price
format flexibility

mediocre audio quality

hmmm...i purchased the oppo 970 based on all of the press that it's gotten lately. i've been looking for an inexpensive universal player for some time. i considered the denon 2900/2910, rotel 1072, nad 541i, and sony ns999. none of these were true universal players. some have hdcd playback and others have a mix of hi-def and hdcd.
i bought the oppo b/c the reviews and price were so favorable. while i haven't broken in the unit, i am so far very unimpressed with it for audio playback. i know many extole it's video playback, but many have said how fantastic it is as an audio standalone player or as a transport. as a standalone i find it lags far behind my 10yr old parasound cdp/dac combo.
i plugged the player in and connected it with homegrown audio super silver cables. head to head compared to my non-hdcd parasound combo, the oppo sounds compressed and lacking in dynamics. it doesn't sound bad, just not on par with what i've lived with for many years. i didn't have the unit hooked up to a video monitor and there was no display indicating hdcd so perhaps that feature needs to be turned on via an on-screen menu. i don't know. i haven't decided at this point whether i am going to keep the player or not. i can only hope that it simply requires some burn in time and a menu selection to bring it to life.

Customer Service

shipped quickly and packaged well

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b&k
parasound
adcom
audible illusions
nad
jolida
vandersteen

PRICE, quality, customer service a free HDMI cable!

None for my needs.

I had been casting about for sometime for a good “universal” player so I could listen to both SACD’s and DVD-A, but was having a hard time justifying spending the money for the Denon or the Pioneer. Then I heard about the Oppo 970 and couldn’t beat the price. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, Oppo announced the 981 which I would have bought and will once I upgrade to hdmi and an HDTV. For now, I have had the 970 since December and couldn’t be happier. I’m neither a vidophile nor an audiophile, but I was after better than average sound and better than average picture. I have been very satisfied with the 0970 on both counts. I have an older Yamaha receiver, decent Klipch speakers with a Toshiba TV using decent component cables. All in all a modest set up that sounds pretty good in our living room. I’ve been enjoying SACD’s like Dark Side of the Moon, Zenph’s re-performance of Gould’s Goldberg variations, among others. DTS DVD-A’s like the Genesis releases and Led Zeppelin and regular CD’s sound pretty as well. Picture-wise I have seen improvement in clarity and color with richer, deeper blacks. My favorite movie’s like LOTR or Terry Gilliam’s movies look better than ever.

I’ll be upgrading everything to support HDTV soon (probably a Sony SXRD), the 970 will become our second DVD player, and I’ll buy the 981. I won’t go BluRay or HDDVD until one side wins or Oppo makes a player that will play both! I’m surprised there aren’t more reviews for the Oppo line here at AudioReviews. Oppo Digital is making a quality product for an excellent price ( I am not being paid for this, Oppo if your listening, I am not beneath it) so I hope more folks will give them their business.

Customer Service

Excellent response time to email (around the christmas holidays no less) The player out of the box assumes you have a newer HDTV and defaults to a resolution that needed to be reset for my older Toshiba. I called (not toll free OPPO? tsk tsk) and they had me up and running in seconds!

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sound, image and aout-of-this-world value...deserves a 8* for value!!!!!

plastic CD tray appears to be very minimalist but at this price....

This universal player, stand alone, is as good as any CDP I have owned below $1,500 and the best DVD player, period. When connected to an external Monarchy Audio 18B DAC, it equals or even beat my Lexicon RT20..not bad considering the RT20 costs $4,000, my combo $700..!!!!! How do they do it is a mystery to me but could it be like my Dusson D9 multi integrated that is the OEM version of Mark levinson Red Rose for $1,000 instead of $5,000? Oppo could be, apart from casing, OEM to some Esoteric players at $7,000 for what I know...

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Lexicon RT20

Multiple format capability, sound quality for the price tough to beat

Questionable reliability, poor build quality: disc tray is a piece of junk - loading and removing discs is a pain, and the tray is SO flimsy that you feel it could fall apart just inserting a disc. For audiophiles, another weakness is that you have to use a TV and on-screen menus to set up the player. Also, using hybrid SACD/CD discs, the player does not indicate which layer it is playing - presumably the SACD layer by default?

