Oppo BDP-83SE versus McIntosh MCD500

[jdandy]

With 46 hours of break-in time on the Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition, I felt comfortable enough with its sound to put it up against the McIntosh MCD500 SACD/CD player for a head to head comparison, so I removed it from the surround sound system, and installed it in the two channel tube system in the studio.

I discovered a few things about the Oppo BDP-83SE setup that two channel users will need to be aware of before using the player strictly for two channel. You do not need to use Oppo's setup menu to select 2 channel mix down when using the stereo left and right outputs, as this mix down is done continuously no matter what adjustments have been made in the speaker set up menu for surround sound. In addition, the stereo ouputs are active all the time, so a second output is available even while connected for analog surround sound. If you are listening to SACD's in stereo, you will have to go into the Playback menu and set SACD priority to Stereo, otherwise the lowest frequencies are routed to the Oppo's sub output jack, which is not used for two channel stereo listening. If you do not change the SACD priority to Stereo the low bass is not at the proper level.

The Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition features factory upgrades that include a new analog power supply, and the new ESS Sabre32 Ultra DAC's. In my head to head comparison of the standard version BDP-83 against the Special Edition, the SE outperformed its sibling in every aspect of the surround sound audio presentation by a significant margin.

In this head to head comparison I am pitting the Oppo BDP-83SE against the vaulted McIntosh MCD500 SACD/CD player. McIntosh also uses ESS DAC's in a dual quad arrangement, although they are the Sabre Reference 24 bit DAC's, which are about a year old in the market place now. I used the following gear for this shoot out: McIntosh C1000C/T preamplifier, two McIntosh mono MC275 amplifiers, with Sonus Faber Guarneri Momento speakers and the McIntosh XLS112 subwoofer. The MCD500 is normally connected to the C1000T with Wireworld balanced Silver Eclipse 6.0 interconnects, but the Oppo has only unbalanced outputs. I do not own any Wireworld unbalanced interconnects, so I switched the interconnects for the MCD500 to a pair of Tributaries Silver Series, and used an identical pair of Tributaries Silver Series interconnects on the Oppo BDP-83SE. I did not want any sonic differences between the two players skewed by using different interconnects. As you can see from the included photo, there was just enough room in the two channel system rack to squeeze the Oppo SE on top of the C1000T.

The music selected was as follows: Jacintha - Best Of SACD, "Willow Weep For Me"; Jaime Valle - Round Midnight CD, "Cry Me A River"; John Previti Quartet - Swinging Lullabyes For My Rosetta CD "I Thought About You"; Gregg Karukas - Looking Up CD, "Girl In The Red Dress"; Eva Cassidy - Wonderful World CD, "What A Wonderful World"; and Peter Frampton - Fingerprints CD, "Float". The six different genre of music gave me a solid impression of how the player performed with many styles of music and vocal arrangements.

I played each song first on the Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition player, paying close attention to the level meters on the C1000T preamplifier, because I wanted to ensure that I was closely matching levels from one player to the other. As it turned out, the Oppo, set at 95% volume using its remote control to operate this feature, was a perfect level match for the MCD500. The remote volume level output on the Oppo player is a feature that would allow the Oppo BDP83SE to feed amplifiers directly without the need for a preamplifier if one chose to use it in this manner.

Let the music begin. I chose Jacintha, "Willow Weep For Me", and placed it in the Oppo player's tray. Pressing play closes the drawer and starts the music. Load times on the Oppo are quicker than on the MCD500. As the music began, and Jacintha's voice appeared in the center of the sound stage, I was impressed with the tonal balance, the deep bass, and Jacintha's sultry voice. I found myself thinking that this is one awesome sounding SACD/CD player. I moved the disc to the MCD500, pressed play, and sat back. The music begins, and immediately I notice a slightly more forward presentation with a more defined sense of space between the sax, guitar, bass, and Jacintha's voice. I could hear her breaths more clearly, the sound of lips parting was audible, and the sound stage was more three dimensional front to back.

On Jaime Valle's "Cry Me A River" I experience a similar event, that is the Oppo BDP-83SE was a tiny bit darker in its presentation, and although very good sound was reproduced by the Oppo, by comparison to the MCD500, there were less harmonic after tones to the sounds of the wooden vibes being struck, and less crisp leading edge string attacks to Jaime's guitar sound. The MCD500 was able to produce more space between every instrument's sounds, which offered brighter illumination to details that were ever so slightly masked on the Oppo.

The minuscule darkness to the sound's character continued with the Oppo's presentation of John Previti's "I Thought About You", where he trades verses with his wife's lovely voice, while vibe notes ring between the phrases of the song. The Oppo presented a fine performance, but when directly compared to the MCD500 it seemed slightly less 3 dimensional, a shallower sound stage, and a marginally darker presentation, with less shimmer on the vibes, and cymbals. The micro dynamics were more audible on the MCD500, with a more open sonic presentation. As with the previous tunes, the MCD500 was able to present the performance with a larger sense of life, with plenty of space for each and every sound to appear and be heard. The same sonic presentation remained with Gregg Karukas, "Girl In The Red Dress", where his piano's timber was more accurate on the MCD500. It was on this particular track that I also noticed the MCD500 offered up greater texture to the bass being played on this particular track. On Eva Cassidy's "What A Wonderful World", the Oppo sounded very good, but under direct comparison to the MCD500 her voice was not as clearly delineated from the piano and guitar sounds as was the case on the MCD500. The MCD500 presented the brushes on the cymbals with complete accuracy, where as the Oppo BDP-83SE presented the same brushes somewhat reduced and faintly clouded, in keeping with it's slightly darker sonic presentation. When playing Peter Frampton's "Float", the Oppo could not equal the MCD500's ability to clearly separate the acoustic and electric guitar sounds completely, and the guitar reverb on this track created a real sense of floating, as the tunes name implies, on the MCD500. That same sense was lessened by a few degrees when played on the Oppo SE.

