Oppo BDP-105 to UDP-203 - Upgrade or Sidestep??

[Willmax]

Recently I started thinking about upgrading to an Oppo BDP-105D to use as CD Transport and Network Player, additionally I also would like to use a Chromecast connected via the HDMI IN port in the Oppo to a 55" LCD panel. 

Given the new Oppo UDP-203 is still available for about the same price as an used BDP-105 I started wondering which one would be the best option/better value? 

I am aware that the 105 is the "audiophile" version with dedicated Sabre DAC Chip and dedicated 2 channel output, but the 203 is also capable to play Hi-Res formats too. 

I'd appreciate if other members who may have been through a similar experience could share their opinion and why should I choose one over the other, I look forward to reading your comments. Cheers

Edited August 29, 2018 by Willmax

[cwt]

I would consider how you want to route the signal through your system Willmax to be a major factor . If its to be a pure analog throughput the 105's sabre dacs and analog stage are preferred over the AKM's in the 203 . If its to be a digital transport and you want/need to apply ARC ; Dirac ;Audyssey room eq etc the 203 makes sense

Future resale is a factor too ; as is whether you plan on uhd playback ?    The 203;s hdmi in is a newer hdmi2.0 version that is more compatible for UHD than the 105's 1.4 also [ for chromecast compatibility Ide make sure ]

I went from an oppo 95 to a 103d as I considered multichannel sound was the raison d'etre for me fwiw . Whatever you choose oppo support is still as good as ever 

[Guest]

3 hours ago, cwt said:

If its to be a pure analog throughput the 105's sabre dacs and analog stage are preferred over the AKM's in the 203

I suspect the analog stage will have a bigger influence than the DAC chip and I agree the 105 will be better.  

 

11 hours ago, Willmax said:

Recently I started thinking about upgrading to an Oppo BDP-105D to use as CD Transport and Network Player, additionally I also would like to use a Chromecast connected via the HDMI IN port in the Oppo to a 55" LCD panel. 

What is your priority? CD transport or media player? 

[Formula409]

I moved from an Oppo 105 to an Oppo 203 about a year ago.

 

I was surprised how good the analogue out of the 203 sounded, while it was not as good as the 105 it replaced, it was certainly still very good and much better than I expected. In my system (Marantz PM KI Pearl Lite and Monitor Audio RX6 at the time) I was quite happy to listen off of the 203. I also tried the 203 as a transport to feed a Marantz HD-DAC1 (via coaxial) and wasn't overly impressed with results - I found the HD-DAC1 sounded much better when connected to my MacBook via the USB input. Whether this is a result of the quality of the 203 as a transport OR the implementation of the HD-DAC1 coax vs USB input I cannot be sure.

 

I've since moved the 203 on and bought a 205 (as I wanted to use the HDMI in for chromecast and the USB DAC section).

 

In experience if didn't upgrade to 4K, I'd be more than happy to still be using the 105. Sound wise the 105 was better than the 203 and on my mid-range system I could notice improvements doing back to back A/B listening, but it wasn't the night and day difference I expected ( I guess this is the law of diminishing returns). If you have a reasonable system and do critical listening, then I would go the 105. If this isn't as important, go the 203. Unless you are doing A/B comparisons, you may not ever realise that you're missing out.

 

In the end it was more important to me to have a single box solution with the HDMI & USB DAC input connectivity that the 105 and 205 offer. In your case, given you want to use the HDMI input I would say the 105 would be the better option. Just bear in mind these are up to 6-7 years old now and buying second hand may come with other risks.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Chris

Edited August 30, 2018 by Bikkitz

[k3nnis888]

How does the 103 compare to the 203 in terms of 2 channel audio ? Using the analogue out.

[Formula409]

28 minutes ago, k3nnis888 said:

How does the 103 compare to the 203 in terms of 2 channel audio ? Using the analogue out.

I never heard the 103, although I do remember reading somewhere that the 203 analogue performance was a fair improvement over the 103.

 

Anecdotally I have been led to believe that the performance difference between the 203 and 205 is smaller than that between the 103 and 105.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Bikkitz

[k3nnis888]

15 minutes ago, Bikkitz said:

I never heard the 103, although I do remember reading somewhere that the 203 analogue performance was a fair improvement over the 103.

 

Anecdotally I have been led to believe that the performance difference between the 203 and 205 is smaller than that between the 103 and 105.

ok thanks  I take it the analogue performance of the 103 "should" be better than the 93?

[Formula409]

6 minutes ago, k3nnis888 said:

ok thanks  I take it the analogue performance of the 103 "should" be better than the 93?

Yes it "should" be - although I really don't know. There's probably 103 reviews still knocking around on the internet that may provide some level of comparison.

[Willmax]

Thanks everyone for their responses, they are all good points to consider.

 

3 hours ago, Snoopy8 said:

I suspect the analog stage will have a bigger influence than the DAC chip and I agree the 105 will be better.  

 

What is your priority? CD transport or media player? 

My priority lies more towards the multi function Media/Network Player with good built in DAC geared mostly for 2 channel stereo listening. Currently I'm perfectly happy with my BDP-95 for 2 channel duties only really lacking the HDMI input option that I need.

 

2 hours ago, Bikkitz said:

In experience if didn't upgrade to 4K, I'd be more than happy to still be using the 105. Sound wise the 105 was better than the 203 and on my mid-range system I could notice improvements doing back to back A/B listening, but it wasn't the night and day difference I expected ( I guess this is the law of diminishing returns). If you have a reasonable system and do critical listening, then I would go the 105. If this isn't as important, go the 203. Unless you are doing A/B comparisons, you may not ever realise that you're missing out.

