Oppo 105 vs Audio Alchemy Dac

[legselevens]

Hi folks,

 

I've got an old vs new gear situation bugging me.

 

I'm a mostly happy owner of some old Audio Alchemy gear comprising of the (deep breath) Audio Alchemy DDE v3 dac, the DTI-Pro 32, the DDS pro transport and the power station 2. I've had this setup for some years and I really like it but I'm succumbing to all the talk of the Oppo 105. A one box solution is appealing. I don't have a blu ray or sacd player. I can pass on my media player as the oppo can do this? and last and most important, it might trounce the AA gear totally for SQ. Or at least be an upgrade.

 

I occasionally think there must be better newer designs than the AA but last time I acted on it I bought a new Stello DA220mkII dac ($1900) only to sell it six months later.  Does anybody have experience and or opinions of both of these players?  I would be using it with some Monitor Audio GS60's so perhaps I should consider the brightness some people note in various posts on this forum too.

 

And should anyone be near the northern half of Melbourne, ideally Brunswick or Coburg and wants to demo one for me then that would be absolutely tops.

 

Cheers,

Andy

 

 

 

 

[betty boop]

I remember the audio alchemy gear. I still have a nice audio alchemy headphone amp use now and then

 

the gs60s are a lovely speaker andy, I would look for a player with a smoothness on the top end to match the exuberance of the monitor audios. 

 

its very enjoyable demoing. and yep if can check out players in your system or with your speakers am sure you'll find something to your taste.

 

dont forget the hifi dealers in the northern and inner city suburbs. a few retailers there would probably be able to give you a listen to some excellent candidates as well

[georgehifi]

The AUDIO ALCHEMY DDE v3.0 HDCD is a great multibit dac and if you get yourself or someone to implement the AD844 as an I/V stage into I doubt the oppo would even come close.

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-source/227677-using-ad844-i-v.html

 

 

 http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/53183-using-the-ad488-as-common-base-zero-feedback-iv-stage-for-current-output-dacs/?hl=ad844#entry882543

 

Cheers George

Edited July 22, 2013 by georgehifi

[sir sanders zingmore]

I have had the DDE 3 for the last 15 years and not really seen any need to replace it.

Interested in the mods you describe George, any idea where I could get them done (no way I can do it myself!)

[georgehifi]

I have had the DDE 3 for the last 15 years and not really seen any need to replace it.

Interested in the mods you describe George, any idea where I could get them done (no way I can do it myself!)

Maybe (Statman) Mick Maloney of Supratek if he's a bit slow at the moment will do it, he is also a big fan of the stacked AD844 as I/V. You only need 2 stacked per channel as the AD1862 dac chip only puts out +- 1mA unlike his TDA1541 +-4mA which needed 3 or 4 stacked  

 

Cheers George

[Addicted to music]

If the op is interested I could do the mod for him, depends on whether its all DIP!

[georgehifi]

If the op is interested I could do the mod for him, depends on whether its all DIP!

That dac will be dip too old to be smd

Here is the circuit of it http://www.audioasylum.com/images/DDE3.pdf

 

Cheers George

 

All this gets cut out and the AD844 i/v with it's buffer takes it's place.

Edited July 23, 2013 by georgehifi

[Addicted to music]

That dac will be dip too old to be smd

Here is the circuit of it http://www.audioasylum.com/images/DDE3.pdf

 

Cheers George

 

All this gets cut out and the AD844 i/v with it's buffer takes it's place.

Many thnxs George

[georgehifi]

Depending on how much dc offset comes out of the AD1862, you may not need the "Abraxilito" simple dac chip dc offset nulling circuit he designed on diyaudio for me. If it's under 30mV each channel you won't need it. And a bonus you have good + - 15vdc for the AD844 for it available.  

 

Cheers George  

Edited July 23, 2013 by georgehifi

[Addicted to music]

George,

 

I think you are going to find that the OPPO 105 is sterile in SQ compared to the AA, however the OPPO has a few advantages for convienence, in that you can load wav or flac on a HDD and navigate though it via a display or an ipad,but because I havent done the direct comparision to the AA I shouldnt be commenting on it, however I do find the NAD M51 is better in all respect in SQ, depending on the time of the day and the mood Im in. 

