Any recommendations for CD and BR/HDDVD players to augment the following equipment? I keep coming back to the Oppo 980 for CD’s since I have a processor that is capable of processing the new HD audio formats.

Current Equipment -
Processor: Onkyo Pro PR-SC885
Amp: ATI 1807 (180 x 7)
Speakers: AVS Rocket 850/450/300/200
Display: Sony 70” XBR2
Subwoofer: Elemental Designs 18” sealed, 1300w

All said, I am getting REALLY confused with these new HD audio formats. The Oppo 980 seems to have the ability to pass the HD audio to the Onkyo Processor…and that would mean purchasing a separate BR/HDDVD also. Or, if I went with the Oppo 981 – the audio DACs wouldn’t be as good, but the video to the 70” Sony would be better????

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,
Steve

Sony Ps3 for Blu-ray.

If you want to go format neutral in the new HD format war, you are probably going to be best off getting two separate players at this point - the combo players are still a bit new to market and are expensive, and with a processor like yours the separate boxes are quite manageable.

The Panasonic BD30 might be a good candidate for Blu-ray with the 885 instead of the PS3 - unlike the PS3, it'll pass a bitstream of TrueHD and DTS-HD MA, it's Profile 1.1 (although it won't ever be Profile 2.0, which the PS3 should be able to support via firmware update at some point), it is reportedly only a few seconds slower at loading discs than the PS3, and it's a true standalone player with a proper IR remote.

The two OPPO's mentioned will pass all of their supported audio signals via HDMI, although neither have any support for the newest HD audio formats (DD+, TrueHD, or DTS-HD) because they don't support HD-DVD or Blu-ray (the only two formats capable of containing those formats). Are you referring to the HD audio formats from the last format war (DVD-A and SACD)? If so, either will suffice. The 980H will even do DSD from SACD's, whereas the 981HD will convert SACD's to PCM first. Reports I've read indicate that the difference is very difficult to identify, especially since your processor most likely performs a conversion to PCM anyway so that it can pass the audio through the DSP section. And in both cases, the analog audio section is completely irrelevent (digital audio out). For your screen size, the 981HD is probably the better of the two.

Based on previous posts in another thread I did as gonk has just suggested. I bought a Toshiba A30 and a Samsung 1400.

The prices thru amazon were good and there was software supplied. For the price I am pleased.

I'd second Lizard King's suggestion, and would also note that the PS3 is pretty astounding as a redbook CD player now. Sony had their audio group implement some bit shaping upsampling algorithms on the Cell processor in the thing, and its output through HDMI to the Onkyo (I also got the 885 recently) is really astounding. Better than my sony SCD-555ES SACD player.

It does not do DSD output, but does a really good job of high resolution PCM conversion and sending that to the 885 over HDMI as well. Note the 40GB PS3 does NOT do SACD, but all other models do.

BB

Thanks for the feedback.

Gonk - thanks for the clarification. I got hung up on all the "on-line" benefits of DSD output with the Onkyo 885.

Just to clarify, I am planning on buying two units... one to use primarily for audio (1000 or so CDs/SACDs) and EITHER a Blueray or HDDVD player for HT use. I have no problem waiting to make the BR/HD-DVD decision (just want everything to be DD+, TrueHD and DTS-HD "ready" - that is why I went with the Onkyo 885). In the interim, would you still recommend the Oppo 981 instead of the 980? I was thinking of using the 980 as my long-term cd/sacd player and hoping the video from the 980 coupled with the Reon in the processor would be "close" to the DVD video quality achieved by the 981.

In short, I don't have a clue as to the net audio difference between the 980/981 are really like, and what the video processing (Faroudja, Reon, etc.) will look like when everything comes together. To compund the confusion, it reads like Oppo may be coming out with a unit soon that has the audio benefits of the 980 and even better video than the 981????

You are about the only person I know that has touched all this stuff and understand what these acronyms really mean to us "less-technical and highly confused".

Thanks again,
Steve
P.S. we are already a wii and xbox 360 family...adding a PS3 would have low WAF in our house at this time... although I have played games on the PS3 and like it...A LOT!!!

The 980H is a better DVD-A/SACD player than the 981HD, as it has the strongest analog section of any of OPPO's players - although if you are using the HDMI connection, that becomes a moot point and the differences between the two fade away. With a 70" SXRD like yours, I'd lean toward the 981HD for video performance. You could use the 980H's 480i output and the 885's Reon to match or possibly even beat the 981HD, but you'd need to change the output resolution anytime you wanted to use the HDMI connection to carry DVD-A or SACD data (audio bandwidth of HDMI is tied to the active video bandwidth, so you can't get multichannel PCM or DSD without running at least 720p video). The 981HD would probably be the more convenient approach.

There is a new OPPO player in development - the 983H will use a pair of Anchor Bay chips for deinterlacing and scaling (the same chips used in ABT's VP30 video processor) and will be based on the 980H's platform (thus HDMI v1.2 with DSD support). It's still a little while off, though. Rumors seem to suggest a couple more months before it's ready, and a price tag between $300 and $400.