Playing SACD audio on old equipment

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by Cohibaman

I’m pretty sure Craig meant jump in with ripping and listening to files (as opposed to the physical media). He was answering your question and explaining. A fine job of explaining at that. No need to get crappy, we’re all friends here.

Where did this come from? Maybe it's my military background, but I really didn't think that getting to the point would hurt anyone's feelings.

We don't own any "audiophile" grade equipment, and I think that I've made that pretty clear. I'm just an old vet who lives on a modest income. Although I've tried to stay engaged with whichever direction this thread has taken, I really don't know ripping audio from playing audio...but I digress. Spending what we just spent on equipment, based, once again, on suggestions made in this thread is a big deal to us. If the thread veered off onto something I'm practically ignorant about, I apologize, but I really started this thread to learn how to play our physical media formats.

To the computer-based audio people -- our computer is nearly 10 years old. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding: nothing personal.

[crwilli]

Originally Posted by 70sMac

crwilli..... Did you miss the post about "jumping in"? We just invested a pretty big chunk of change toward trying to solve the original theme of this thread. Specifically, we just purchased an Oppo UDP-203 in an effort to begin Playing SACD audio on old equipment ... and we did it based on recommendations that came out of this thread. I guess one could say that we've definitely jumped in and started.

Congrats on the OPPO 203!

[piolaxo]

Yes, good choice with the 203. It is a solid performer, you'll enjoy 4K video and all
the media formats that you'll want. You can also add USB files or through the NAS
and expand its options in the future. Let us know your thoughts when you get a chance
to test it.

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Congrats on the OPPO 203!

crwilli..... Thank you, sir. If we ever get a data transfer interface that's above the USB 2.0 level -- and storage that doesn't involve spinning platters -- I'll be sure to drop you a line.

Based on what I've read, in this thread anyway, it seems that there may be something to using computer-based hardware as an initial audio source...but we would need a true computer upgrade for that -- and Apple certainly isn't giving anything away.

It's kind of funny, though. The latest in long-term computer storage has been dubbed "solid state." Our old Mac equipment -- some of it from the 70s -- is also known by the same name. Makes you think, aye?

Have a good one ~ 70sMac

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by piolaxo

Yes, good choice with the 203. It is a solid performer, you'll enjoy 4K video and all
the media formats that you'll want. You can also add USB files or through the NAS
and expand its options in the future. Let us know your thoughts when you get a chance to test it.

piolaxo..... Thank you. You were were one of the first posters to the thread that got me thinking about getting a high-grade physical medium source that's as close to "universal" as possible. I think it's the inevitability of all this streaming business that convinced us to buy why'll we can can still get it.

Nevertheless, there's something to be said for the "old" stuff. It wasn't that long ago that turn tables and tube amps were a memory...and our old Mac stuff definitely makes all of the relatively new op-amp based crap we've thrown away over the years look pretty sad by comparison.

The Carver stuff I purchased when I was stationed overseas, for example, is in a land fill (somewhere). I can still remember, back in the early 80s, listening to a Carver DTL-200MKII for the first time. That Digital Time Lens did sound pretty good, I admit, but that player is also on the scrap heap along with a lot of the other pretenders. If I had to rate the older CD player brands, I think that I'd put Denon right up there. Our old Denon CDR-W1500 dual CD player/recorder still plays our HDCD stuff pretty well. Listening to 'Ladies of the Canyon' via the Denon's HDCD circuitry still sounds pretty awesome.

[bart]

Congrats Bill!
We own an Oppo 203, and it works flawlessly.

[70sMac]

Thank you, Bart. It should be here by Monday at the latest.

[Kal Rubinson]

Originally Posted by 70sMac

I read an old article about the Oppo UDP-203 in which the author was comparing the -203 to the -205 and, apparently, he was trying to convey that using the 2-channel stereo output (Red & White) wasn't exactly straight forward. Although this will change by the end of this week, I've never used a -203, so I was basing this thought on my reading. Needless to say, I hope that the author was wrong.

With stereo source, it plays stereo. With multichannel sources, there are options to play the L/R channels only or to mixdown all the 5.1/7.1 channels into the L/R. There is a menu option for that but it is irrelevant if you are restricted to stereo sources.

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by Kal Rubinson

With stereo source, it plays stereo. With multichannel sources, there are options to play the L/R channels only or to mixdown all the 5.1/7.1 channels into the L/R. There is a menu option for that but it is irrelevant if you are restricted to stereo sources.

Kal..... Thanks for the post. Once our -203 arrives, I think that I'll go through the manual and try to glean as much as I can. After that, I'll get back to the forum with questions for the Oppo people. By the way, given the number of Oppo players I've seen in AAF member signatures, I'm a bit surprised that there isn't an Oppo board!?!

[70sMac]

Originally Posted by bart

Congrats Bill!
We own an Oppo 203, and it works flawlessly.

Bart..... Being another Oppo owner -- among the many others that I've bumped into on the AAF -- have you ever wondered why there isn't an Oppo board in the manufacturers section of the AAF?