Boris1553552671

Yeah, a quick Google brought up a lot of complaints over the last couple of weeks. Can't be bothered with streaming hassles, internet TV is bad enough. Music is supposed to be relaxing! TIDAL can't afford to have server problems just when they've got their app onto a number of different platforms like Oppo. As Dunnersfella said, most industry players are picking them to go under anyway. Cheers, B.

Well seems this topic has zero interest but I thought I should wrap things up. I've just cancelled my TIDAL subscription within the free trial period as I simply couldn't get reliable streaming quality. Started off great for the first week or so then became completely unusable with stuttering & buffering. I have a reliable VDSL connection with 32 mbps download speed. Easily stream 1080p video so can't explain the issue other than the TIDAL site itself is overloaded or simply rubbish. A shame as I was keen to try it for a while. The interface through the Oppo media app was fine. Interested to hear if anyone out there had more success? Cheers, B.

The TIDAL music streaming service is now available on Oppo BDP-10x bluray players. Just need to update your firmware to latest beta version (from the Australian site if you have an AU player as USA won't work) and use latest version of their MediaControl app on your mobile device. Sign up for free 30 day TIDAL trial and dive into 35 million tracks in lossless FLAC with the hi-fi version ($25.99 month). I only set it up last night but was impressed with the sound quality and catalogue. Can also put TIDAL app on your mobile and download albums while on Wi-Fi then listen later offline when on the go. Definitely worth a try if you have an unlimited broadband plan. A huge number of CD quality albums a phone tap away for around the cost of 1 CD a month. Available on other platforms as well, but I know there are a few Oppo owners here that might be interested. Cheers, B.

I'm insured with State (through BNZ) and phoned in March this year to update some high priced equipment I had specified. I thought this was required for items over $3k or something, but was assured that none of my gear had to be noted on the policy. It is all covered under furniture (??!!) and there is no issue with cover provided I had the usual proof of purchase etc. Total loss for me would be north of $30k but I was again assured that is not a problem so long as my policy cover is sufficient. Interesting as I'm sure they are part of the IAG group. Cheers, B.

If you haven't already done so, Windows computers require a software driver for the USB audio DAC. Download from the Oppo BDP-105 support page on the Oppo website. I haven't tried it myself but sounds straightforward. Have to change the sound playback settings on the PC. Let us know how you get on. Cheers, B.

I don't use mine for streaming much, but when I do it functions well. Prefer to connect a portable hard drive with FLAC music files to one of the USB ports. Quality is identical to playing the CD to my ears. The real star of the show is the updated media control app released earlier this year. Complete browse & playback control of all media files on the attached portable drive or home network on iPad or Android tablet. Also includes a virtual remote control to access all other functions of the player. I didn't really want to like Oppo a few years ago because of all the hype and fanboy crap. I first bought the 83SE, later upgraded to the 105 and can't help but love them. Not going to spout the 'good as a $10k CDP' rubbish, but they sound very good and do everything it says on the tin. I think you may be in Wellington? Listening Post will probably lend you one to try (on special at the moment too). Cheers, B

I have my CD's ripped in lossless WAV to a portable hard drive permanently attached to the USB input of my Oppo 105. Have to turn the plasma on but apart from that a few clicks of the remote and browsing menu of all albums quicker than I could ever find the CD I was looking for. Sounds decent enough. Pure Audio button on the Oppo turns display off between albums. Quick, easy and convenient. No computer required other than for ripping. I was also between CD players as mine was playing up, but still haven't replaced it 18 months later. May be another option to consider if you haven't tried it, although don't know if you could employ your DAC. You're right though, great time to buy a CD player!

I'm exhausted just reading about your exploits so I can't imagine how you're feeling :eek: I don't have any experience with Denon, but it shouldn't really be that hard. I have an Oppo and there's very few settings that should need changed. I would be connecting as: 1) HDMI from Oppo to Denon. The 3806 does not decode the new(ish) high res audio formats so as Rapallo advised change the Oppo settings to output LPCM. If you were testing with a bluray and had Oppo output set to bitstream you would indeed be met with silence. 2) Oppo HDMI set to Split should be correct for your setup. 3) Check Denon settings on the HDMI input you're using. I can't advise on that for your AVR but it should be some sort of direct mode playing the LPCM signal in 5.1. You don't want any sort of downmix or other jiggery pokery engaged. 4) For CD replay I would connect RCA cables from Oppo L/R analogue out to Denon stereo input assigned to CD. Denon setup to your preference. You could also play CD via the HDMI input and use whatever sounds best to you. 5) Given what you've been through, I would NOT recommend 5.1 analogue connection per Rapallo option 1. This brings a whole new range of setup issues that I think you should steer clear of for now! I expect simply changing HDMI output on the Oppo to LPCM will resolve most of your woes :rolleyes: BTW, any old RCA cable you have lying around will work as a composite video connection from Denon to TV for set up purposes. Even one of the component cables should work. Cheers, B.

