OPPO UDP-203 4K ULTRA HD PLAYER OWNERS THREAD

On the subject of FLAC files.
I have about 200 cds and am trying to find the best way to store and play them into either my Arcam AVR 850 or the OPPO BDP 203. I want to maintain cd quality together with a useable menu to easily find the CD or track I want to play. My initial thought was to buy a Brennan B2 at about £600 but then I imagined storing the cds in FLAC format on a 128GB memory stick using a £30 program that I have forgotten the name of!
Arcam say their USB inputs may be not able to cope with a large number of files, so I was wondering if anyone has gone down a similar route using the USB socket on the OPPO? I am also aware a solution may be a NAS but my knowledge of these is slim and the cost may be higher.
Any suggestions.
I just want to store away my cd collection to release shelf space for movie discs.
Also is it possible to use a NAS to store blu rays ( not UHD) in an uncompressed format that is user friendly?
 
On the subject of FLAC files.
I have about 200 cds and am trying to find the best way to store and play them into either my Arcam AVR 850 or the OPPO BDP 203. I want to maintain cd quality together with a useable menu to easily find the CD or track I want to play. My initial thought was to buy a Brennan B2 at about £600 but then I imagined storing the cds in FLAC format on a 128GB memory stick using a £30 program that I have forgotten the name of!
Arcam say their USB inputs may be not able to cope with a large number of files, so I was wondering if anyone has gone down a similar route using the USB socket on the OPPO? I am also aware a solution may be a NAS but my knowledge of these is slim and the cost may be higher.
Any suggestions.
I just want to store away my cd collection to release shelf space for movie discs.
Also is it possible to use a NAS to store blu rays ( not UHD) in an uncompressed format that is user friendly?

Hi @barrywi!
I can share my experience regarding your question.
Usually I play "files" on my Oppo 203 movies, tv-series and MUSIC in the form of FLAC, ALAC, AIFF and DSD files (all this additionally to disks).
And I play the aforementioned files in two ways:
1. from USB directly
2. from a NAS I have (an old but still good Sinology with 2 bays for 2 HDD's)

Now, despite majority of my music is in FLAC variant, I can't say I have thousands of FLAC files, but even if I would have, I would have it as I do now, in sub-folders per singer/author, then another subfolders for the respective albums. I know this is not a very easy way to navigate, find and play something, but it is still something, and, I also find a way to not require a display (TV or projector) to be started to browse and select files to play: the Oppo app (on my iPad).

As a suggestion, I would say this:
- check the storage capacity of that device that you said will cost you about 600 GBP, and if this can or not be increased (easily) over time or not
- then, whit the answer, give a chance to a NAS device which would be much easy to upgrade, not mentioning that can be probably less costly including some HDD's for it
- also, I know that (I will give Sinology as example again, cause this is what I have and know) NAS's have possibilities to install additional applications on them, and for sure you'll find some that will even manage your collection MUCH better than just having to browse for folders and files; just mind that some of them 'might' do "re-encode on the fly" your files for playing on various devices (for example for playing FLAC's on iPhone/iPad, will "convert" them on-the-fly for something that iPad/iPhone can play; your files will not be changed, just what is "streamed" to your devices MIGHT be).
(EDIT: ) - and yes, a NAS with such app as I mentioned above for music, CAN store also Blu-Ray's ripped from your disks, but you'll need GIAINORMUS amount of space, since one single Blu-Ray (not UHD), can have up to 50-80GB (or even more?!?!). But you'll have to find a way to "rip" those disks, but with this I can't help you, since I have never done this, and for sure I'll never do, because I LIKE MY MOVIES ON DISKS! :p
- Maybe consider a Kaleidescape device???

Hope this helps! (at least for start)
 
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The Brennan B2 has a built in CD drive and 2 TB hard drive, which would be plenty enough for my cd collection, though it cannot cope with SACDs . I would keep my SACDs available for playing from disc .as some have surround mixes. I doubt whether I would buy many more cds So do not need massive storage. I just need a simple setup with a good menu.
 
