Modern cheap models sound decidedly better than those from 10 years ago, let alone those from 15 years ago! Since my old DVD player was nearing the end of its days, I started to think about something I would have flinched at a few years before: using a DVD player for both music and films! Since recently, an American firm manufacturing in China, the Oppo Digital, was on everybody’s lips for the exceptional video quality of their non expensive multiplayers. The amazing performance was due to extremely good digital processors that were once very expensive external components. The latest models were able to interpolate the lines of a standard DVD video in order to upscale it to HD specifications. This is not real Blue-Ray HD but one of those Oppos can really bring a DVD to its maximum. For what I care about video it would really be it. What I’m really concerned of is audio. After a while, someone realized those unassuming players, so much acclaimed in the Home Theater community, so versatile in playing any kind of disc format, CD included, could also sound damn good. Reality is a €150 DVD player can’t completely outperform a proper €1000-2000 CD player. But in high fidelity we’re talking about shades, especially when digital players are concerned. A big digital player’s detail and freshness can mean nothing to many, who would never spend hundreds, let alone thousands of euros for mere shades. Years before I had the chance to evaluate Linn’s first CD player for a week in my home. It was big news since the Scottish brand was famous for their turntables. They refused to convert to digital for years. In order to keep the Linn CD I would have had to spend 5 million Lire! I compared it to my Pioneer PD-8500 Reference. It was clear it sounded better, you can bet on it, but the shades I was able to detect were not worth the price difference: 230 thousand vs. 5 million Lire! It is also plain that my system, although a very good one, was only worth about 1/5 per component with respect to the Linn. Therefore, I was not able to perceive what the Scottish player was really able to offer. I wouldn’t even spend 1 million to listen to those hues.
Oppo DV-980H
In those days, as Linn went back to make just turntables, the Oppo multiplayers offered a high quality sound at really inexpensive prices. They performed with dignity when compared to the giants and at that price they completely floored any competitor (even something more). They can also play any kind of digital disc, the most recent models even Blue-Ray (but the price is higher). In 2010, I found my Oppo DV-980H used on eBay for €150. It was in very good conditions, it played very well, at least as good as if not better than my old Cambridge, which I had sold for €85 to an “old CD players” geek (I regret I did). For what concerns audio specs, it featured 24-bit, 192 KHz D/A converters and could play SACD, HDCD and DVD Audio (unborn formats I will never use). A very good bargain, the more so since it replaced both my old CD and DVD players. For the movies, the quality is unbelievable, well over its category, thanks to a Mediatek video processor allowing the 980H to interpolate the lines of a DVD up to the 1080 lines of High Definition video (it brought normal DVDs to Full-HD, but could not play Blue-Ray discs). By inserting a simple code I was able to make the 980H read DVDs from any regions of the world. One more gadget is the front USB input for viewing photos and playing videos in DivX, upscaled to the best format they can be played at.
