I bet they are savings these features, along with Darbee processing, for the 203D / 205D.
Oppo UDP-205
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I bet they are savings these features, along with Darbee processing, for the 203D / 205D.
Melbguy1
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I'm not a streaming guy, so that doesn't phase me. Also I thought that Darbee processing was a gimmick & didn't make any real difference? I know Oppo were determined to fully test this new player so that they didn't have to roll out a series of firmware fixes like the UDP-203, so it should be a well sorted player focussed on bluray and audio atleast for now. In future they may add further functionality like streaming via firmware updates. I could see myself being an early adopter.
BlueFox
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I was one of the first people to get an Oppo 203. I think there have been 3 firmware updates, and all were done in a few minutes over the network. Firmware updates are no big deal, and since the 205 will have the same video circuitry as the 203 it does start with the latest firmware. However, UHD and 4K are new technologies so expect to see more firmware updates over the next year.
Oppo has stated at several times that Darbee processing in the new 4K players will probably be too expensive to implement, and might offer no improvement over 4k upscaling anyway
CPP
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I sent them a email asking why no streaming and mentioned the firmware upgrade that allowed Tidal in my 105.
Their answer
" Chris,
The player was designed to be more streamlined and run faster than the previous generation of players. This necessitated that we did not include any streaming services in the player. The player does, however, have the ability to be augmented through firmware, so it is always possible that we can add streaming services to the player through future firmware releases.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
"
So I take it as in the last run of their players, if more people complain about NO streaming, maybe a firmware upgrade will be released at a later date. Its a who knows for sure.
CPP
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Firmware updates in Sept added: Added Gapless Playback , Added support for Roon making the UDP-203 and UDP-205 Roon Ready network players. And in a Beta release this month, OPPO 205 (only) supports MQA.
CPP
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NO clue, but I will find out.
Supposed to be full unfolding. I posted about this a couple of days ago in the MQA folder
Kuoppis
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Oppo says it is; how else does one "know"? The 205 has always been able to play partially unfolded titles from Tidal, and sounded better than some cheap MQA DAC's while doing it.
Kuoppis
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Ok thanks, I understand. So it does the unfolding, but no decoding.
That is essentially no more than an Aurender does playing back Tidal Masters.
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No, you have it backwards; Now the Oppo 205 finishes the complete unfold, whereas until the most recent firmware update it could only play the first unfold through its “regular”, at that time non-MQA DAC, as with any other DAC on Tidal’s list of non-MQA DAC’s.
Kuoppis
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Robert, I am not entirely sure whether you have gotten the differences right: it is either unfolding (partial decoding, which can be done on-the-fly in SW) and or decoding (full decoding, which requires a DAC chip-level implementation). Not sure what full/ complete unfolding represents.
I was just asking as I am interested.
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CPP
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I wrote OPPO tech support for their own answer as on the MQA site OPPO is not listed as yet as a partner
Kuoppis
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Thanks Chris, very kind.
So we’re back at the UDP-205 doing the same as an Aurender, i.e. unfolding but not decoding. Latter would be required to get the full MQA benefit. Maybe it does more, let’s see.
But then I would have expected the Sonica DAC to be MQA capable as well.
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So according to Bob P and others at AVS Forums, the 205 is now a complete MQA DAC, recognized by Tidal as such (so Tidal sends it the unfolded signal to be decoded by the Oppo) and also able to fully decode downloaded MQA files (either on a USB drive or over a network). There is ongoing discussion about exactly what you can do with MQA using Roon and the Oppo 205, but since I don’t have Roon I cam’t give you more details than that.
CPP
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Per OPPO, Within the OPPO 205 the MedaiTek decoder (quad core ARM Soc) is doing the full unfolding. The Dac (es9038 Pro) is optimizing the decoded MQA audio and then coverts it to analog.
Kuoppis
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Hi Robert, it appears you were right after all. Thank you for proving the details. That is great news and maybe a reason for me to buy the Oppo, just to try out full MQA.
Have you tried MQA with it?
Many thanks, Kuoppis
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