My Oppo player failed after less than 3 months of use - it would not output sound through any of the analog outputs. Based on this lack of reliability, and the cheap/flimsy build quality of the unit, I would not recommend purchasing this product. That said, while it was working, here are my opinions about the DV-970HD: (NOTE: I purchased this player primarily for its SACD capabilities - and thus my review/opinion is based on its audio qualities, not the video quality) I found the Oppo player to be good on SACD material, good drive/sense of rhythm and pace, good bass. On SACD, compared to the Sony DVP-NS90V ($199) - which I also own - the Oppo had better bass, but the Sony had better clarity with vocals and was better at revealing subtle details. Overall, though, I still would give the edge to the Oppo in terms of sound quality on SACD. On standard CD's, I preferred the sound of the Sony - more detailed, airy, open sounding. Overall, I hate to have to give the Oppo a negative review and low rating, but when any piece of hardware fails within months, even one that's priced at $149, I cannot give it a positive review.

Customer Service

Good communication from Oppo, no problems here ....

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Sony DVP-NS90V

Features and price. Can be programmed for multi-region operation from the included remote control.

On screen display very simple and basic.

Good product. Plays everything you can throw at it. SACD's sound very good. HDCD Playback is nice. DVD Video quality is superb.

Customer Service

Fantastic, fast response via e-mail

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APEX DV-500

Plays virtually any format on any disc including DVD-A, HDCD, SACD, DivX, CDs, AVI files, Picture files, PAL, NTSC, etc.

Error correction exceeds expectation -will play virtually anything well.

Good front panel display, USB and Smart card accessible from the front panel.

Includes virtually every video and audio output port including HDMI, SVideo, RCA, Component, and Optical.

Disc tray is thin and cradles discs making removal a two handed task.

Flip down door to USB/Smart card ports vulnerable to damage.

I had never heard of OPPO Digital prior to the review in The Absolute Sound. I'm not a video enthusiast and I purchased it for its audio capabilities. For its $149 pricetag, i could not make a mistake as I was already searching for an external DAC with HDCD capabilities and an SACD player. Video was a secondary concern.

When it arrived, it was packaged very well. The instructions and remote control were included in the well prepared box. Setup was easy and I had it playing in a matter of minutes.

I did not expect much for $149 but I was pleasantly surprised on many levels. My expertise in Video is minimal but I can report that there is a dramatic improvement in video quality while playing conventional DVD software. What I did not expect was that it also played DVD-Rs that were difficult or unplayable on my other DVD players. It also played PAL as well as NTSC formatted discs and it even played AVI files from TIVO recordings without hesitation. That was something I was only able to accomplish using my PC. The picture quality on my conventional Television is dramatically sharper and more clear. I thought my television was fading but there is new found balance in tonal qualities, shades of gray, and color vibrancy. Now I'm shopping for an HD capable flat screen to take full advantage of the OPPOs video capabilities. It upscales to HD so its not truly an HD or BlueRay alternative. But it surpasses performance of every other video disc player in the non-HD arena.

Regarding audio performance, I was impressed even more. My HDCD encoded software was now truly being translated in 20 bit and the enhanced resolution in audio playback is easily discernible compared with conventional Redbook CD players. Even conventional CDs sound better than my previous dedicated CD Player. DVD-As also sound musical whereas my previous players sounded very contrived and artificially separated into multi-channel. Now they sound realistic. Although I was initially unimpressed with DVD-A, I think this is the way they were intended to sound. I will reconsider the format and its potential.

One additional surprise is that this player easily plays discs I had previously written off as damaged and unplayable. Many times, its played discs where my other players would skip or freeze. I have an audio disc in my collection where the last four tracks are completely unplayable. Not even my PC could read those last four tracks. All of my CD players would just freeze and I would have to shut down or eject to regain functionality with my players. Yet the OPPO Digital player effortlessly tracked those four errant programs without hesitation. I was stunned to actually hear those last four tracks for the very first time. Awesome!

