DAC in Oppo UDP-205 Disc Player

[Norton]

For me, the 205 sounds best when used as a DAC (as does the 105).  It’s not as good as my Mirus, but my sense is that the 205 could be stellar with more attention paid to power supply and output stage than the price point allowed.

 

 Never had “sleep” problems after DAC input, but the unit does seem to get confused and needs turning off and on again if you try playing a disc after any form of Ethernet input.

 

Don’t know if you are aware, but the DAC input goes up to DSD512 and 768 pcm (and of course MQA) and also has switchable 2x upsampling just for 44 and 48 kHz streams, which sounds quite good to me.  Note that the DAC  input has it’s own set of additional  FW updates.

[Norton]

7 hours ago, robocop said:

As a direct result of this topic I have changed the Switch mode power supply for a Linear one and boy does this make a large difference to sound and picture.

I still have the original 205 Linear power supply in place as well.

 

I would suggest anyone using a Sonica or Oppo video players should investigate this upgrade. I don't use the analogue multi channel board so left this out. Robert

Thanks.  Which LPS did you use and was it easy to fit?

 

I don’t doubt what you say, but going right  back to my motorbike days,  I have always been sceptical about the value of user mods, in that if a big improvement is available  so easily, why didn’t the manufacturer apply in first place, assuming they know what they are doing and operate in a competitive market (unless there was a legal consideration  to the specification etc) .

 

I’ve just started using my 100% stock 205 as a Roon endpoint with Qobuz and I have to say it sounds absolutely excellent.  
I thought Qobuz was being somewhat hyped on this site, but not a bit of it, it really deserves the plaudits.

[Norton]

1 hour ago, Rexp said:

I only heard the Oppo as a disc player, inc the Modwright version, and never been satisfied with the SQ. Are you saying using it as a network attached DAC via roon transforms it? Thanks! 

No  that wasn’t my intention.  More the first flush of enthusiasm for being able to use it to stream classical favourites in hires via Qobuz.

 

I’m not pretending that the Oppo is the last word in SQ.  But now I think about it, it possibly does sound better with Qobuz than it does with discs.  So far, for example, I’ve  heard none of the excessive  brightness I have experienced with some discs.  But transform would be too strong a word.

[Norton]

6 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

Interesting.  I know the Oppo has low THD & low noise...

 

I'm just trying to keep mine from going to sleep (I have to unplug it to get any control over it at all).

 

I have Auto Power off = off

and Sleep Timer = off

 

but it still won't stay on...

Do you mean it goes in to standby (red light) by itself or simply that it stays  fully on (blue light) but stops playing and becomes unresponsive (to input, the remote and the app)?

 

If the latter, I’ve experienced something similar from time to time, but usually only during or following use with Ethernet input. Only way to proceed is to turn off and on at mains or to put into and out of standby using front panel power button (the latter only seems to work if you have energy saving standby chosen)