The Brennan B2 has a built in CD drive and 2 TB hard drive, which would be plenty enough for my cd collection, though it cannot cope with SACDs . I would keep my SACDs available for playing from disc .as some have surround mixes. I doubt whether I would buy many more cds So do not need massive storage. I just need a simple setup with a good menu.
rip to a hard drive,plug into the back of the opp,use the app to play the files.simples
 
The Brennan B2 has a built in CD drive and 2 TB hard drive, which would be plenty enough for my cd collection, though it cannot cope with SACDs . I would keep my SACDs available for playing from disc .as some have surround mixes. I doubt whether I would buy many more cds So do not need massive storage. I just need a simple setup with a good menu.
If you don't mind, I would say just forget about this Brennan device and get a Sinology with minimum of 2 bays (HDD's) and put there two HDD's of 4 TB (or bigger, if will fit into the budget) and you can have either 8 TB of storage without protection or 4 TB of storage with protection (if one disk fails, you'll not loose anything).
And when you'll make the comparison, take into account that the Sinology WILL store your Blu-Rays and/or SACD's too!
And, you can anytime check the user interface of one Sinology on their website (live): Synology Live Demo (which BTW you'll use just to setup everything up, then you don't need to connect there anymore, although is at a browser webpage distance)
 
I've backed-up all my audio CD's to FLAC files and all my Blu-ray disc movies to MKV contained files. All of which are stored onto USB connected HDD's.

Although the OPPO is able to play all my media files fine (using the MediaControl app on my Android tablet), some people might find the OPPO's GUI a little lacking in flare...
 
Would a128 gb memory stick work just as well quality wise?
 
The Brennan B2 has a built in CD drive and 2 TB hard drive, which would be plenty enough for my cd collection, though it cannot cope with SACDs . I would keep my SACDs available for playing from disc .as some have surround mixes. I doubt whether I would buy many more cds So do not need massive storage. I just need a simple setup with a good menu.

I did buy an Cocktail Audio X10 many years ago 2TB,i must have put a least 800/900 CD on it so far in FLAC,still got about 300 or 400 left to do,so your should fit on,with a lot of room to spare.
I put my Cocktail audio though an Audiolab DAC,then into my Arcam 850,so i ca use stereo direct on the Arcam :)
 
Would a128 gb memory stick work just as well quality wise?
The capacity of the 'memory stick' does not have an affect on quality!

Audio CD's are encoded using 'lossless' PCM encoded audio (up-to a maximum capacity of 700MB each). FLAC is also a lossless audio format but around 50% the size of PCM.
 
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On the subject of FLAC files.
I have about 200 cds and am trying to find the best way to store and play them into either my Arcam AVR 850 or the OPPO BDP 203. I want to maintain cd quality together with a useable menu to easily find the CD or track I want to play. My initial thought was to buy a Brennan B2 at about £600 but then I imagined storing the cds in FLAC format on a 128GB memory stick using a £30 program that I have forgotten the name of!
Arcam say their USB inputs may be not able to cope with a large number of files, so I was wondering if anyone has gone down a similar route using the USB socket on the OPPO? I am also aware a solution may be a NAS but my knowledge of these is slim and the cost may be higher.
Any suggestions.
I just want to store away my cd collection to release shelf space for movie discs.
Also is it possible to use a NAS to store blu rays ( not UHD) in an uncompressed format that is user friendly?
You already have all the (audio) hardware you need. If you were prepared to pay £600 for the brennan, then instead you could get a lifetime Roon subscription, which is what I use with my 203, going into an AVR390.

The big advantage with this is that you will get the best streaming software interface in the business. It’s expensive, but worth it IMO. Your 203 can be used as a Roon ’endpoint’, so no other hardware needed on the audio side. The other great thing is that in future you could also use it to control a multi-room streaming system using hardware from a range of other manufacturers.

What you will need is a computer to run the Roon server (“Core”) on. If you don’t have one, and for practical reasons you probably want something that you can leave constantly running, I recently discovered that you can pick up decent spec refurbished ex-business laptops on ebay for very low cost. Just check the minimum spec that Roon requires.

As long as you have some kind of computer already you could at least try the Roon free trial.

I’m using Roon to stream to 203s in different rooms and a bunch of Sonos speakers around the house.
 
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I have a problem with my 203. I use it quite a bit to play blu ray audio discs, and haven't had a problem, up until now... I bought an old favourite 'Fly By Night' by Rush, hadn't realised there was a 5.1 mix on there! Anyway, when I play either of the surround sound mixes, it cuts off the first couple of seconds of each track. I've tried going back, playing the tracks seperately, all to no avail. The stereo mix plays perfectly. Anyone any ideas as to what I might try to rectify this? My Oppo is connected to an Onkyo TX NR686. Thanks in advance.
I have the DVD-A version of that disc (came with the sector 1 box set) and it plaaaays fine going to Arcam FMJ 850.
HDMI audio output is set to auto on my 203.
 
