OPPO BDP-80 Blu-ray Disc Player with SACD and DVD-Audio

5 Comments

1. Roger L. Miller says:

   March 8, 2010 at 3:05 pm

   Primary reason for getting this was for the SACD output thru HDMI. Music from the Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”, multi channel SACD, was jaw dropping unbelievable. Thought I would need a AVR with multi channel analog inputs. This player will output the SACD as PCM or DSD thru the HDMI. Found out, to my surprise, that my Onkyo 707 will decode the DSD signal. Still need to complete some comparison for the Blue Ray playback. The OSD is great…wish they had some type of moving graphics, like windows media player, to prevent any chance of screen burn. Will add more comments later…
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. J. Hicks says:

   March 8, 2010 at 4:33 pm

   If you purchased this Blu-ray player excited about playback of media stored on an external hard disk – you should know that the external media must be formatted as FAT16/32. This is not indicated in the Amazon product specs (but should be).

   The FAT format has file size limitations that may be restrictive for many people intending to playback HD video they produce themselves (iMovie, etc) or share with others. I produce a lot of video for a professional sports team and like to keep my favorite work in a collection to share with friends, family, and clients – yet, most of the files are over the 4GB limitation of FAT media.

   I gave it 3-stars because a highlight of the product marketing is external media playback (MKV, etc), yet the media format (FAT) is not mentioned. This certainly plays a part in the price as well.

   With that, however, the BDP-80 is a great stand-alone Bluray player – as are other quality brands half the price.
   Rating: 3 / 5
3. A. Keller says:

   March 8, 2010 at 6:19 pm

   I grew up in the household of a professional audiophile, became one myself, and I’ve seen them all. This player is a flat-out steal at this price. I replaced a Pioneer DV-610av-s with this unit, literally just swapped cables over, and used a USB drive to update the firmware. Amazing machine. I geeked out over it, big time.

   Here’s why you should pick this thing up:
   
   - Every possible connector a low-budget audio/videophile wants: 7.1 analog outputs, digital coax, optical, HDMI, component, composite, S-Video, 2x USB, and ethernet
   
   - Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoders on-board, for hi def audio on the analog (7.1) outputs (for those of us still attached to our older Pioneer Elite receivers ^_^)
   
   - Excellent DVD up-conversion…I’ve seen better, but we’re talking wayyyyy beyond this price point
   
   - Cheapest blu-ray you can buy with DVD-A and SACD AND analog audio outputs…I bought this player for this reason alone
   
   - 96 and 192 khz audio options for compatible receivers
   
   - Simple setup…intuitive menu, GORGEOUS manual (the thing was professionally printed IN ENGLISH), and HDMI cable included
   
   - On-unit display screen has indicators for everything
   
   - Quick eject/load time
   
   - Great remote
   
   - Beautiful packaging = enjoyable unboxing experience

   Here’s what irks me so far:
   
   - No ability to have surround speakers set at different distances in the menu–you change the distance on one, the other changes too (although any decent receiver gives you this option, so not a big deal…)
   
   - Short power cord (again, not a big deal)
   
   - No backlighting on the remote (big deal = no)

   Oh, and shipping with UPS is garbage…I signed up for 2-day delivery, UPS showed up after my apartment’s front office was closed and couldn’t get in, so I called to have it ready for pickup that night, drove out there only to find they never pulled it off the truck, and had to call back to make sure they delivered it during business hours. And when I called to have the operator send the driver the code to our gate, the operator said “our drivers don’t have cell phones”. WTF? What is this, 1982?

   Buy this thing already. Just don’t ship with UPS.
   Rating: 5 / 5
4. R. Fleischer says:

   March 8, 2010 at 8:37 pm

   Here was my problem. My old Sony Esprit series CD player was on its last legs. I had a lo-fi DVD / VCR. I own several dozen hybrid SACD’s that I could only hear as CD’s. I wanted, no, needed, a quality universal player.

   The rest of my system has very nice equipment, the kind of equipment that fellow audiophiles on a tight budget appreciate. My home theater speakers are Magnepans, my multichannel receiver was a high quality Yamaha, and I used my old Carver M1.5t amplifiers to amplify the main MG12/QR’s and a Dahlquist subwoofer.

   I wanted something to play SACD’s and CD’s at a high quality, multichannel for the DSD streams and as a bitstream for traditional CD. I also wanted to up-convert DVD signal. Did I need Blu-ray? No, but when you can get it for free, why not?

   The OPPO BDP-80 is the ONLY universal player in the world that includes Blu-Ray, and SACD on the same platform, and costs only $289.00! That is phenomenal.

   After several weeks listening to the unit, hooked into my system via both HDMI and optical digital, I have these comments.

   The CD bitstream, acquired via optical digital, is at least as good as my Sony was. The sound is clean, pure, and accurate. SACD, acquired as a discrete multichannel output, is excellent. I can finally hear the improvement that DSD provides; a more open high end, more “air” around string instruments in the orchestra, more ambiance in jazz recordings. I’ve been missing something, and this is the answer for serious home reproduction of fine music.

   The pleasant surprise – MP3′s via the USB port! I am shocked that better quality MP3 input (320 kbps) sound almost as good as CD’s. And it is trivial to move files onto a thumb drive, and play them on the player. I am shocked at how often I use this little gem of a feature.

   Video is vastly improved. All of the up-converted signals from traditional DVDs are sharp, far better than the lo-fi players I used to use. The ability to get clean Dolby Digital signal over HDMI is a huge improvement, as my receiver is not capable of decoding the new Blu-ray formats.

   Here’s my bottom line:

   The only unit that can do all this, under a thousand dollars, is the larger OPPO! While I concede that the audio output of the larger OPPO is better than this unit,(heck, Lexicon takes the BDP-83, changes out a few capacitors, wraps a better box on it, and charges $3500!) this still delivers SACD, good CD, and MP3 in a single package, for less than $300.00.

   And as someone who takes pride in getting a lot of audio bang for my buck… this unit delivers exactly what I want. I can put any media format in my house into one player, and get high quality audio and video, for a very nice price.

   Bravo, OPPO!
   Rating: 5 / 5
5. Tom Sanders says:

   March 8, 2010 at 10:46 pm

   I bought it’s big brother the BDP-83 a little while back for a seperate video system and was so impressed that when my very high end but 15 year old Rotel CD player started having some glitches I bought the BDP-80 to replace it with. It was beautifully packed , just like its’ big brother and I had in into the stereo system in less than 5 minutes.
   
   I had not thought of the lack of flexibility of display or programming or info available with using a DVD player instead of CD player, but it was soon evident. The only reason it does not have 5 stars in my review. Now that being said I was amazed at how good it sounds. I get a separation of instruments I have never heard before. The sound is warm like the best tube stuff, too! I am immensely pleased with the sound of it. I honestly feel I couldn’t duplicate it for less than $1000! Unless I bought another BDP-83 for a couple of hundred more.
   Rating: 4 / 5