The op can benefit with the OPPO 105 or even 103 and send it to the AA via coax/spdif.

[legselevens]

Thanks for all the replies so far. It seems the AA gear is surprisingly well remembered and well regarded too given it hit the market around 1996 I think it was. Surely 17 years on the technology has leaped forward?

 

 

@ George and Pchan- I'm definitely not one to do mods myself and sometimes I'm a fan of stock standard. Has this mod been done to the DDEv3 before can anyone say?  Another consideration is the cost of hot rodding an old bit of kit that probably won't, but might fall of it's perch anytime now. The AA system is very full and weighty sounding if that makes sense which is why I kept it over the Stello dac I bought. It wasn't that the stello was bad but it just sounded weedy or metalic in tone compared to the AA.  Perhaps the Oppo is too bright in the treble but I would love to try it in my system so perhaps I'll see if a local dealer has a loaner I can try out.

@ Whatmore glad to hear there is another fan in town. How would you describe the sound. Do you run it with the i2s connections? I can't find the i2s cables at a price I like so make do without.

 

Cheers, Andy

 

[betty boop]

good 2ch gear for some reason seems almost timeless.....I recently dusted off an old valve dac thats cracking on 20 years old and must say some old gear still got it !

 

looks the best part about a dac like you have is theres nothing stopping you getting a new high falutin, new fangled disc spinner but best part is also nothing stopping you hanging your dac off the end of it for a touch of nostalgia anytime it takes your fancy

 

it can be that old pair of comfy slippers that can come back too  

[Addicted to music]

good 2ch gear for some reason seems almost timeless.....I recently dusted off an old valve dac thats cracking on 20 years old and must say some old gear still got it !

 

looks the best part about a dac like you have is theres nothing stopping you getting a new high falutin, new fangled disc spinner but best part is also nothing stopping you hanging your dac off the end of it for a touch of nostalgia anytime it takes your fancy

 

it can be that old pair of comfy slippers that can come back too

 

Timeless!!!!

 

i am still running a 240W mosfet power amp I completed in 1994, I still have a set of Stax Lambda Pros that I purchases back in the late 80s, the drive unit I had to recap due to hum in Chissy last year, however the 240W mosfet has never been recapped and is still going fine! 

Edited July 23, 2013 by pchan

[legselevens]

I'm amazed at how good my Leak Stereo 20 sounds. Built in 1958. It has it's foibles but it is not all nostalgia that Leak. It can do music very well in the right system.

[heman_]

I'd take everything on DACs with a grain of salt.

 

FWIW I picked up a 105 in the last couple of months, and it is the only digital unit I've owned which has made me impartial amidst the digital/analogue debate - which is probably the biggest compliment I can give it.

Edited July 23, 2013 by heman_

[georgehifi]

Thanks for all the replies so far. It seems the AA gear is surprisingly well remembered and well regarded too given it hit the market around 1996 I think it was. Surely 17 years on the technology has leaped forward?

 

Read these threads, your AA has classic 18bit Multibit R2R dac chip and HDCD filter chip this is what makes it in my opinion better than all the 1bit, bitstream, hyperbit, and sd Delta sigma dacs., when Redbook cd are to be played at their best. 

 

http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/50884-multibit-r2r-vs-delta-sigma-again/?hl=multibit

 

http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/40464-mutibit-vs-delta-sigma-old-vs-new/page-3?hl=multibit#entry681113

  

Cheers george

 

 

 

 

 

 

@ George and Pchan- I'm definitely not one to do mods myself and sometimes I'm a fan of stock standard. Has this mod been done to the DDEv3 before can anyone say?(not that I know of, looks straight forward)  Another consideration is the cost of hot rodding an old bit of kit that probably won't, but might fall of it's perch anytime now. The AA system is very full and weighty sounding (Mulitbit) if that makes sense which is why I kept it over the Stello dac (bitstream) I bought. It wasn't that the stello was bad but it just sounded weedy or metalic in tone compared to the AA.  Perhaps the Oppo is too bright in the treble but I would love to try it in my system so perhaps I'll see if a local dealer has a loaner I can try out.