I have the DVD-A version of that disc (came with the sector 1 box set) and it plaaaays fine going to Arcam FMJ 850.
HDMI audio output is set to auto on my 203.
Thanks. Looks like it maybe a problem with the HDMI handshake between the player and receiver. I've tried all, sorts of different settings with no joy.
 
Thanks. Looks like it maybe a problem with the HDMI handshake between the player and receiver. I've tried all, sorts of different settings with no joy.
Could still be compatibility with your Blu-Ray disc if all other discs work OK.
Mine is a DVD-A so may well work differently
Need to find someone who has it on Blu-Ray to confirm and then report it ti QPPO if others see the same.
 
when I play either of the surround sound mixes, it cuts off the first couple of seconds of each track. I've tried going back, playing the tracks seperately, all to no avail. The stereo mix plays perfectly. Anyone any ideas as to what I might try to rectify this? My Oppo is connected to an Onkyo TX NR686. Thanks in advance.

I had this problem as well with my 203 going into an Arcam AVR390. I solved it by turning on a feature called ‘cd direct’ on the Arcam. Essentially the AVR doesn’t perform the momentary muting as it figures out what sort of audio stream it’s receiving because you’re telling it you’re only ever going to send PCM data. See if there’s a similar setting on the Onkyo.

I’m using both HDMI outs with the main one being for audio & video playback and the secondary HDMI out going to a different input on the AVR for audio only, with ‘cd direct’ engaged on that input only.
 
I had this problem as well with my 203 going into an Arcam AVR390. I solved it by turning on a feature called ‘cd direct’ on the Arcam. Essentially the AVR doesn’t perform the momentary muting as it figures out what sort of audio stream it’s receiving because you’re telling it you’re only ever going to send PCM data. See if there’s a similar setting on the Onkyo.

I’m using both HDMI outs with the main one being for audio & video playback and the secondary HDMI out going to a different input on the AVR for audio only, with ‘cd direct’ engaged on that input only.
Thanks for the advice. I'll have a look at the settings on the Onkyo tomorrow Hopefully there's a similar setting.
 
You could try setting the output of the Oppo to LPCM rather than Bitstream, forcing the decoding into the player rather than the amp, that might lock up and un-mute quicker. That said, I haven't had any problems with the other Rush Blu-rays via bitstream into my Onkyo TX-NR555, but I don't have FBN, so can't test that one. I have a memory that there was an issue with the Onkyo clipping the start of tracks when it first came out, but that was resolved in a firmware update. It's worth checking that your amp's firmware is up to date.
 
You could try setting the output of the Oppo to LPCM rather than Bitstream, forcing the decoding into the player rather than the amp, that might lock up and un-mute quicker. That said, I haven't had any problems with the other Rush Blu-rays via bitstream into my Onkyo TX-NR555, but I don't have FBN, so can't test that one. I have a memory that there was an issue with the Onkyo clipping the start of tracks when it first came out, but that was resolved in a firmware update. It's worth checking that your amp's firmware is up to date.

I had missed changing one setting to LCPM, and now it plays fine, so many thanks.
 
Managed to get my hands on a 3D Blu-ray of ‘Gemini Man’ but when I popped it into the Oppo it only played in 2D, no option to switch to 3D. I tried it in my old Samsung disc spinner on the non-3D tv in the lounge and immediately got the message ‘about needing a 3D tv for playback’. When I put it back in the Oppo the disc presented me with the menu In glorious 3D. This has happened before with another title. That other title plays 3D sometimes and 2D others. Hope I’m not going to have this face every time I want to watch/demo Gemini Man!
 
I decided to try a test given the sonic abilities of this player. I dug out some old AudioQuest RCA cables and connected them to the Yamaha RX-A3010. Music is all FLAC on a USB external drive connected to the rear USB socket.

Initially it was hard to hear a difference between the HDMI Audio connection and the analogue. But having spent several hours listening I now prefer the DAC on the Oppo to the Yamaha. It is worth experimenting if you have a spare pair of interconnects.
The DAC in the Oppo UDP 203 is very good, not quite as good as the DAC in the Oppo UDP 205 but quite close. The review by Audioholics thoroughly tested the DAC capabilities and it measured and performed just a smidgen behind the Oppo UDP 205 DAC.

In my small living room not enough space for ceiling speakers I've been using the DAC and analogues from my Oppo UDP 203 for years hooked up to a integrated subwoofer & A/B amp (no DAC in it) and speakers. Use it for blu ray/4k discs with Dolby TrueHD, DTS Master Audio, With Dolby Atmos & DTS X discs down mixed into my 5 speakers.