The Plinius 9200 is a great amp. I had one for a few years and only changed to go the multi-channel route. Still regret selling it sometimes. That one passed in earlier this week as below. Buy now $3k isn't too bad IMO. http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/home-audio/amplifiers-tuners/auction-642811663.htm B

Yeah, big ask to squeeze 11.2 into 1 box though! Realistically seperates may be the only way to move up significantly from a Z11. I've heard good things about the Yammie combo and not bad value really at that level. B

New Yamaha seperates, CX-A5000 pre and MX-A5000 power are 11.2. B

jcooze;188324 wrote: I see from the Oppo link that it appears to do DLNA and doesn't do FLAC. Although the DLNA link mentions streaming FLAC so I'd be unsure too. FLAC is not supported. Although it does play some compressed audio codecs the 83 really doesn't cut it for media files. I guess that was the point LP was making, albeit in a rather blunt way. As stated that is also one of the main reasons I upgraded to the 105. What it does do is fantastic video & audio replay of pretty much any silver disc you throw at it. Full FAQ linked below, including exact details on media files: http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html Cheers, B

At least he said please My first thought was LP know who the person is and had perhaps had a poor experience with them in the past, but I think Ernie may be on to it. And LP aren't getting your money, I am! B

The Listening Post are selling my Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition Bluray player for me on Trademe as I've upgraded to the BDP-105. If you're not into 3D then this is an excellent step up from the usual brands sold by the big retailers. The SE model offers a significant upgrade to the analogue output stages in particular and made it the 'audiophiles' choice. In addition to awesome Bluray performance it is a very capable audio player for CD/SACD/DVD-A. Your old DVD collection will also benefit from it's high quality video processing. Icing on the cake is it is hardware modified for region/zone free Bluray & DVD. Purchased from Rapallo in June-11 when RRP was $2,135. Light use since then for Bluray only as I have a dedicated CDP. Complete with all original packaging and accessories. As usual products such as this depreciate through the floor, looks like it could go for a steal. I only upgraded for the media functionality of the 105 (and I like new toys); I'm honestly struggling to see/hear any improvement in core performance. Be in if you're interested, always nice when gear moves on to another 'Enzer http://www.trademe.co.nz/electronics-photography/dvd-players-vcrs/dvd-players/standard/auction-631324572.htm Cheers, B

Beeman, thanks for recommending dBpoweramp, works brilliantly. I got Foobar2000 and the android control app running nicely, but I'm currently trialing a different approach. Portable hard drive connected direct to Oppo BDP-105 USB input, utilising Oppo DAC with analogue output to my pre-amp. Very impressed with sound quality, equal to playing the original CD on the Oppo. Interface and speed of access are fine, unlike access to files on home network which is still shite! At this stage I think the Oppo is the direction I'll take. Cheers, B

A couple more questions before I spend time ripping CD's. I've added a few basic folders like classic rock, female vocal etc., but is a sub-directory needed for each artist? Foobar identifies a list of albums even though each directory contains a long list of WAV files. If I changed to another media player would it also be able to extract a list of artist/albums? Sorry, no doubt a bit of a dumb question to most but I don't want to spend a lot of time ripping in a way that can only be used by Foobar to extract album lists. Is Foobar fine for ripping, or should I look into EAC or something? I got an App working on the tablet last night that seems to do the basics OK. Overall I'm not sure how far I'll go with this. The Foobar/tablet interface is all a bit clunky. I'm sure there's ways to make it easy to use and find the album you want, but not convinced when there's a few hundred CD's loaded. Thanks, B

I see there are a few Foobar2000 remote control apps for Android. Would be brilliant if I could get that going on my tablet. Can anybody recommend one in particular? B

Boris;187195 wrote: Beeman, can you give me a bit of a clue on what to optimise? Hi Beeman, don't worry about spending time on this, there's some good articles online. I'll check the power options, but leave other things alone for now. It isn't being used as a dedicated music server so need to be mindful of other duties. B