 

In the end it was more important to me to have a single box solution with the HDMI & USB DAC input connectivity that the 105 and 205 offer. In your case, given you want to use the HDMI input I would say the 105 would be the better option. Just bear in mind these are up to 6-7 years old now and buying second hand may come with other risks.

Chris, 

Thanks for your input and sharing your experience, this was precisely the kind of feedback I was looking for. Can you explain though what do you mean by HDMI & USB DAC input? I was under the impression the 203  also had this capability?

 

I'm also looking for a single box solution and I would agree that the 203 probably offers better peace of mind in terms of reliability and up-to-date technology since it's a much newer unit.

 

 

[Guest]

33 minutes ago, Willmax said:

Currently I'm perfectly happy with my BDP-95 for 2 channel duties only really lacking the HDMI input option that I need.

Why not get a hdmi to optical converter to feed into your 95?

[Formula409]

1 hour ago, Willmax said:

Chris, 

Thanks for your input and sharing your experience, this was precisely the kind of feedback I was looking for. Can you explain though what do you mean by HDMI & USB DAC input? I was under the impression the 203  also had this capability?

The Oppo 105 and 205 can function as a DAC over HDMI, optical, coaxial and USB inputs. I connect a Mac Mini via the USB input.

 

The 203 has a HDMI input (sorry i did forget it had this in my previous post) but it does lack coax, optical and USB DAC inputs..

 

Edit: The 203 does have USB ports, so it can playback media directly from a USB storage device.

Edited August 30, 2018 by Bikkitz

[cwt]

2 hours ago, Snoopy8 said:

Why not get a hdmi to optical converter to feed into your 95?

The 95 doesn't have any sp dif inputs Snoopy unfortunately . It does have usb2.0 ports but doesn't have as good a codec coverage as later models ; a good reason to upgrade apart from losing the stacked sabre dacs for things like the improved headphone quality 

[gator2310]

ok thanks  I take it the analogue performance of the 103 "should" be better than the 93?

On 30/08/2018 at 10:40 AM, Bikkitz said:

Yes it "should" be - although I really don't know. There's probably 103 reviews still knocking around on the internet that may provide some level of comparison.

Heres one perspective -  I've had an interesting day comparing audio (RCA outs) between some recent acquisitions - the 103 and Oppo 83 up against my Yamaha BD A1060. I like having a UDP in the studio and have been pretty happy with the Yamaha but needed a change. Playing CD's , the Oppo 83 (Cirrus DAC?) is a cracking CD player with plenty of bass response and a nice stereo image - and for me won that particular bout over the other 2. The output stage was the downstairs system's Yamaha RX596 and Interdyn BT2's - certainly nothing too flattering!

The 103 and the Yamaha were quite similar to my ear  - both precise and almost referential - although the Yamaha has balanced outs too which have more depth into the right amp. In both the bass had a tight presence but not as  warm or natural as the 83. They all sounded pretty good , but the 83 shone as an audio source for me - at least as far as CD's are concerned. As a result the 83 is now serving CD duties upstairs and the odd movie in my studio, the 103 is taking over the main role as home Theatre source and the Yamaha - well its not region free so its in the Classifieds

Edited September 14, 2018 by gator2310

[oltos]

On 29/08/2018 at 7:27 PM, Formula409 said:

In experience if didn't upgrade to 4K, I'd be more than happy to still be using the 105. Sound wise the 105 was better than the 203 and on my mid-range system I could notice improvements doing back to back A/B listening, but it wasn't the night and day difference I expected ( I guess this is the law of diminishing returns). If you have a reasonable system and do critical listening, then I would go the 105. If this isn't as important, go the 203. Unless you are doing A/B comparisons, you may not ever realise that you're missing out.

 

Strangely, in reviews on BD players from Oppo, Pioneer and/or other brands, it's been claimed that some players have better movie sound quality than that for CD, SACD and other audio-only playback, and vice versa. . 

 

Assuming this is true, I would not be using either Oppo for CD, SACD or any music-only purpose. Dolby Digital and DTS-MA movie sound is my only concern. And while many of my DVDs and BDs don't have stellar sounding audio, having to best hardware for those rare exceptions is a priority. https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/PJ-Blu-ray/258849/

 

Can anyone say whether the Oppo 203 or 105 is the better choice for movie sound?

Edited December 30, 2024 by oltos

[Guest]

5 hours ago, oltos said:

Can anyone say whether the Oppo 203 or 105 is the better choice for movie sound?

The quality of movie sound is determined by the HDMI implementation. Had both and found that 203 is better than 103.  The 103 and 105 have the same HDMI (but 105 has better stereo SQ than 103).

 

And the best movie SQ is the Pana UB9000, which is my benchmark.

[oltos]

2 hours ago, Snoopy8 said:

And the best movie SQ is the Pana UB9000, which is my benchmark.

 

Which I would have chosen long ago if it had zoom control; an invaluable feature to me. Can recall the analog movie SQ of the Oppo 105 and 203 to make a fairly certain comparison?

[Guest]

7 hours ago, oltos said:

Can recall the analog movie SQ of the Oppo 105 and 203 to make a fairly certain comparison?

I did use analog movie  audio a long, long time ago, 4 AVRs ago but the 203 was not available then.  Analog audio is a dead end....

[betty boop]

agree have done analog going back some years...across many player / processors.. for multichannel it is i agree a dead end.. some might want to use the XLR out from the 203 to do 2ch analog though.. thats main benefit of 203 and 205 players both i have owned (still have the 205) i also have back catalog dvd-a/sacd and its good for those too.. 2ch off XLR/RCA and multichannel off hdmi...