is buying Oppo a risk?

[pope]

Hi all, I have been keen on buying an Oppo 205 for sometime now.

 

My use case in order is;

1. SACD & CD transport

2. DAC

3. Playback of DXD file

4. Limited playback of 4k video files

5. Limited playback of UHD discs

 

At moment I have no CD player so I am very motivated but it feels like a risk to spend $2k on a product that has an uncertain future.

Is a cheaper CD/SACD player a better option.

 

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

regards, aaron

Edited May 17, 2018 by pope
typo

[Guest Sime]

If Oppo are true to their word in regards to support, then no.

 

if they aren’t, well no one here can confirm that. 

 

Me, I’m not worried about mine. 

[betty boop]

50 minutes ago, pope said:

Hi all, I have been keen on buying an Oppo 205 for sometime now.

 

My use case in order is;

1. SACD & CD transport

2. DAC

3. Playback of DXD file

4. Limited playback of 4k video files

5. Limited playback of UHD discs

 

At moment I have no CD player so I am very motivated but it feels like a risk to spend $2k on a product that has an uncertain future.

Is a cheaper CD/SACD player a better option.

 

thanks in advance for your thoughts.

regards, aaron

nothing else exists .... to do ALL that. why the oppo had a nice little segment all to itself. though have decided to exit the market and focus on their phones instead.....

 

you can buy plenty of nice CD-SACD players will likely cost you more than the oppo. 

 

you can buy dacs..pick anything there are usually something thats flavour of the month...week...day  

 

you can buy your pick of uhd players.... walk into any number of boxmovers

 

you can buy 4k media players .... again there are all manner of them to more swish machines if looking for streaming particularly eg apple

 

re support... dont think it is what it is ...

 

eg samsung I believe have stopped supporting their superseded player as well as they did initially when released you will see people with issues with their first gen machine. sony uhd players have seen issues with... good luck trying to get firmware updates from them to resolve... like pulling teeth  

 

panasonic I see as much better, though not without issues... and good luck going to their after sales... phone support...get someone who deals with their microwaves and other gadgets and its all scripted.... will quote you irrelevant rubbish then at best ask you to log something which will either get no response on or something you could have pulled randomly from the manual of no relevance. oems support is not great.... oppo was great... not sure what its going to be ongoing, but they appear to be continuing to support in the interim,

 

an oppo as a jack of all trades is still a good option. or alternatively go separates... just be more boxes and likely cost you more

[Kaynin]

Is it a risk?  Of course it is, they aren't producing them anymore, so that's an issue.  Further, they have said they'll support for a couple of years, but after that you're on your own.  Are they likely to fail and you're left with a brick?  Generally I'd think not, but there's always examples of this happening.

 

Personally, I'm with Sime and Al, I wouldn't have an issue buying one now and relying on their service support for the next couple of years.  That's based on my experience with my 103, which has been excellent.

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

Buying anything is a risk. At least most audio products aren't lethal. Not absolutely vital to our lives, either - though many on this forum would disagree with that!

 

While they have been making product, Oppo have not exactly been stellar over the last months, it took time to get the 203 model working as it should, and the Sonica was a bit of a mess - so even when they were making products there was some risk. Buying now wouldn't concern me too much, but you may not see the level of support for new features and options that we got used to over the years.

 

The question is, what's the alternative? I believe Panasonic are planning to offer a product with broadly similar capabilities towards the end of the year, but it's unlikely to be the same. Oppo was a rare example of a company in this space that tried to support the enthusiast and keep standards relatively high.

[Guest Sime]

Buy a 205, it’ll be legendary and sort after in the used market down the track

[betty boop]

23 minutes ago, Eggcup The Daft said:

The question is, what's the alternative? I believe Panasonic are planning to offer a product with broadly similar capabilities towards the end of the year, but it's unlikely to be the same.

info so far is it wont be a universal player as the oppo is. but it will have xlr and cd capability. no info as yet if can be used as a dac. there is a possibility of a new pioneer LX player.... though it is very much still "under wraps" literally with nothing bar some vague info which might not even be what turns out ....

