Admittedly, I’m a little late to the game when it comes to reviewing the Oppo BDP-105D. It is Oppo ‘s flagship Blu-ray player or maybe it would be more accurately be described as a digital media player. According to Oppo, “The Oppo BDP-105 is designed from the ground up with components optimized for enhanced analog audio performance. The Oppo BDP-105 features an all-new analog audio stage powered by two ESS Sabre32 Reference Digital-to-Analog Converters (DAC), balanced (XLR) & unbalanced (RCA) dedicated stereo outputs, a Toroidal linear power supply, and asynchronous USB DAC input. These high-grade components are housed in a rigidly constructed metal chassis and work together to deliver exceptionally detailed and accurate sound quality along with reference quality video.” Believe it or not, the Oppo-105D actually has a lot more features than that, but equally important to me is that it works great as a straightforward disc player.
The reason I’m a little late to the party is that I just never took this product all that seriously; shame on me. Then, back in March, I was over at Constantine’s place, and he was playing his Esoteric K-03 SACD/CD player and 32-bit USB DAC, using the Esoteric G-01 rubidium clock. Then, just for the heck of it, he said, let’s listen to a couple of SACDs on the Oppo. To say I was shocked is an understatement. It was literally a jaw dropping experience.