I currently have an OPPO 950 and I'm going to buy an Oppo BDP-83 blu-ray player when it is released. This leads me to decisions regarding how to setup the audio:

Option 1: use analog outs on the BDP-83. This raises the question of how the 5-channel bypass on the Outlaw 950 compares to that of the 990. Would I see any improvement by upgrading to the 990? I have no need for new features and am only interested in the analog bypass quality.

Option 2: Buy the 990 and use it's DACs. But is there any expectation that the 990 would outperform the BDP-83's analog outputs? It's probably too soon to know the answer to this, but any insight would be appreciated. Initial reviews seem good on the Oppo's audio.

Thanks!

The analog bypass on the 950 is quite good, and I wouldn't expect to hear any real difference between it and the 990's analog bypass. The bulk of the work is happening at the player in either case.

You are still going to need to use the BDP-83's DAC's and multichannel analog output to get the high-res audio formats (TrueHD, DTS-HD, multichannel PCM, DVD-Audio, SACD) because the 990 lacks HDMI input. Pushing digital out of the BDP-83 to the 990 is going to work fine for DVD's and CD's (Dolby Digital, DTS, and PCM stereo work fine over coaxial and optical), but not for the rest. The BDP-83 doesn't have the level of surround processing sophistication of the Model 990 (speaking specifically of features like Pro Logic IIx that can be used in conjunction like basic decoding) - no disc player does - but its analog section is good - good enough that I think it can hang toe-to-toe with the Onkyo 885 I've been using during beta testing. For additional point of reference, I found the 885 and 990 to be quite closely matched.

The Model 990 offers some nice upgrades from the 950, in my opinion, even if for the specific case of intermediary between a BDP-83 and your ears it may not yield any significant audio benefits. The DSP chip is faster, so signal acquisition times with digital signals are much lower. The analog video transcoding from composite and s-video to component is handy, and the editable input names are something you quickly can classify as "essential." The analog section is also better, so for any digital sources that might be coexisting with the BDP-83 there could be some nice improvements. If your sole interest is how Blu-ray will sound, it would be hard to justify, but the upgrade would offer some other nice changes. It's bigger, though (particularly in height), so you'd need to be sure you had the space in the equipment rack for it.

Thanks Gonk. For some reason I was convinced the 990 had HDMI in.

I'll start out with using the analog bypass on the 950 and see how it goes!

Now, when is oppo gonna release the darn BDP-83!

Fear not, we are getting closer...

What DAC is used in the BDP-83?

For the multichannel analog output, they are using the Cirrus CS4382A. For the stereo analog output, they are using the Cirrus CS4398. The two are separate because the stereo output is always providing a downmixed stereo signal, while the multichannel analog output is configured based on the audio setup options chosen in the player's menu.

Interesting...thank you Gonk.

Gonk, my Bdp-83 will be here Monday. For video to my 720P plasma, is there a disadvantage to running it through my 990 with a DVI/HDMI cable? That is how I have it now with my DV-983. Is there a reason to run a HDMI cable direct from the BDP-83 to the plasma? Thanks, Ken

Since you've already got things set up to use the 990's switching, I'd keep using it. There's no downside to it - no degradation.

The only time I'd be slightly wary of using the 990's DVI switching is if you had a cable running to a remote display (projector or a display in another room) such that the cable leaving the 990 was at or beyond the length limits of HDMI's spec (45 feet), as at that point I get nervous about any switching or excess connections. It's still feasible, but under those circumstances any switching that lacks a booster does introduce some potential risks.

Thanks Gonk. That is what I'll do. If I later upgrade to a 1080P display, will the 990 pass the 1080P signal through?