Is anyone with a 990 using an oppo bdp-83?

I have a problem that I have not read anyone else mention on the early adopters forum for oppo 83 - avsforum.com
When I am running bitstream out of the oppo via the coaxial or optical outs to the respective ins on the 990 and playing a cd, the audio drops out when I change tracks. The only way I can restore audio is to switch to the other input.
So if I am listening to cd via optical, I have to change to coaxial, and vice-versa.
This does not happen if lpcm is selected on the oppo, nor on the analog outs, so it's a bitstream issue.
Also, I have had no problems with bitstream out with dvd's.
Oppo said they were having "issues" with the 990.
I have hooked up the 990 to 3 other dvd players and no problems with cd's.

Any ideas much appreciated.

Same here. I called them a few days ago. They told me the same thing. I have it hooked up optically, and when I hit the "next track" button, no audio, but the track is playing. I hit the "mute" X2, and the audio returns. Personally, I don't think the "issue" is with the 990. I hope they resolve this. It's a very nice player other than this.

Thanks ceddc

Then it's not only my 990 so I would guess it's an Oppo issue.

Hopefully they have it on their to-do list.

Yeah, I'm very happy with it otherwise too.

Hey again. I hooked up my old HK 47 dvd player thru the coax digital input this AM. The HK is a garden variety upconverting dvd player, that also plays SACD via analog. I set it to bitstream, and like your experiences, everything worked fine. Looks like the "issue" is OPPO's, in that the HK is competent, but nothing special. If I can think of anything else as a workaround, I'll let you know. Later.

I've traded some email with OPPO on this. They are looking into it. I'll post more if I hear anything from them.

In the meanwhile, I'll toss out a possible "workaround" that occurs to me: use the 7.1 Direct input on the 990. The BDP-83's analog section is quite good (at least on par with my Onkyo 885). That could be a good solution for listening to CD's while they get a firmware update ready that fixes the digital output problem.

I agree with Gonk on using the analog outputs as opposed to using optical/digital outs. IMO, the DACs in the BDP-83 do a much better job than the 990. Also, if you are listening to 2-channel material then I recommend the stereo analog outputs on the BDP-83 as those DACs are higher quality then the multi-channel ones. I did quite a bit of A/B testing and even did some blind testing and I always found the analog outputs, especially the stereo ones, to sound much better. Admittedly having a large number (in my case 7; 5.1 and stereo) of analog cables running between the BDP-83 and the 990 can be cumbersome, but I think it is well worth it.

I do not use any of the digital signals for audio from my BDP-83. When I am watching BD-DVD I like to use the latest audio formats, which the 990 can't decode so again I am back to using the analog.

BTW, when you are looking for analog cables you don't need to spend a ton of money on them. I have the Outlaw PCA cables and they do a great job for a relatively inexpensive cable. My only complaint with those cables is they are the kind that has a locking collar that you twist to make a tight connection. This was a great idea, however they are very difficult to use on the 5.1/7.1 connections since the connectors are so close together and the cable ends are somewhat larger than normal. If I had to do it over again I would probably go with another brand that had smaller connectors.

Hey fellow Austinite mdrconsult. I finally connected my new BDP-83 last night and am simply amazed. I'm using multi channel analog connects since my old Onkyo 777 has no HDMI. I skipped the optical connects this time around. I sampled BD, SACD, DVD-A, HDCD, CD, DVD, all through this connect and all were super. I also want to take advantage of the superior DACs on the stereo out. Are you just simply switching to CD at your 990?
On another thread I inquired about using a combination of multi-channel analog and HDMI for the 997 when I get one. Gonk indicated that the HDMI should sound as good as the analog (and less cable of course). I am all for a cleaner connection, but I will keep the analog connections if they provide better sound.

AusTexRocker,

The simple answer is yes I am connecting the BDP-83 stereo outputs to the 990's analog CD inputs. The more detailed answer involves my using a Logitech Harmony 880 universal remote. I have 3 different activities programed using the BDP-83 as a source. The first as mentioned above is called "Oppo-CD" and it is for 2-channel listening using the analog stereo outputs of the BDP-83 connected to the analog CD inputs. The second, "Oppo-SACD" uses the analog multi-channel outputs of the BDP-83 connected to the 7.1 (in my case 5.1) inputs on the 990. The third case. "Oppo-BD" is similar to the previous except it turns on my Mits. TV and switches to the appropriate HDMI input. Furthermore, since I have an SMS-1 in my system it also sets it correctly for the different listening modes. I have found these 3 setups to be very versatile and covers all the different modes I would use my BDP-83 for.

Your second question is a little more difficult to answer definitively. I generally will defer to Gonk's superior knowledge in all things AV. I think what he was saying is probably going to be true. Probably being the key word since I don't (nor anyone I know) have a 997 yet to make a more informed statement. However, I believe that Gonk's assumption is based on the belief that the 997 is going to have as good or better DACs than what the BDP-83 currently is using. That being said feeding the 997 a digital input via HDMI should produce as good or better sound. However, if it was comparable or even slightly less I would still consider going that route as there are some clear advantages of letting the processor do the DA conversion. For instance, I believe (but I am not certain)that the Trinnov processing will only be applied to digital inputs and since it is intended for multi-channel room equalization that means HDMI as the digital input source as the other methods would not have sufficient bandwidth. In addition, I think there will be a few more processor features that can only be applied to a digital input signal. Please note, I am saying " I believe" and "I think" because a) I don't have one yet and b) even though I have read the r-972 manual (which is really poorly written and basically useless) I don't recall any real technical information contained within it that would clarify these points.