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

Is there any info on what disc types the upcoming UB-9000 will play? As I understood it it will have the network capabilities of the recently launched models so will play back all downloaded file types. I use my 105 for Tidal and YouTube, and am planning to use a PC of some sort in my new setup for most things.

[JSmith]

6 hours ago, pope said:

is buying Oppo a risk?

Yes...

 

JSmith 

[JSmith]

45 minutes ago, Eggcup The Daft said:

Is there any info on what disc types the upcoming UB-9000 will play?

Not that I can find... but there is info on what it won't play, namely SACD and DVD-A. 

 

http://www.trustedreviews.com/reviews/cambridge-audio-cxuhd

 

... support for DVD-Audio and SACD discs – something it seems Panasonic’s upcoming UB820 and UB9000 premium 4K Blu-ray decks will not offer.

 

JSmith 

[pope]

thanks everyone for your thoughts and input, perhaps it's not such a poor option....

 

for me this ultimately comes down this - is it a great $2k CD & SACD player?

[JSmith]

8 minutes ago, pope said:

is it a great $2k CD & SACD player?

Yes.

 

That said there are other stand alone products that may perform "better", but as a whole product (Bluray, excellent DAC, analogue stage etc.) it is excellent.

 

I share your concerns about support in the future, as do many.

 

JSmith 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

International Dynamics is/was the importer for Oppo. International Dynamics is one the oldest, most respected importers in Australia. I have absolute trust in their support for any product they sell. 

[JSmith]

7 minutes ago, Zaphod Beeblebrox said:

trust in their support

Sure, I don't think anyone is questioning the basic support from Interdyn. People are more concerned about firmware updates in the future and availability of replacement parts if needed. Interdyn will never be doing any development of firmware and once their supply of parts is gone, Oppo likely won't be able to supply same any longer... so it is a genuine concern.

 

JSmith 

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

34 minutes ago, JSmith said:

Sure, I don't think anyone is questioning the basic support from Interdyn. People are more concerned about firmware updates in the future and availability of replacement parts if needed. Interdyn will never be doing any development of firmware and once their supply of parts is gone, Oppo likely won't be able to supply same any longer... so it is a genuine concern.

 

JSmith 

I would imagine that Interdyn would hold a reasonable supply of Oppo specific replacement parts. I wouldn't be too concerned about that side of things.

 

I guess I'll keep my 105 as long as possible, and may look to a different product for ongoing 4K video support once I go there. It ups the box count though, and video is not so important for me.

 

An alternative, truly universal player into the future seems unlikely, but I guess discs are going to go away and in the future only file/streaming formats may be important.

Time to go back and read those posts about ripping SACD!

 

Looking back to the original post - I'd say a cheaper SACD player is not a better option, at least among new players, but you may find things different. Go and listen to a few alternatives before deciding, you might hate the sound or operation of the Oppo.

[PeteD]

One thing to consider is that the 205 doesn't have any native streaming apps such as Tidal or Spotify and, because it doesn't support DLNA you need a Chromecast or similar if you want to stream to it with an iPad or phone.  At least the 105 does DLNA. Just plain weird for Oppo to delete DLNA capability IMHO. 

 

Edit: Actually the iPad is not compatible with the Chromecast.

Edited May 18, 2018 by PeteD

[TerryO]

6 hours ago, Sime said:

Buy a 205, it’ll be legendary and sort after in the used market down the track

x 2.

[JSmith]

2 hours ago, PeteD said:

Just plain weird for Oppo to delete DLNA capability IMHO. 

Agree + 1

 

JSmith

[Addicted to music]

10 hours ago, JSmith said:

Sure, I don't think anyone is questioning the basic support from Interdyn. People are more concerned about firmware updates in the future and availability of replacement parts if needed. Interdyn will never be doing any development of firmware and once their supply of parts is gone, Oppo likely won't be able to supply same any longer... so it is a genuine concern.