All in all, the Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition is an exemplary SACD/CD player, not to mention a first class Blu-ray video player. In surround sound, the Special Edition really shows its colors, and struts its stuff. I am thrilled with the SE's surround performance in my home theater system. It's two channel stereo presentation is also very good, quite detailed, with excellent dynamics. Were I not making a direct song for song, head to head comparison against the MCD500, the minutely darker nature of the Oppo's audio performance might not have even been noticed. For a person looking for a really great surround sound and stereo SACD/CD player, with a spectacular Blu-ray player thrown in for good measure, all at a price that is almost unbelievable considering the level of performance, the Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition is the player to beat in this price category, and then some. That the Oppo SE can stand as close to the MCD500's performance, as it did today, is quite remarkable when one considers the MCD500's price tag is greater than seven times that of the Oppo BDP-83SE.

As I began this head to head comparison, I never really thought the Oppo SE would outperform the MCD500, and it didn't. What is amazing, though, is how close it came to matching the MCD500 performance for so little money. I am thoroughly impressed. A big thumbs up to the Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition.

[1KW]

Nice review Dan,

I guess I will keep my Sony blue ray . Do you think the Oppo dac is better than the dac in the MX120 ?

[KahunaCanuck]

Thanks for the write up Dan!

I have not tested either, but feel like I have with your simple explanation of your testing. I agree that the Oppo is probably the "best buy" in the audio world currently. I will order one for my theatre!

Mike

[two dot]

Dan,

Thanks for taking the time for this thoughtful review.

I have no Theater, and therefore no need a player like this one but would absolutely put it on top of my list if I did.

Sounds like it even needs some serious consideration for someone looking for a 2 channel player...

Sounds like a great product.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by 1KW

Nice review Dan,

I guess I will keep my Sony blue ray . Do you think the Oppo dac is better than the dac in the MX120 ?

David.......Scrap the Sony Blu-ray player, or not. Suit yourself. The Oppo BDP-83 Special Edition will smoke the Sony with both video and audio performance. The answer to your second question is yes, I think the ESS DAC's in the Oppo sound better than the DAC's in the MX120. Comparing the Oppo Special Edition coaxial digital output through the MX120's DAC's to the Oppo multi-channel analog outputs from the ESS DAC's reveals a much greater sense of presence, details, seperation, and dynamics from the BDP-83SE analog outputs. I won't be using the BDP-83SE digital output to my MX120 for SACD/CD or movies, only the multi-channel analog outputs. I will use the MX120 DAC's to decode Dolby digital from the HD Satellite receiver, and my Sony ES60 DAT recorder, but that's it. All the newest audio codecs are available in the Oppo SE, as well, and not on the MX120. The analog audio performance of the Oppo BDP-83SE is truly remarkable.

I have the new Sony BDP-S560 Blue-ray player. I just moved it to the bedroom. Just to make my point even clearer, the thought about wasting my time comparing the Sony Blu-ray player's audio output to the MCD500 had not even crossed my mind.

[JFR0317]

Dan, I'm curious about the OPPO BD-83SE's performance in decoding lossless codecs such as Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio and then sending the decoded tracks out via analog 5.1 and/or 7.1 audio to the External input of the MX120. As you know, I will be getting an MVP881BR for my upstairs system. Whenever that happens, I plan on moving my OPPO BD-83 to my downstairs system. If you think it does lossless multi-channel audio decoding well (including bass management), I will probably get the OPPO "SE" upgrade done.

Thanks.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by JFR0317

Dan, I'm curious about the OPPO BD-83SE's performance in decoding lossless codecs such as Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio and then sending the decoded tracks out via analog 5.1 and/or 7.1 audio to the External input of the MX120. As you know, I will be getting an MVP881BR for my upstairs system. Whenever that happens, I plan on moving my OPPO BD-83 to my downstairs system. If you think it does lossless multi-channel audio decoding well (including bass management), I will probably get the OPPO "SE" upgrade done.

Thanks.

John.......At this time, I have not viewed any movies or listened to any DVD-A discs with the new HD lossless codecs. I can tell you from the head to head I did between the Oppo BDP-83 and the BDP-83 Special Edition, the new ESS DAC's and analog power supply kick the ass of the original player by a wide margin. I have already paid my money, and I am now waiting for my RMA number to be emailed to me from Oppo. Then I will send my BDP-83 in for the upgrade. The performance benefits of the ESS DAC's and analog power supply upgrade far outweigh the meager upgrade price. Remember, December 31st is the $299.00 upgrade offer deadline for existing Oppo BDP-83 owners.

[Alberto]

Great comparison Dan.

Alberto

[TommyC]

Thanks for the thorough review. Very informative.
McIntosh needs to use this new 32bit ESS dac in their up-coming MDA2K!

[JSCC]

Originally Posted by jdandy

[B]
As I began this head to head comparison, I never really thought the Oppo SE would outperform the MCD500, and it didn't. What is amazing, though, is how close it came for so little money.

Dan,

If it happen, then you will have to crack your head as you have 2 sets of MCD500.

Nonetheless, thanks for the wonderful write up. Very informative and educational, at times, a little exciting too, as was thinking if this will cause you to drop the MCD500 off your setup!

Cheers!