I’ve been looking at some low-cost ways to improve my setup. So, I’ve started investigating Oppo’s Blu-ray player, which promises to be a high-end universal player with DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-Audio.
For me, to be realistic, I’m looking for a superlative up-sampling DVD player and a Blu-ray player. Key, however, is the audio stage of the player. CDs for me are dead. I’ve converted most of my music and have it on a server and on an AppleTV that I stream to my audio system.
I’m really, really happy with my Anthem AVM-20 and there’s no way I can spend any additional money on a new pre-amp. If I did, I can’t really see if I’m going to get any way to justify spending thousands of dollars (assuming I had that).
So here’s what I’m looking at and I’m probably not the only one:
- I have a higher-end system that sounds really good but is made up of older components
- I really don’t have money to spend (who does in this economy)
- Overall, I’m pretty happy with my setup. The area where there is major improvement potential is with Blu-ray format and the new audio codecs
- I got an HDTV at a good price that has multiple HDMI inputs that I can adjust individually, so there’s no real major need for HDMI switching. I would probably see a benefit of the HDMI switching at the pre-amp level for sources like cable HD stations but it would need to be a pretty high-end end pre-amp
- So, my weakest link is likely the DVD player that I got off ebay. It’s a Panasonic upsampling DVD player that retails for over $300 and I got refurbished for about $112. DVDs look pretty good but I’ve seen Blu-ray and its stunning and from what I hear (no pun intended) the new audio codecs are an improvement to
So, the search is on! So far, the Oppo seems to be the player to beat for under $1,000. It’s right now at $499 and that’s really stretching it for me. I’d prefer something for $250. But, I’m not sure that there’s anything comparable. I’ll let everyone know my readings and impressions.
