 

They do not know what they are not working on. He told me they have signs dont work with sony aqua m2. I try sony aqua m4 and another LG and Samsung and still not work. I see in YT it work but mayby is ios system. 

[zilch0md]

Crickets...

[rayfar]

On 7/12/2017 at 1:46 PM, zilch0md said:

Crickets...

Yeah, looks like Oppo's busy with the 205 and Sonica DAC is not getting much love...  :-(

[zilch0md]

It seems most people who have tried it, love it, and there are no other implementations of this ESS chip that come anywhere near the Sonica DAC's amazing price point.

[rayfar]

1 hour ago, zilch0md said:

It seems most people who have tried it, love it, and there are no other implementations of this ESS chip that come anywhere near the Sonica DAC's amazing price point.

I own the Oppo Sonica DAC, and I do like it a lot. I was just hoping additional features discussed on this forum would get added over time.  

[Ralf11]

keep bugging them - they are likely to respond to user input

 

also, the head honcho goes ot some audio shows, so maybe you can buttonhole hiim in person

[RadioWonder]

On 6/4/2017 at 4:11 PM, jdjaye said:

You should try Oppo cust svc and their support forums...

Support forum??? never found one, just this forum...

AVS Sonica DAC Forum

[Hikmer]

I had my Sonica modded by EVS and it sounds stellar.  Recommended if you want a simple DAC that does hi band wireless.  Much more detail, separation and nearly complete lack of glare and digital edginess.  Haven't enjoyed digital this much in years.  Out of the box, the Sonica is somewhat disappointing.  

[zilch0md]

My Sonica DAC now has an incredibly low noise floor and stunningly well-defined treble frequencies, ever since I plugged it into a B&K Precision 1604A (available at Amazon) floating-neutral secondary, 1.25A, isolation transformer, that is itself plugged into a Topaz 19095-32 (obsolete, but available used), 500VA, grounded-neutral secondary, isolation transformer that's plugged into an APC LE1200 voltage regulator, that's plugged into the mains.  (No kidding.)

 

                                                                       > B&K Precision 1604A > Sonica DAC

Mains > APC LE1200 > Topaz 19095-32

                                                                       > B&K Precision 1604A > Teradak 7.5V DC power supply > Uptone Audio USB Regen 

 

Both the DAC and the USB Regen's DC power supply are on independent, floating-neutral isolation transformers (2x B&K Precision 1604A), which prevent any backwash noise from polluting other components, while also providing 1000:1 (-60 dB) normal-mode noise attenuation of incoming power noise.  The Topaz 19095-32 is a grounded-neutral isolation transformer, offering 20,000,000:1 (-146 dB or more, all the way to 20kHz, with -150dB or more below 8kHz) common-mode attenuation of incoming power noise.  The APC LE1200, set to an ouput voltage of 107V, is necessary to compensate an increase in voltage caused by the serially arranged transformers, which are not 1:1 with such light loads. 

 

The rest of my system is battery powered:  laptop for USB input, iPod Touch for Tidal via WiFi and a headphone amp

 

I've got an NOS Metrum Acoustics Octave MkII DAC that has always sounded better than the Sonica DAC when using the very finicky and unforgiving Sennheiser HD 800 headphone - which has never tolerated ESS DACs very well (nor multi--stage amps that use a lot of negative feedback).  The Sonica DAC was no exception among ESS DACs - I much preferred using the Oppo PM-1 or Audeze LCD-2 with the Sonica DAC driving any of my headphone amps, until I cleaned up the power!!!  

 

 

 

Now, the Sonica DAC's treble is cleaner than I thought possible.  Decays roll on much longer as they descend into a much deeper noise floor.  All the lowest-energy signals are more easily appreciated - so well defined against blackness.  I can't imagine what a "better" DAC might sound like with the HD 800.  In comparison the Sonica DAC with clean power has made the Octave MkII NOS DAC sound softer than ever with the HD 800 - using an NOS DAC was always just a band-aid for the HD 800.

 

The lion's share of the noise removal is being done by the Topaz 19095-32 isolation transformer and, but for fear of the Sonica DAC getting polluted by backwash noise from the Teradak 7.5V DC power supply (or the inverse), I would be OK with using only the Topaz between the wall outlet and the DAC.  

 

Note that only the Topaz transformers with model numbers ending in "-31" or "-32" have the ultra-low inter-winding capacitance of 0.0005 pF, which translates to greater common-mode noise reduction at higher frequencies.  

 

http://www.pacificparts.com/vends/mge/images/t1.pdf

 

I had used a Tripp-Lite is500 grounded-neutral secondary isolation transformer for over a year, knowing that it has made some improvements, but replacing it with the much lower capacitance Topaz transformer was a serious ear-opener. You never know you have a high noise floor, until you manage to lower it further still. 

 

Mike

[jdjaye]

On 8/13/2017 at 1:15 PM, Hikmer said:

I had my Sonica modded by EVS and it sounds stellar.  Recommended if you want a simple DAC that does hi band wireless.  Much more detail, separation and nearly complete lack of glare and digital edginess.  Haven't enjoyed digital this much in years.  Out of the box, the Sonica is somewhat disappointing.  

 

Can you share please the contact info/URL for EVS?

[Hikmer]

9 minutes ago, jdjaye said:

 

Can you share please the contact info/URL for EVS?

http://tweakaudio.com/EVS-2/Oppo_Sonica_DAC_mods.html

 

There you go....