Recently purchased the 990 and am quite happy with it. Lower noise floor, more detail, better imaging and more realistic sounding than my Parasound AVC-1800 that it replaced. Noticed a few Parasound power amp users like myself on this forum. Don't think I will be sending the 990 back. My DVD-As, SACDs, CDs and DVD movies never sounded so good. Have my 990 on Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfeet and resolution increased again. Wife and children are happy as well. Nice upgrade!

Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfeet ???
What is that?
I do have a Parasound 1205A for my 5 rear/center channels,opted to go with a Carvin DCM1000 for fronts.( more watts)

Bill,

I also use a Parasound 1205A currently for my 5.1 home theater. The Herbie's Audio Lab Tenderfeet are similar in theory like the Vibrapods but much better. Helps to isolate your components from vibrations that could smear the sound of your system. I have the Tenderfeet under all my components. Here's the link to the Tenderfeet I use: http://herbiesaudiolab.home.att.net/footers.htm

Don't have enough room to have a 7.1 system because the speakers I use are Magnepan IIIas front and rear with an Eminent Technology LFT-XII as my center channel.

Welcome to the forum, slbenz, and it's good to hear that another 990 has found a good home.

Gonk,

Thanks. Are you the same Gonk that I see posting on the AVS Forum under the Oppo 970 thread? I own an Oppo DV-970HD that is fully tricked out short of actual internal modifications and have contributed there as well.

Slbenz

That's me. I post in the 970HD thread over there from time to time, although that happens to be the one OPPO player that I haven't ever used.

Gonk,

Had a feeling it was you. I was probably one of the first buyers of the Oppo 970 last year and provided feedback to the Oppo team in Mountain View about the various add-ons I did to their player. From an aftermarket power cord, isolation feet, vibration mat for CD/DVD discs and connecting a Channel Islands Audio VDA-2 external DAC and VAC-1 power supply for 2-channel, the Oppo really sings now. Recently had my brother-in-law compare his Samsung 841 to my Oppo 970 in stock form. No comparison. The Oppo sounded much, much better than his Samsung. He is now looking to buying an Oppo. That new Oppo 980 looks very intriguing but unfortunately he can't display 1080p with his current front projector. I may have to visit the Oppo office and check out their new 980 since their office is only 20 minutes away from me. In the meantime, back to listening to the Outlaw Audio Model 990 as I write this.

Slbenz

Okay, I just found this thread and I googled the DV-970HD. My Yamaha S2500 crapped out and I started looking at the Adcom GDV-870. However the DV-970HD looks like a pretty awesome piece of equipment for the price, plus they are in Mountain View, a stones throw away.

I'm gathering Gonk and Slbenz, you both highly recommend it?

Retep,

I see you are in Atherton, I am in Fremont. I have been quite happy with the performance of my DV-970HD. Next month will mark one year that I have owned it. No problems to speak of. Probably one of the best sounding units I have heard in the under $200 range. Used to have a Pioneer 563A and the Oppo sounds better. Image quality is on par with the Toshiba HD-A2 Blu-Ray player set at 1080i. A side note, if you check the Cary Audio site and look at the internals of their DVD 8 universal player, the circuit boards and transport are reported to be the same as found in the Oppo DV-970HD. If this is true, which I believe, then the Oppo uses the same design (less the chassis) of a $1200 MSRP universal player. If you decide to purchase the Oppo, make sure to immediately replace the stock power cord with an aftermarket one. Increased detail and bass definition will result. Gonk could probably comment on the new Oppo 980 vs. the Oppo 970 but at least I am quite satisfied with my Oppo whether I use it as a transport or in multi-channel mode. Hope this helps.

Slbenz

I haven't used the 970HD, but I have used the 981HD and the 980H. The 981HD was on par with my Yamaha S1500 for DVD-A and actually a touch better on SACD, and I think the 980H improves a bit on the 981HD for both. The 981HD has the more powerful scaling solution, but on my display (a 32" CRT HDTV) the difference was only really apparent with some messy source material that caused combing for an earlier version of the 980H's firmware (haven't tried the production firmware yet, waiting on a final hardware sample) but was flawless on the 981HD.