First Look: Oppo’s new flagship BDP-105 universal/Blu-ray player/DAC

Hello infohou:

I think you are right that the BDP-83SE is still a good player and, like you, I still enjoy using two of them (one a standard model and the other a NuForce Edition version).

With that said, though, my experience was that the BDP-95 did indeed raise the sonic bar and the BDP-105 raises it higher still. This is not to take anything away from the BDP-83SE, but just to say that Oppo has not rested on its laurels (they seem keenly motivated to keep making good players even better).

Watch for my upcoming reviews of the BDP-105, one of which will appear in a future edition of The Absolute Sound with the other appearing (very shortly, in fact) in our European publication Hi-Fi+.

Best, Chris Martens

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Hi Mank,

I could be missing something, but I'm hard pressed to think of any way in which the BDP-93 offers a "better" HDMI interface than the BDP-95 or BDP-105.

The key, here, is that the BDP-95 offers two HDMI outputs and gives users the option of routing video signals to one HDMI output and audio-only signals to the other HDMI output (you don't have to use this option, but it's there if you want it). The concept is that you could send a video feed straight from the Oppo to your display while sending a presumably lower-noise digital audio signal (lower noise because there's no longer any video data mixed in alongside the audio data) to your AVR or A/V controller. To my mind, this feature would make the BDP-95 potentially better for sound-quality fanatics.

The BDP-105 offers the same optional "split HDMI outputs" option as the BDP-95, but it also adds dual HDMI inputs (one on the rear panel and one that is MHL-compatible on the front panel). This gives the BDP-105 even greater flexibility in that A) you can use the 105's potent Marvell video processing engine to clean up signals from other HDMI source components and B) you can in essence use the 105 as a high-resolution DAC that effectively has an HDMI input.

Please let us know if this reply adequately addresses your point.

Best, Chris Martens

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Hi yuvalg9,

I believe the BDP-105 does still have the power supply voltage switch (see the photo in the blog and look just above the IEC power inlet socket for confirmation).

With that said, though, there are several significant differences between the US-spec and that Euro-spec BDP-105 (which is called the BDP-105EU). I've mentioned some of those differences in the blog, above, but have provided some additional details in my soon to appear Hi-Fi+ review of the BDP-105EU.

Best, Chris Martens

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Hi hyfynut:

I did get to use the player extensively, but frankly I failed to take any notes on Blu-ray load times. If I get a chance, I'll pull the BDP-105 out of my high-end two-channel system (where the BDP-105 is now installed) and plug it in to my home theater system to try and get answers. My schedule is pretty jammed up at the moment, though, so it may be a while before I can make the swap and test load times.

Candidly, I never worried too much about the load times with Oppos, largely because I was so pleased with the visual and sonic results once playback started (perhaps a classic example of, "Good things come to those who wait...").

Best, Chris Martens

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