Now Im out shopping for SACDs as I've never had the capability to use this format previously. The players required for this high resolution format have been well beyond my budget--until now!

Regarding the remote. It is different from any other remotes I've used. But its laid out well and it even has picture and volume controls. Direct selection of tracks is easily accomplished, and the buttons provide enough feedback to know I've made a selection. Its sturdy and well built and batteries are included. However, I've heard from others that its unique design may prevent the use of Universal Remotes. That's not an issue with me but it may be a consideration for others with lots of infrared devices in their systems.

It also reads smart cards and USB. That's a capability that was only possible using my PC.

For $149, this is a steal. I would recommend this player for any video or audio enthusiast. It humbles players costing many times more. From a disc player perspective, this is truly a giant killer. To find something equally as capable will cost you many times the asking price.

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Audio-Shanling, Denon, Toshiba, California Audio Labs, Marantz

Price tag
Plays virtually every available disc format and also smart memory cards and USB. Sound quality is superb and humbles other disc players costing many times more. Im not experienced enough to comment on Video performance however, it improved video mages compared to my current DVD players. Functional remote control

Flimsy disc tray. The design of the front cover for Mamory cardt and USB ports seems vulnerable to breakage.

I must admit, I purchased the OPPO DVD player with its primary usage as an audio player with some video requirements. I had never heard of OPPO prior to my stumbling across an audio review in the Absolute Sound. For $149 it was worth the experiment. I was considering an the purchase of an SACD player, and an extermal DAC to properly encode HDCDs. I had previously experimented with DVD-A in the past and was disappointed.

When it arrived, I was first impressed by how well the item was packaged. It included the cables, HDMI cable, and instructions. The unit itself was wrapped in a custom fit sock.

Hook up was easy and it came with a remote with batteries. It was operational in my two channel audio system without even opening the instruction manuals.

Conventional Redbook CDs had an audible improvement and HDCDs knocked my socks off. DVD-A finally sounded musical. But what was impressive is damaged CDs played without flaw and a CD that I was unable to play the final four tracks on my other CDPs played cleanly and easily on the OPPO player. Now Im on the shopping spree for SACDs.

Regarding video, I set this up on my conventional 4.3:1 TV and was stunned at the improvement in detail and color on my old fashioned screen. In the same fashion as my audio experience, it blew away my Toshiba and JVC DVD players. I was also able to play DVD-Rs as well as AVI files of recorded programs from my TIVO. It played my NTSC and PAL encoded DVDs too. That was something I was only able to accomplish on my PC.

The remote is functional and useable. Its different than other remotes I've tried and some have been challenged to integrate it with universal learning remotes.

At $149, this truly is a bargain, but its performance level is far above its price tag. This is truly a giant killer and humiliates equipment costing many times more.

Now I'm curious and have been shopping for an HD capable monitor to try out the HDTV Upscaling features from which this Universal disc player's reputation is based.

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universal player, usb port, card reader, beautiful colors, excellent sound

none

Wow! what a DVD player. Pictures come out so clean & detailed. Colors just pop on my 55" rear projection mitsubishi platinum. I have never seen colors on my TV comes out this good. I am just using component output. The component output alone makes my TV looks like HD resolution. This DVD player makes my Denon DVD 2900 looks really bad. The audio is also superb (SACD, DVD audio, and even redbood CD). I have compared this DVD to my Marantz SA11s1 SACD/CD player. It does a pretty darn good job in terms of details for $150. It does about 75% of my Marantz SA11s1. It does not have as much lows, highs, & staging in comparing to the Marantz. But I am comparing a $150 unit vs. $3495 unit. However, it is much better than my Denon DVD 2900 ($900, which I sold after I saw the differences). It is better in audio & especially the video. There is no comparison in video. The color is so much better in the Oppo. Therefore, I am getting another oppo dvd player, the DV-981HD. Great job, OPPO!!

Customer Service

excellent

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