Ernie;187193 wrote: It would be very interesting if you could try USB? Interesting but not possible with existing equipment. Just picked up 1Tb portable hard drive for $118 on special at HN Beeman, can you give me a bit of a clue on what to optimise? B

A much less technical comment on my brief experience last night. Having recently purchased a 5m HDMI cable to connect laptop to HT system for viewing photos, browsing Youtube etc. I got to wondering about all this computer audio talk. In no time at all Foobar was installed, a CD ripped in WAV and I was sitting there with a slightly stunned look on my face. It sounded bloody good :eek: The NAD M15 HD2 is a more than decent processor, but I really didn't expect whacking a bit of freeware on the old laptop and plugging her in to yield an acceptable result. It was late and a brief listen, I'm doubtful it would stand up to a more critical session. But still, it was very listenable and has peaked my interest for background music and social gatherings where changing CD's constantly can be a pain. I'll dip my toe in a bit deeper over the next week or two and see how it develops. There's something appealing about browsing and selecting music from the armchair if nothing else There was one other member who mentioned using HDMI but it seems rare. I guess very few 'audiophile' DACs with HDMI input. Is there any fatal flaw with it? Google reveals the usual black/white rants but I gather jitter is the biggest issue? My NAD may have decent jitter rejection. There's a wealth of info in this thread & others (some of it understood!), but any other easily understood and implemented suggestions on what to do next would be appreciated. I'll have a go at FLAC tonight maybe, need to install a bit more Foobar software. Will it be possible down the track to browse & play a basic setup with my Samsung andriod tablet? I'm really after a feel for whether I'd make use of playing music this way before I commit any funds in the future to hardware from Antipodes, Olive or similar. Cheers, B

Michael Wong;186393 wrote: No, but it must be secure/encrypted hence only available through HDMI or some proprietary digital streaming system a la Sony, Denon, Pioneer. As MW said above it's not possible unfortunately. Confirmed by quote below from Oppo FAQ: Why is there no sound from the digital optical and coaxial output when I play SACD? The SACD license prohibits digital output from "unprotected" digital interfaces. The digital optical and coaxial (S/PDIF) interfaces are considered "unprotected" by the license because no data encryption is used. For this reason all SACD players on the market, including the BDP-93, do not allow digital output for SACD over optical and coaxial. You will need to use either the analog or HDMI output for SACD. Cheers, B

I'm not totally sure what you're proposing here :confused: There is cheap wire running through the wall to a wallplate at amp end and speaker end. How can you bi-wire with this single run in the chain? Cheap option that may give a small improvement would be to replace the wire from wallplates to amp & speaker with better quality. I'd suggest also replacing the speaker jumper with a small link of the same wire. Dearer option would be to replace the wire in the wall, I wouldn't bother with bi-wire personally unless you can also bi-amp. Again benefits are arguable though, personally I'd spend the budget on best single run rather than splitting over a double run. You could tie wire to the end of the existing one and pull through, but don't lose it half way! Overall it probably comes down to the quality of your equipment whether it is worthwhile doing anything. There's some good guys at Listening Post who may lend you some short off-cuts to experiment with. Cheers, B

Ta Moko;183897 wrote: My two cents... if you are contemplating options around $800 why not consider stretching just a bit to $1000 even if just to see what a little more can buy you. At that point I'd suggest checking out the Simaudio Moon 100d (which I used to own until a short while ago) which offers considerably greater insight into your favourite recordings whilst avoiding the etched, bright sound you clearly don't want. Moon 100d on special for $599 at Listening Post in Christchurch: http://www.listeningpost.co.nz/Specials/Specials/Digital-Analog-converter-USB-__I.32193__N.26801__C.31436 Specials of this amount are often distributor driven so may be available at a retailer closer to you also. I don't know anything about it or whether it ticks all your boxes; just noticed the reference to it above. B

Harvey Norman had 65" VT50 for $3,036 when I was in on Saturday, only $200 more than the ST. Pretty awesome run-out price I would have thought :cool: B

Would an HDMI splitter as linked below work with your existing player as a really cheap option? http://www.rapalloav.co.nz/hdmi-2/hdmi-processing/1-x-2-high-end-hdmi-splitter-with-0-2m-hdmi-cable-supports-3d.html Or eat toast for a week and go for an Oppo BDP-103 B