@ Whatmore glad to hear there is another fan in town. How would you describe the sound. Do you run it with the i2s connections? I can't find the i2s cables at a price I like so make do without.

 

Cheers, Andy

Edited July 23, 2013 by georgehifi

[legselevens]

Thanks George, I'll check those out.

 

"looks the best part about a dac like you have is theres nothing stopping you getting a new high falutin, new fangled disc spinner"

 

A: Unfortunately funds need to be raised. Most likely I'll be selling a couple of integrated amps I have to help get there.

[legselevens]

I know it's long in the tooth this thread but I've been thinking of looking further into the mods suggested in the article below. I'd appreciate any further info, opinions or advice if you have it.

 

Cheers,

L11             http://www.soundstage.com/weaver07.htm

[Addicted to music]

Total PSU and DAC pcb upgrade is $650US including the updated microprocessor.  

 

The biggest change in SQ would come from the change in opamps.  Opamps in the final analog stage of the DAC has a determining factor in SQ, this can be proven with the EE mini max dac plus etc, also via an opamp project that took me 24 months to complete.  Best is to find out what opamps are used.

[legselevens]

Thanks pchan, I'll see if that info is available. I already have the AA Power Station 2 which was the best they made.

Edited October 28, 2014 by legselevens

[Peta]

If you are after high quality audio from the Oppo 105 then think again. It is very limited when playing music from a NAS or other convenient storage of your music. Unless you use directly attached storage to the Oppo and are prepared to control the playback on your tv screen or a limited capability Oppo app then you will be disappointed in the sound quality. An album such as Dark Side of the Moon will NOT play back Gapless. that means you will get annoying artifical breaks inserted between "tracks" when there should be continuous music. It is even worse with classical music.

 

The DAC on the Oppo is indeed very good. It sounds great. The whole package is not ready yet for civilised steaming of music. The Oppo does a great job at video and playing physical discs and if that is what you want then it works wonderfully.

 

Audio streaming with gapless playback is still an "experimental feature" ie it is up to the user to test the feature and tell Oppo what to fix. The will eventually get there but expect gapless playback to be a problem until a future generation of players.

[legselevens]

Thanks for the input Peta. I'm thinking the oppo 103 to be a transport for either the AA dac or the Nad M51 dac. I haven't gone the streaming route yet and would be content to just connect HHDs to oppo. If I go that way. The AA dac pummels the oppo 105 for SQ so no point paying extra for that as far as I can tell. Although I believe it can play DSD files.

 

At the moment I'm happy to use a pc. I get the impression that having a pc connected to the TV and sound system is considered unsophisticated but I'm finding it very useful and handy. Just need to get a quieter fan. If I want better SQ then my AA transport does the job for cd's.

 

And thanks for the tip about gapless playback. I wasn't sure what that meant.

[sir sanders zingmore]

Thanks for the input Peta. I'm thinking the oppo 103 to be a transport for either the AA dac or the Nad M51 dac. I haven't gone the streaming route yet and would be content to just connect HHDs to oppo. If I go that way. The AA dac pummels the oppo 105 for SQ so no point paying extra for that as far as I can tell. Although I believe it can play DSD files.

 

At the moment I'm happy to use a pc. I get the impression that having a pc connected to the TV and sound system is considered unsophisticated but I'm finding it very useful and handy. Just need to get a quieter fan. If I want better SQ then my AA transport does the job for cd's.

 

And thanks for the tip about gapless playback. I wasn't sure what that meant.

 

Are you currently running your PC through your AA DAC?

[legselevens]

I have both the AA and a Nad M51 connected as I was curious to compare the two.

 

Why's that Monsieur Sanders? Actually IIRC you have the AA dac too?

[sir sanders zingmore]

I have both the AA and a Nad M51 connected as I was curious to compare the two.

 

Why's that Monsieur Sanders? Actually IIRC you have the AA dac too?

yes I have the AA DDE3 with the power station 2