DVD-A1UDCI or Oppo or other...

[Brain Sturgeon]

Thanks for the input guys!

Originally Posted by btf1980

Ultimately, I think it comes down to two schools of thought. Those that think you should invest heavily in a source unit, and those that think it would be more prudent to invest in a prepro. I personally think that the point of the prepro is to be the workhorse in a system, let it handle all the processing. That's why it was bought in the first place. I just don't see the point of spending almost 5 large on a source unit, when something like a Classe SSP-800 or a Denon flagship prepro can be had for not much more at street prices. It seems like a no brainer to me.

Yep-- the more I think about it, the Denon is looking less attractive. I am planning on moving to an HDMI capable prepro in the future, and I'm not convinced that the DVD-A1UDCI's analog output will sound better than decoding in the prepro. This will be the million dollar question. If analog from the Denon truly sounds better than bitstream decoding by a AVP-A1HDCI or a Classé SSP-800 or what have you, then I will more strongly consider it.

The Denon's SACD performance would probably be one of its selling points, but I am not invested in SACD right now and there is the issue discussed below regarding what the Denon does with a SACD's signal. I don't really need DVD upscaling, Red Book CD playback, or DVDA playback with the Denon, as my Classé will do that. That pretty much leaves BD playback as the main reason for the player, and I think the Oppo will do that pretty much just as well as the Denon.

Originally Posted by Oddiophile

Brian,

You should have a read threw the "Oppo BDP-83 Vs. Denon DVD-A1UDCI" thread on the AVSforums. There mostly taking about digital jitter, but there is some good info on these two players.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1153911

Yup, I've been following that thread-- it's what actually got me thinking about the Denon...

Originally Posted by EWL5

I was confused by the title of this thread when I read "AVP". AVP is Denon's designation for a preamp. I think you meant DVD-A1UDCI universal BD player instead of the AVP-A1HDCI preamp.

Whoops! Thanks-- fixed the title.

Here are the pros/cons AFAIK:

Oppo BDP83

PROS
1) $4k cheaper
2) Plays DSD direct over HDMI or analog
3) ABT VRS performed better than the Realta (at least in 720p, don't know about 1080p) on the Spears and Munsil disk.
4) Great customer service
5) Timely firmware updates

CONS
1) Some users report occasional popping from SACD/DVD-A (should be fixed eventually by firmware).
2) Does not have any fancy upsampling for audio.
3) Cannot do Dolby ProLogic IIx matrixing for 7.1 systems.
4) Bass management limited to 80Hz crossover.
5) Limited mosquito NR on VRS

Denon A1UDCI

PROS
1) Built like a tank
2) No reported issues so far with SACD/DVD-A
3) Will do ProLogic IIx in player
4) Has jitter reduction/elimination circuit for BD HBR codecs when HDMI is used in conjunction with DenonLink4. (I consider jitter a non-issue for multichannel audio for movies)
5) Bass management more complete with more crossover choices
6) Excellent mosquito NR from Realta if required
7) AL32 32-bit upsampling should breathe new life into all audio, including CD's.

CONS
1) Expensive
2) Limited to 16-bit/44kHz PCM for SACD (it's all over the manual)
3) Will not stream DSD direct (see above)
4) Firmware updates have been slow
5) BD Live still not activated (too few owners at this point)

Did I miss anything?

Great list! Thanks for putting that together.

The SACD resampling is alarming. I really hope that is a screwup in the manual. Isn't the whole benefit of SACD the 1 bit DSD/2.82 MHz sampling? Why in the name of all that is holy would you convert this to 16 bit PCM/44 kHz? It's gotta be a mistake...

Anyways, I'm gonna pull the trigger on the Oppo-- I really don't think I can go wrong with this player at its price. I may reconsider the Denon when more owners chime in, but it's not looking to great at this point, particularly if the way it handles SACD is to output it as downconverted PCM.