Hi-Rez Highway: REVIEW: Oppo BDP-83 SACD Player by layman New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology.

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Model:	BDP-83
Category:	SACD Player
Suggested Retail Price:	$500
Description:	SACD, Bluray, DVD player
Manufacturer URL:	Oppo
Model Picture:	View

Review by layman on June 21, 2009 at 22:03:56 IP Address: 71.163.64.166

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Formats come and go. In my lifetime, I have seen 8-track, cassette, digital compact cassette, DAT, mini-disc, CD and now SACD come and go. I have seen vinyl come, go and come back. I am seeing DVD superseded by Blu-ray and I expect that I shall see dozens more changes in the next ten years.

Truth is I don't really care what the medium or acronym as long as it brings me satisfying music, a proxy for the real thing for those times when "live" is not an option. Based on what I have heard in terms of formats for the past thirty years, SACD brings me closer to "live" than any other format before or since. Therefore, I remain committed to it.

I must confess that I am not a fan of downloading music. I find it slow and aggravating, even with a high-speed connection and I find the quality of the product grossly inferior to that of physical media.

I was deeply impressed by the sound quality of SACD upon its launch ten years ago. It took me quite by surprise. The format seemed to come out of left field…unheralded…purist…audiophile in a mass-market world…ahead of its time or perhaps too late…time will tell. I knew from the get go that only audiophiles would appreciate it and so it has been. Ten years later, it is a niche product that serves the audiophile community exclusively. Its creators have been entirely unable to convince the general public at large of its relevance.

So, it has come to pass that ten years after I came across the Sony SCD-1, I have now come across the Oppo BDP-83. Based on what I know of the history of the player, it seems purpose designed to optimize both SACD playback as well as DVD-V and Blu-ray playback. The player is not without some operational quirks such as a faint clicking sound at the beginning of every SACD track, the need to navigate a labyrinth of on-screen menus to ensure that the player is DSD enabled (essential for the best sound), the inability to switch from stereo to multi-channel playback via a button (once again requiring the navigation of the menu labyrinth), the periodic loss of saved set-up parameters (once again requiring the navigation of the menu labyrinth…do we see a pattern yet). Operationally this player is just as aggravating as the majority of DVD-audio players. Thankfully, it does not sound like one.

It's the finest video player that I have yet come across. Video from Blu-ray and upscaled DVD is spectacular…brimming with eye-popping color and detail that's superior even to the theatrical experience.

As an audiophile however, I am far more critical about it's audio-only performance and on that front, I can report that it’s a rip-roaring success. Simply put, SACD played on this deck gets me closer to the "live" experience than I have come since my fateful audition of the Sony SCD-1 ten years ago. The two players, sonically, remind me strongly of one another…it's like a torch being passed.

Using the same Sony music SACD sampler that I used to test the Sony SCD-1 (as well as the 300 other SACDs that I have amassed in the ten years since)…I noticed…rock solid imaging. The Oppo BDP-83 places images with precision within an exceptionally wide and deep soundstage. The sense of "soundstage" is greatly enhanced. The Oppo BDP-83 recreates a distinct sense of acoustic space in a way that audiophiles will appreciate.

I was very interested in hearing how the Oppo BDP-83 would handle string tone, and this is where I really began to appreciate the Oppo's sonic prowess. I listened to Yo Yo Ma playing his solo cello, the opening movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and a movement from Dvorak's 9th and Mahler's 1st Symphony (both with Leonard Bernstein conducting the NYPO).

The Oppo BDP-83 sounds beautiful, but not overly romantic with bowing and string tone. I hear a well-developed sense of string resin, which shows none of the synthetic "graininess," "pixilation," and the grating quality that I often hear with CD. String transients and leading edges are crisply defined and then followed by natural and delicate sounding note decay, which gives string notes a certain fullness and "wholeness" that I am unaccustomed to (on CD).

The strings (cellos, bass, violins, violas) sound unusually accurate, and "musical," but are not softened, obscured, or romanticized in anyway. Moreover, the Oppo BDP-83 demonstrates, time and time again, its super-sophisticated sense of orchestral "architecture." It is difficult to describe this phenomenon to those unfamiliar with the concert hall. Overall, the improvement with upper orchestral string tone can best be described as "evolutionary" rather than "revolutionary." Deja vu.

Though the player recreates a much more delicate and natural sense of the note decay of all musical instruments and voices and though the player presents a more subtle and sophisticated recreation of acoustic and ambience (from SACD material), only hardcore audiophiles will notice the improvements. Those who can appreciate subtlety and refinement will be tempted. So, it is really up to audiophiles whether or not this player makes it in the marketplace.

I find the Oppo an extremely honest sounding player. It lacks the romance and sleight of hand, the deliberate "prettying" of many audiophile players. It's CD playback sounds as clean and clear as the best players from the pre-audiophile era but CD played on the Oppo BPD-83 will never convince you that you are listening to an SACD. CDs are not upsampled, smoothed, tubed or mollycoddled through the Oppo. The player seems to present CD's as they are…as thirty-year old technology that sounds good but cannot honestly be mistaken for the real thing.

SACD played on the Oppo sounds entirely different. The difference between CD and SACD (on the Oppo) is stark and subtle at the same time (as it was on the Sony SCD-1). The differences are quite difficult to qualify except to say that SACD simply sounds more like real music. That we have a player in 2009, that plays CD's, DVD's, Blu-ray and most importantly SACD, a player that simply sounds more like live music (with SACD) is quite an accomplishment and a testament that even in the age of downsampling, downgrading, truncating, and dumbing-down, quality is still available to those to whom it matters. This player brings SACD playback into a new era and should revive interest in the format among those who care about sound quality.

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Product Weakness:	Aggravating on-screen menus
Product Strengths:	Sounds true to live music with SACD

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Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier:	Prima Luna Prologue One
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	None
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Oppo BDP-83
Speakers:	Rogers Studio 7, Rogers LS7, Dynaudio Focus 140
Cables/Interconnects:	Van Den Hul
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Everything
Room Size (LxWxH):	24 x 14 x 11
Room Comments/Treatments:	None
Time Period/Length of Audition:	3 weeks
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	None
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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