 

JSmith 

 

Its taken about 4yrs to get the 105 right with FW.  Haven’t had an update for a while now so I think that the 105 Is just about “right” ....not perfect.     I don’t think manufacturers like Sony LG or Panasonic are that responsive for 4 yrs in supporting a product where the media supported is evolving and issuing it with updates for compatibility, this is where OPPO excels.  I would say that the 205 with the UHD support may possibly take longer to get the FW right as UHD is more complex and evolving, that said I’ve stopped following the forum for the 205 and not sure where it’s at!   I don’t think OPPO would be silly enough to pull their FW support for the 205, they have a reputation to not let there brand be trashed especially if there concentrating on the phone business.

Id have to say even though I don’t use the 105 for optical discs but a music server, it’s been a fun product to use without going all out PC based that can be expensive.   

the 105 as a hardware has been extremely reliable, not one issue for the 4 yrs but then look at the built quality; it’s outstanding, it measures well in the audio department and supports XLR.   Heck iv even used the 105 as a main Preamp!  The 205 is built in the same manner can’t see that you’re  going to need hardware support after purchase, touch wood!   

If you’re thinking about the 205 pull the plug and do it now!   From all reviews it has better SQ than the 105, that said I have not heard or done the Comparison.

[JSmith]

5 minutes ago, Addicted to music said:

this is where OPPO excels.

They have always been good, I know... I've owned an Oppo DVD & BDP.

6 minutes ago, Addicted to music said:

I don’t think OPPO would be silly enough to pull their FW support

I agree... but we were talking about Interdyn after Oppo has ceased completely.

 

JSmith

[Addicted to music]

39 minutes ago, JSmith said:

. but we were talking about Interdyn after Oppo has ceased completely.

 

JSmith

I’m not worried about Interdyn.  If you look at the layout, OPPO is built to todays Standards that I’ve been banging on about on another thread!    

Look at it, it’s easy to repair and modify!  Neatly laid out!  Even any 3rd party can do a repair just with basic tools.  However FW like you said is up to OPPO California and not Interdyn.  The only issue is that Laser unit, that’s built from the ground up by OPPO!  How many will fail in 2,3,4-6 yrs?  And how many are on the shelf?

Edited May 18, 2018 by Addicted to music

[betty boop]

5 hours ago, Addicted to music said:

Its taken about 4yrs to get the 105 right with FW.  Haven’t had an update for a while now so I think that the 105 Is just about “right” ....not perfect.     I don’t think manufacturers like Sony LG or Panasonic are that responsive for 4 yrs in supporting a product where the media supported is evolving and issuing it with updates for compatibility, this is where OPPO excels.  I would say that the 205 with the UHD support may possibly take longer to get the FW right as UHD is more complex and evolving, that said I’ve stopped following the forum for the 205 and not sure where it’s at!   I don’t think OPPO would be silly enough to pull their FW support for the 205, they have a reputation to not let there brand be trashed especially if there concentrating on the phone business.

I'm pretty sure I've pointed you before to my experience with the 205,

 

https://www.stereo.net.au/forums/topic/234789-oppo-205-uhd-universal-player-a-2nd-coming-an-end-users-perspective/

 

and it hasnt changed in time since. ie I cant fault it for UHD I believe they have the firmware right. and I am a heavy user of UHDs pumping quite a quantity though the player so any issues I tend to find out quick   and I also say it as it is ... as can see with my initial reaction with the 203 vs both pana and samsung players have owned.

 

on other hand in recent times ive heard of people with uhd players in samsungs with issues, can point you to people wiht panasonic's with issues and sony players with issues. I specifically know someone with a sony that moved from sony(as was getting sick of the issues)  to move to oppo and is now without issues. 

 

 

[Guest Sime]

I havnt had any issues playing UHD on the 205

[jim1961]

Hi Pope, It is a risk, but in my opinion not a big one. I bought the 205 when I read they were getting out of the market. It is a magnificent box with a great power supply. I still have an Oppo 93 works very well never had a problem.