88 replies to this topic

[Dazz]

Looking to update to a better blu-ray player and have been looking at the following universal players.
Oppo BDB-95
Marantz UD7006
Denon 2012UD
Cambridge Azur 651BD

It will also be use to play CDs and SACDs. Will be played through a marantz SR6003 AVR and Rotel 1552 power amp. My TV is a 50" plasma HD (1080p).
Just wanting to know people's thoughts on which would be the best out of these 4 players.

Thanks

[LogicprObe]

Needs more poll!

[pchan]

Looking to update to a better blu-ray player and have been looking at the following universal players.
Oppo BDB-95
Marantz UD7006
Denon 2012UD
Cambridge Azur 651BD

It will also be use to play CDs and SACDs. Will be played through a marantz SR6003 AVR and Rotel 1552 power amp. My TV is a 50" plasma HD (1080p).
Just wanting to know people's thoughts on which would be the best out of these 4 players.

Thanks

For a universal Bluray, the latest Sony s480 and above models is all you need for around $200AU. Has a WM chip, no optical, supports S/pdif. Plays everything!!!! and no read errors!!!

[Dr X]

I don't think Sony disc players will play DVD-Audio so they really can't be considered "universal".

Cheers.

[firefly0071]

New Sony Blu-ray players can now play SAACDs. Players are becoming ever so cheap.

[Craigandkim]

I don't think Sony disc players will play DVD-Audio so they really can't be considered "universal".
Cheers.

Exactly right,

to keep the "universal" player terminology accurate- the thing must be able to play DVD-A, something which Sony players do not currently do and probably never will.

[pchan]

I dont have any DVD-A disc so it doesn't bother me, for around or less than $200 does it matter compared to the list Dazz has? these players are well over the $200

[Marine]

Oppo BDP-95 gets my vote. Superb picture and sound, a stereophile class A+ (i.e. the top rating along with offerings from DCS, Playback etc) digital source. Plays and decodes pretty much everything including HDCDs.

[Dazz]

Thanks for input all. I have narrowed the list down to the oppo and the cambridge 751bd (can get a good price on that one instead of the 651).
Will advise once i have made a decision.
cheers

[yardley]

i have the oppo93 which is easily the best dvd player i have owned. the 95 is better for audio but the 93 is no letdown in that department.
all the best in your choice anyway

Edited by yardley, 21 October 2011 - 03:52 PM.
mistake

[Dazz]

I have ordered the Cambridge 751 (multi-zone version) as my local HiFi store gave me a very good deal.
Cheers

[Bus_Boy]

Please do an update with your impressions on the player when you get it. I'll be putting a new BRP on my xmas list this year.

[LogicprObe]

New Sony Blu-ray players can now play SAACDs. Players are becoming ever so cheap.

Yeah, I have the 370 and it's good.

[Dazz]

I will let you know my impressions once i have used it.
Cheers

[Dazz]

Hi all
Just a quick review.
I picked up the player last Saturday. First impressions was of good solid construction and finish. Breeze to connect it up. First time use it goes straight to a setup menu. Menu itself is very easy to get around. The remote while not back light is again of solid contruction and heavier than all my other remotes. I did manage to do a fair bit of music listening and movie watching over the past few days. My system is; Marantz SR6003 AVR, Rotel RB1552 power amp, Hitachi 50" HD Plasma, Adelaide Speakers-Summoner 10" 3 way speakers and custom centre speaker with castle satellite rears.
I compared this to my old Marantz DV-8400 & Panasonic BD60 players (Now both packed away in a box) and Current denon 500AE 5 disc cd player

Audio
I noticed a fair bit of difference here. The Cambridge struck me as sounding more accurate & neutral compared to my Marantz DV-8400 (sounds more on the warm side). I noticed that the highs were more forward and the bass was very authoritive. I actually reduce the level on my sub. The bass was by no means muddy or indistinct. In fact it was beautifully liquid and warm sounding. Midrange was on par with the Marantz and much better than the Denon. My AVR and speakers lean to the warm side and very easy to listen too. No fatigue at all when listening to the Cambridge. On movies the centre speaker was definitly louder and crisper. I again reduced the level. Sound stage was excellent.
After 3 days of listening i can say that i am impressed with the sound and found no fault at all.
Video
Tried both DVD's and blu-rays. The upscaling was excellent. Blu-ray loading times were very quick. Picture wise both DVD's and Blu-Rays were very good.
The only fault i found with this player was that there is no dimmer button on the remote. Can only dim via the menu or using pure mode on Music discs. This is very minor in the scheme of things.
Overall a very nice universal player (plays all DVD region discs as well) and definitely recommended.