And also for 2 channel music listening from CDS and SACDs. I get a nice linear neutral sound even from my current average tiny satellite speakers. Got a new pair of high performing bookshelf speakers on the way that will improve the sound quality greatly. Then only 3 more high quality speakers from the same brand for neutrality to get for the centre and surrounds later in the year and I will be sorted sound wise for the foreseeable future :D
 
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The DAC in the Oppo UDP 203 is very good, not quite as good as the DAC in the Oppo UDP 205 but quite close. The review by Audioholics thoroughly tested the DAC capabilities and it measured and performed just a smidgen behind the Oppo UDP 205 DAC.

Ive been using the DAC and analogues from my Oppo UDP 203 for years hooked up to a integrated subwoofer & A/B amp (no DAC in it) and speakers. Use it for blu ray/4k discs with Dolby TrueHD, DTS Master Audio, With Dolby Atmos & DTS X discs down mixed into my 5 speakers.

And also for 2 channel music listening from CDS and SACDs. I get a good sound even from my current average tiny satellite speakers. Got a new pair of high performing bookshelf speakers on the way that will improve the sound quality greatly. Then only 3 more high quality speakers to get for the centre and surrounds later in the year and I will be sorted for the foreseeable future :D

Totally agree with the performance of the 203 DAC. I'm still struggling to hear any real differences between the 203, 205 or the Sonica (same DAC as 205) when playing various music files via USB. All 3 are excellent and out perform the built-in DACs in my AVR (up to Denon 4 range anyway). I've now come to the conclusion the reason for this may lie within the limitations of my amp, speakers, room or moreso my hearing and not the Oppos. By far the biggest improvement for me was room treatment over any DAC comparison tho.
 
@kahlua , I'll be interested in your findings. Because my RCAs are only just long enough and are 30 years old (Audioquest) I'm considering a longer pair. Any recommendations? I spole to Richer Sounds today about Chord and I thought they would recommend these C-Line but instead they suggested the Shawline. Crikey, not sure I'm ready to aprt with that much. Thoughts?
I've experimented with many RCA interconnects on my Oppo UDP 203. Actually used expensive silver plated Chords but the combination of copper and silver plating made everything music, voices sound bright kind of artificial. Plus the silver plating rusted within 6 months, very poor quality control from Chord.

The RCA interconnects I currently use are the best bang for buck and squeeze the most out of the Oppo UDP 203 DAC in my personal opinion. I use the Van Damme Hi Fi series RCA interconnects & speaker cable which is a step up from the excellent Van Damme Blue Series that I used previously.

BBC studios and Abbey Road music studio use Van Damme cables as well lot's of music producer's worldwide so they're a company you can trust.
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The DAC in the Oppo UDP 203 is very good, not quite as good as the DAC in the Oppo UDP 205 but quite close....

In my small living room not enough space for ceiling speakers I've been using the DAC and analogues from my Oppo UDP 203 for years...

And also for 2 channel music listening from CDS and SACDs....

There were 2 reasons I decided to buy a dedicated streamer.
1) Gapless playback was only possible from a USB drive, not my NAS box upstairs holding my music.
2) The app is pretty limited with no further development.

I have no regrets. Love the music from CD quality and hi-res files.
 
I've experimented with many RCA interconnects on my Oppo UDP 203. Actually used expensive silver plated Chords but the combination of copper and silver plating made everything music, voices sound bright kind of artificial. Plus the silver plating rusted within 6 months, very poor quality control from Chord.

The RCA interconnects I currently use are the best bang for buck and squeeze the most out of the Oppo UDP 203 DAC in my personal opinion. I use the Van Damme Hi Fi series RCA interconnects & speaker cable which is a step up from the excellent Van Damme Blue Series that I used previously.

You should write reviews for What Hi-Fi. ;) Over the 40 years I’ve had hi-fi I’ve tried various interconnects and the difference is very subtle. I ended up with Chord Clearway which I’m pleased with. Strange how your interconnects rust. Do you live near the coast?
 
There were 2 reasons I decided to buy a dedicated streamer.
1) Gapless playback was only possible from a USB drive, not my NAS box upstairs holding my music.
2) The app is pretty limited with no further development.

I have no regrets. Love the music from CD quality and hi-res files.
Good choice for your setup and needs. Oppo UDP 203 really is a great player for music, just a pity they stopped making UHD player's. Guess it is a niche market these days not very profitable for Oppo to continue.
 

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