Just joined Outlaws Family With the 975/5000!

I was so excited to get all of my equipment and finally get it all set up this past Friday. I got the combo package from Outlaw which included the 975 pre, the Model 5000 amp and the Oppo UDP 203. I then went out on bought an SVS PC2000 sub and am using Tekton Pendragon's for the front soundstage. Don't have any surrounds hooked up yet but wired it for that. So far I am VERY impressed with this setup. I need to dial it in and mess with the settings some more but it sounds pretty good right out of the box.

Welcome to the forum. I'm sure you'll enjoy you combo even more when you get the surround speakers in.

Wow! Sounds like a great weekend! Welcome to the saloon!

Welcome to the Saloon. Use the forum to ask anything you want and always share your experience.

You should enjoy that set-up. If you have any questions regarding settings do not hesitate to ask. Barring any catastrophic room issues you should find the 975 up to the task. We love ours

Thanks!I certainly will. And I saw you had 3 different set ups, that's awesome. That's what brought me to Outlaw, I was using my 2 channel rig as my main multimedia set up and although it worked, I wanted more. Dynamics, 5.1 surround, lossless DTS and Dolby Digital, HDMI connections and so on. I unfortunately do not have the luxury of having multiple systems so I sold off my two channel gear, which made me VERY sad because it sounded amazing, but am very happy with the multichannel system I was able to put together.

My constant acquisition of equipment over the last 40 some years has left me the ability to set up too many different systems for my wife and family to keep track of. I just never seem to get rid of any of the stuff I have acquired. The wife is constantly harping on me to get rid of some stuff but I just don't I am in the process of setting up a system for my garage with some old stuff I have had for 40 years. Have fun with you setup.

So after a lot of tinkering and calibrating and really getting everything dialed in. I spent the weekend in audio bliss. Man. The sound is detailed, dynamic, effortless and pretty much some of the best sound I have got out of an audio system. I am not turning it up past a -25 and the speakers and amp aren't even breaking a sweat. I had the 5000 on for like 7 hours on Friday and it wasn't even hot. For less money than many mid level AVR's, it's a no brainer. I am SO glad I sent back the Yamaha RXA-1050 and went this route!

Cool that you are digging the new combo.

I was and still am impressed with the sq from the 975. We went from a straight 2.0 set using a Nelson Pass designed preamp feeding through an OPPO handling the downmixing with mixed results at best. I knew tv and movies would be better but expected to take a big hit in quality for straight music. We were happily surprised when things turned out so well.

Yeah, I was expecting the same thing. That on movies it was going to be ridiculous but on serious 2 channel music that it was going to be mediocre at best. Boy was I wrong. Now is it as good on music as my dedicated dac and Decware combo was? No. But still pretty darn impressive. That brings up a question I have. So I know the 976 is right around the corner and I might get that for different reasons but one of them is the pure analog stage. So do you think the dac's in the Oppo UDP-203 are better than the dac's in the 975? But I know the dac's in the 976 are going to be better than the ones in the 975, how better? Who knows.

I guess Ben knows. LOL

OH? Ben must be The Shadow!

While OPPO uses solid hardware they have never been known for using top of the line audiophile dacs.

That said: I can play a cd running directly out of my BDP-103 to the amp and while the sound is good the 975 does a better job. The BDP-105 has a better audio section than the 103 so there would be differences. From what I have read the UDP-203 and 205 will follow the same pattern.

To answer your question, I have no idea. Maybe Ben or one of the other Outlaws could take a minute to give their thoughts. I know of one of the Outlaws is using the 976 at home so could give a hands on comparison between the 975 and 976.

Knowing how busy the Outlaws can be they could just send a 976 to me and I could save them time by reporting back. 😎

As far as pure electronic capability the DACs in the OPPO will outperform the DACs in the 975 just based on the fact that the 975 uses 24 bit DACs and the OPPO uses 32 bit DACs. The capability and future proof-ness of the OPPO is greater than the 975 but...it all depends on whether any source material can use that extra headroom the 32 bit DACs allow for. In the real world dynamic range is limited to around 124db which can be fully "captured" using a 21 bit DAC. CD quality reproduction is done using 16 bits at 44.1khz frequency of capture which is just above the limit of human hearing. Most of us humans will never hear a difference in sound between 16 and 32 bit DACs.

Thanks for the info. I am not too educated on the science behind dac's I just know certain dac's are "supposed" to sound better than others. That being said. What is the best way to send an SACD or DVD-Audio signal to my pre-amp? Right now I am sending it through the HDMI connection and have it set up in the Oppo for PCM. I was thinking about getting the 976 to take advantage of that pure analog stage and hook up the Oppo through analog cables to the 976 and let the Oppo do all the decoding. What do you think? Then again, I am SO VERY happy with EVERYTHING I am hearing with my current set up, I might just be at the end of my journey for audio bliss. I have had a lot, and I mean a lot of systems in my time and this one for sure takes the cake. I am so happy with everything that I might not need another single thing. I am even finally happy with my video display. After going through about 6 tv's this past year, I went back to plasma. I found a VT30 65 inch Panasonic and the picture is amazing.

Let your pre/pro handle all of the audio decoding and processing.

I doubt you would hear any difference by re-arranging your system to use the OPPOs DACs. I would Opt for the simplicity of HDMI. I have used my system both ways and can tell no audible difference.

Yeah, you are probably right. I REALLY like the way it sounds now and really see no reason to change things. I honestly think I have come to the end of my audio/video journey. Which feels good. A lot of times we keep wanting to upgrade and upgrade and upgrade and I get it because that's what our hobby is all about but I am 110% happy with my system. The only thing I need to get is some decent surround sound speakers. Is there an area here where we can post pictures of our systems?