[LHC]

Hi Dazz

Great write-up. May I ask a few questions.
(1) Did you auditioned the Denon 2012UD before you made your decision?
(2) Are you using HDMI to connect your Cambridge to your SR6003? I assumed your comments on Audio is based on the dac inside the Marantz?
(3) Picture wise on DVD and Blu-ray, is the Cambridge much better than your Panasonic?

Thank you.

[:) al]

congrats dazz, it looks like a really nice player, has yourself or anyone else found how it goes with a harmony remote. reason I ask is I never quite got my harmony remote going with my cambridge 650t tuner. and wondering if harmony has the 751BDs protocol loaded in the harmony database. or is it that this brands gear is shunned ?

ps LHC be carefull re the denons, one thing to keep in mind is to enable the local region free on the denons here, denon importer in australia provides it with unique firmware. ie you cant plug it into the net and do over the net downloads, unless you dont mind being able to play local dvds and bd being disabled. And this could be a problem as you probably aware with some blu-rays as they are released now and then that continuously need updates to be able to play them ! .

I can imagine the 751bd a very well made thing Dazz. Loos better built than the oppo93 it shares basis with. one thing in favour of the cambridge is it is local region free on dvd and local region b for blu-ray saving the cost and other issues of the region free mod the oppos need to play local discs

the cambrdige can be made region free as well ofcourse and something easier done than on the oppo 95 which needs to be quite a bit pulled apart for the pro mod !

anyways good to see a viable alternative here to both the oppo 93 and 95 models.

Edited by :) al, 08 November 2011 - 07:38 PM.

[Dazz]

I did not auditio n the denon one though i have used a denon dvd player many years ago. That player only has 1 hdmi and no optical out. I was also looking for players that had the marvel upscaler. The cambridge is connected to the SR6003 via hdmi but also have used the optical out and all the analog outs as well. I did test out an SACD via hdmi. Result was pretty good but i felt the analog outputs were a shade better (using the cambridge DACS). I had issues with the panasonic when displaying subtitles as it sometimes came out scrambled. No such issue with the cambridge. I do feel that the picture quality is better than the panasonic. Less jitter for sure and less jaggies plus the load time was way shorter too.
I do like the look of the cambridge as it has clean, uncluttered lines. Certainly feels sold in the hand. Changing the region code for blu-rays is very staright forward. Not sure about the harmony remote as i dont have one. Perhaps check the website to see if that player is listed.

[:) al]

well curiosity got the better of me !

I ended up picking up a cambridge 751bd from local retailer that had them discounted.

I see it fitting in someplace between the oppo 93 and 95 as a player.

In quite a few ways it is better than the 95 as well. ie 751 has no fan in operation. it not unresponsive at boot up as the oppp's are. The display on the cambridge is clean clear, bright and large enough to be seen and read easily, unlike the small hard to read display of the oppos. The disc tray feels a lot more solid and comes out all the way unlike the oppos that have disc tray almost out but not quite.

I like the cambridge here as I wouldnt need this player modded as its region B on bluray and region free on DVD out of box, which is all I need. plus a local 3 year warranty vs one year on the oppos. the conventional buttons on the cambridge is good to see too. rather than the rather zanny form over function buttons or lack off provided on the oppo.

That it doesnt have a fan, as the 95 does is a big bonus for the 751bd.

Some things I do wish be different on the cambridge, I so wish it would be available in silver as the other items in the azure range are. I do wish too they hadnt have combined the subtitle and audio buttons in one. as that means subtitle cant be triggered by a universal remote. and has to be selected via disc menus. Its remote is not backlit as most disc player remotes are these days. IT is a very nice remote otherwise.

In other ways I dont think too different to the oppos. but to anyone looking for a player inbetween the oppo 93 and oppo 95 and especially if buying for local region playback and region free dvd out of box this player is very good buying in my opinion

[:) al]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]37830[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]37831[/ATTACH]

adding some pics of the unit in place

[Bus_Boy]

I thought you could get them in silver?

[Arg]

So what is a good price on the 751 multi zone from a local retailer? (I didn't even know it came in multi zone).

[dack]

There's a new Pioneer coming out that plays bluray and DVD-A and SACD for about $500.

http://www.cnet.com....0-339326635.htm

Might be worth looking into.

[surprisetech]

No on-board Multi-channel DACs, or Component video output on either the BDP-440 or the BDP-LX55.
So Hi-Res video and Multi-channel audio only available via HDMI.

Probably good value products, but only if you have the multi-channel decoders for all the formats in your Receiver.

[Arg]

I never understood why the Yamaha BD-A1010 doesn't get more press for $700 it looks great to me.
http://au.yamaha.com...0_g/?mode=model

[ozcal]

I never understood why the Yamaha BD-A1010 doesn't get more press for $700 it looks great to me.
http://au.yamaha.com...0_g/?mode=model

Not been much press on any of the Yam BR players but then it was kinda the same with all their dvd and cd players.

