Oppo's bdp 93 subpar LPCM decoding.........

[jserrent]

I've been working and reworking this for weeks.... It started with the suggested workaround suggested by Oppo for Dolby Atmos sound glitching due to seamless branching. The fix was to simply switch to LPCM ..... from Bitstream, letting the player do the decoding.
The problem is what you hear when you do that.....It should be pretty close to the same thing....... but it's not...... Not by a longshot..!!! I've tried this with 2 different Oppo 93's on 2 separate systems with the same dissapointing results..... 10 db loss of volume, loss of dynamic range, poor imaging......
It really became apparent when I hooked up a well kept LG BD 390 ..... the LG doesn't have a bitstream setting...... but it's own decoding is far superior to the Oppo....side by side the Oppo's Bitstream sounded like the LG's LPCM ...... !
I used the new Star Trek, and Mockingjay Part 2.... The True HD was affected the most in the adverse decoding.... DTS-HD titles faired better but there was a loss of high end.....
Ironman 2 was my go to disk for that.... some great spots to use....
I really like Oppo's products, but I'm blown away by this issue...

[ZoetMB]

While I haven't tried using my OPPO for Dolby Atmos (since I don't have the speakers are receiver/amps to do so), I have switched the OPPO many times from LPCM to Bitstream and back and I've perceived only the tiniest of differences, with the OPPO being very slightly superior in decoding to my Pioneer SC-55 receiver.

[solarrdadd]

Originally Posted by jserrent

I've been working and reworking this for weeks.... It started with the suggested workaround suggested by Oppo for Dolby Atmos sound glitching due to seamless branching. The fix was to simply switch to LPCM ..... from Bitstream, letting the player do the decoding.
The problem is what you hear when you do that.....It should be pretty close to the same thing....... but it's not...... Not by a longshot..!!! I've tried this with 2 different Oppo 93's on 2 separate systems with the same dissapointing results..... 10 db loss of volume, loss of dynamic range, poor imaging......
It really became apparent when I hooked up a well kept LG BD 390 ..... the LG doesn't have a bitstream setting...... but it's own decoding is far superior to the Oppo....side by side the Oppo's Bitstream sounded like the LG's LPCM ...... !
I used the new Star Trek, and Mockingjay Part 2.... The True HD was affected the most in the adverse decoding.... DTS-HD titles faired better but there was a loss of high end.....
Ironman 2 was my go to disk for that.... some great spots to use....
I really like Oppo's products, but I'm blown away by this issue...

hmmm

you do understand that when bitstreaming, the oppo sounds like nothing because it's not doing anything other than passing an undecoded signal onto your receiver or pre-amp and that will do the decoding. so in that case, what you hear is the receiver/pre-amp, not the oppo.

[8traxrule]

I have this player and am very picky about audio- I've never heard any problems with its PCM output. I keep the player set to "Auto" most of the time, as discs that have menu sounds or other secondary audio (which I never want to miss, they don't seem to use menu sounds enough nowadays) will automatically tell it to output it as PCM, while some that don't have any of that tell it to output it as a straight bitstream. (If you leave it on PCM all the time, it mis-decodes some of the odder formats on standard DVD, such as DTS-ES and 1-channel Dolby Digital.) Oddly some discs that have Atmos tell you to output it as bitstream for it to work, but the discs still tell it to output as PCM if set to Auto.

[jserrent]

The only other random element with this is my receiver which is an Onkyo TX NR 727...
Perhaps it's the acceptance of the decoded signal by the receiver that creates the problems I hear. It's just seems unusal that the same receiver passes on the LG BD390's multichannel LPCM signal with an almost itendical quality to the 93 set to Bitstream .... ???

[jserrent]

I really do appreciate the advice...... this isn't made up or my hearing....I have a Masters in music ed. And have taught for 35 years ... and have been an audiophile and home theater enthusiast for longer than that...... I'm always working with professional electronic musical equiptment.
When I switch to LPCM on the 93 .... there's immediately a 10db loss in volume....Next to no dynamic range and less than crisp highs..... Test movies.... Mockingjay parts 1 or 2....Star Trek 1....
Again.... this could be a translation problem with the Onkyo receiver.....
Could it possibly be linked to HDMI translation....???

Once again I'm stumped...... I have the LG 390 connected and can switch back and forth.
The LG sends out its LPCM identical to a Bitstream connection with the Onkyo.
I've reproduced this with a 2nd. Oppo 93..... but unfortunately do not have access to a different brand machine with HD LPCM output capability....

Thanks for listening guys..... thought it was my hearing at first....Lol....