I am assuming for now that the 997's analog section will be at least equal to the 990's, which means of course that it will be close to as good as the BDP-83's (although possibly not better). Using the HDMI connection with a 997 will allow you to use the 997's Trinnov room correction, though, and we need to hear a 997 with Trinnov dialed in before we can predict how much benefit that will impart. In the absence of that first-hand experience, I would say that it's at least best to plan on trying HDMI.

Very helpful answers from each of you. I had not considered the Trinnov issue with analog and that is one of the primary reasons I'm holding out for the 997!

Just got my BDP-83 this week and all hooked up and the same problem with the optical and changing tracks. I also just called Oppo and they said it was an issue with the compatibility of the BDP83 and the 990 and they are working on it with Outlaw.
I do have the 7.1 Analogs connected but when listening to regular CD's I really enjoy the 7Ch Stereo to fill the room.
Hopefully they will have an update for it soon.

Hey everyone! Brand new to the saloon. I've had my 990 for a few years and just swapped out my Denon 2910 DVD/SACD player for the Oppo BDP-83. Indeed I too have an issue with audio dropping out when listening to CDs via coax/optical (bitstream). Occurs when changing tracks. My work around is pressing the pause button then going to the next track. This works for the time being but you can only skip one track at a time. You must press pause each time you change tracks. Noticed this problem before checking out the saloon so it is way cool to have a resource like this to count on! It's comforting to know I'm not alone. I love the player (as well as my 990) and hope Oppo given their stellar reputation will provide a firmware update to resolve the problem.

Hmm, I have a DV 983 and Outlaw 990. I could not get the digital audio to work on the optical port. I ended up using the coax which really wasn't an issue, digital data is digital data in my view but I have to wondder why this same type of issue is present on the BDP? I would certainly hope that Oppo and Outlaw are working to resolve the issue. They share the same market and two great companies, its an issue they need to resolve.

Any progress on this?

We're approaching 2 months.

I'll check.

Thanks much.

Nothing yet....!

From Oppo:

Unfortunately at this time there is nothing you can do to resolve this issue. We have been working with Outlaw to resolve this error, but no solution has been developed.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
2629B Terminal Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

Does this issue occur with the coaxial input also? I was about to order a BDP-83 and realized I could only hook it up at this point (too many cables in back) using Optical or coaxial. If it is not resolved then I will wait for the 997 and hope the issue doesn't affect HDMI.

Yes, both coaxial and optical.
It does not happen with the analog outs, if that's an option for you, which are as good or better than coaxial/optical depending on your preferences.

I am trying to avoid all the cables by waiting for the 997 with HDMI. I don't see paying $$$ for seven cables I'll never use again once I can hook up with HDMI. Reportedly HDMI is equal to or better than the analog and it lets me use Trinnov to its full extent, whatever that may be!!

Well I got the BDP-83 anyway and I have the same audio dropout issue. I did connect via 7.1 Direct based on Gonks advice. For my work around I just swap back to 7.1 direct, select my track and then switch to optical. I'm sure they will eventually fix it with firmware but since I rarely change tracks manually it isn't much of a problem.
The system sounds great on 7.1 Direct but in my system I really do prefer the Optical input to the 990 in upsample 2.2. Even with the dropout issue it just sounds better. That's a good sign for the 990s DACs.

XenonMan

Try the 2 ch outs of the Oppo, the DAC's are better than the Oppo 7.1 DAC's.

You may like the sound better than the Outlaw DAC's via optical.

Thanks for the advice Audionirvana. When I diassemble the rack next week to install the 886 I'll have enough room for some extra wires.

It's worth a try - the 83's analog section (7.1, not stereo) stacked up remarkably well against the 885 with Audyssey. My wife actually preferred the 83's 7.1 analog output to the HDMI for CD listening the one time that I staged an unintentional listening test with her. I haven't ever wrangled in an extra two cables to compare the stereo analog output as well, though.

Some good news, the problem of the Oppo losing a bitstream signal on the 990 when changing tracks on cd's does not occur on the 83SE.

So since no one answered me in my thread . . .

What were the bass issues in the 990? I recently bought a second hand one, pretty much specifically for use as a multichannel analog preamp, and kinda want to know the current state of what it does if I am feeding it 5.1/7.1 analog (I want it to do basically nothing except act as a volume control).

Thanks

BB

990 will apply bass management if your speakers are set to anything but large. Since bass management is applied in the digital domain, 990 will convert the input signal to digital, apply bass management, then convert back to analog before the signal reaches the volume control circuitry.
This is called a "bug" because the behavior is different from what "7.1 analog direct" means and also what the 990 bass management matrix indicates.

Thanks. Can work with that.

Back (closer to) on topic. Anyone compared the 83 vs. the 83SE's analog out (stereo or mch) through the 990 when NOT engaging the 990's A/D/A bass management? This was my main reason for asking as I was not going to spring for an SE if it was going through a reconversion process.

I know Gonk is looking to do so at some point, and have read a bunch of comparisons at AVS, but specifics with the 990 in the loop are always welcome.

My review is not in depth as I have only had the SE a week, but see if it helps. I have a 990 and primarily use it 7.1 all speakers Large, or in 2CH analog. I am very happy with the SE.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1194011&page=110