[Jventer]

I bought a Cambridge 651 BD in September and I am really impressed with it - very good value for money and fast loading Cd's and DVD's. Can connect to the internet and do volume control. Digital, HDMI and RCA audio output. I do understand the 751 BD is better for audio. I have just upgraded to and Audio Aero Pm me if you want more info or wish to buy. Will be listing on Stereonet for sale soon.

[surprisetech]

I'm with you on that Arg. I'm leaning to the Yamaha at the moment, or maybe the Denon 2012 if the extra $200 can be justified. Anyone know what Audio DACs the Yamaha 1010 uses?

[Arg]

BD-A1010 DACs are 192/24 but the brochure doesn't say if they are Burr Brown like the Yamaha TopArt receivers.

[yardley]

if you have a yamaha amp then a yamaha dvd would match up really well together.

[68premier]

Just pulled the trigger on the Oppo 95 yesterday through Vaf. Just have to wait till it comes in now. I am expecting a slight improvement over the PS3 in the short term. I will likely order the Emotiva preamp with HT bypass to take better advantage of the touted 2 ch abbilities of this player in the near future. Emotiva have a sale on at the moment so the USP-1 can be landed for a whisker under $500. Any other HT bypass preamps I should be looking at? I have checked the for sale section without much luck.

I will report back on the Oppo's performance once I get it dialed in.

[firefly0071]

There is a review of the Oppo BDP-95 in the current edition of Australian Hi-Fi. Like all the other reviews, all positive.

[Vladimir Freddie]

Received my Oppo BDP-93 from VAF today. Haven't had a chance to have a proper play with it yet. Will be using it via HDMI only so couldn't justify the extra $$$ for the 95 :-)

Now my son can have his ps3 solely for gaming :-) &I'm mainly interested in it for multi channel sacds.

[Benje]

VF

try the network and/or usb play of HD music - multi-channel 96/24 flac and 192/24 stereo! and redbook flac as well of course.

Benje

[Vladimir Freddie]

VF

try the network and/or usb play of HD music - multi-channel 96/24 flac and 192/24 stereo! and redbook flac as well of course.

Benje

Will do Benje

[Arg]

Received my Oppo BDP-93 from VAF today. ...I'm mainly interested in it for multi channel sacds.

Try digging out your HDCD CD's and hearing them for the first time without compression!

[Catostylus]

Have I ever mentioned I love my 95?

[Vladimir Freddie]

Try digging out your HDCD CD's and hearing them for the first time without compression!

Thanks but of my 1400 odd CDs I'm not actually sure I've got any HDCDs

[Arg]

That's my point, dig around and you'll probably find a couple of handfuls that you never knew of. Some don't even have the HDCD label marked on them at all, and some have it buried in the liftout notes instead of prominently on the cover. And of course most have it on the back cover.

There's a myth about HDCD CDs that they play perfectly at 16 bit on non-HDCD players, and even better (the myth says 20 bit) on HDCD players.

Truth is it's all 16 bit.

Truth is the HDCD process is an encode-decode process like the old Dolby cassette system but much, much more sophisticated and subtle.

And just like Dolby, the encode process typically involves some dynamic compression (it's at the discretion of the engineer, but if you're going to the trouble of the process, why wouldn't you take advantage of its main feature).

And just like Dolby, when you play back an encoded recording without a decoder the compression is not reversed and all kinds of things can be affected by that - but most noticable would be dynamics and frequency balance (just like Dolby).

So the dirty little secret is that HDCD CDs actually do NOT play back correctly on a non-HDCD player.

So you might find some CDs that you never liked the sonics of that now can sound very nice indeed. Wouldn't that be nice!

My most obvious example was the remastered CD of Avalon. I got it some years ago and never liked its sound as much as the original CD release, and was disappointed. Earlier this year I checked my collection for HDCDs and it was one of those I found. Played on a HDCD player and Bingo!

[Vladimir Freddie]

Thanks Arg, I'll keep a look out

[Randle]

Were you impressed with the sound difference of the Oppo BDPP-93 Vladimir?

[pchan]

Try digging out your HDCD CD's and hearing them for the first time without compression!

Is there settings on players that disable compression Arg???

[Arg]

Is there settings on players that disable compression Arg???

If your player is HDCD capable and your disc is HDCD, then the player will decode the HDCD encoding, which typically includes a degree of dynamic compression.

[Vladimir Freddie]

Were you impressed with the sound difference of the Oppo BDPP-93 Vladimir?

Very happy with the 93. The sound quality is excellent -even with 2 channel sacds its very close to the more expensive 2 channel Marantz SA8003 that I also have :-)

[Arg]

The current issue of Sound + Image has a short review of the Yamaha BD-A1010 by Stephen Dawson. He seems pretty impressed.