OPPO Testimonials

Unsolicited Customer Testimonials sent to David J. Schulte, CEO of The Upgrade Company LLC

Every client has paid The Upgrade Company LLC in full.   No kickbacks, no commissions, no fees of any kind for recommending our products and services.

February 2012

The following letter is unsolicited and is written to David Schulte, founder of The Upgrade Company, out of the sheer joy of now having a system that has restored music to my home.  As a retired college professor turned businessman, my time is limited and the available leisure I fill with music.

For the last forty minutes, I have been seated in front of my stereo system listening to Rossini overtures.  This was one of the first SACDs I purchased when SACD first hit the market.  Frankly, I never liked the way it sounded.  No sound stage, little differentiation between instruments—everything seemed to run together.  Now, on the system that The Upgrade Company has fundamentally built for me, the disk sounds glorious with a great soundstage and wonderful differentiation between instruments.  What depth, what tonality, what precision. 

For some time, I had contemplated upgrading my system.  My dedicated SACD player was Sony’s first, and while it was an outstanding piece of equipment in its time, it created a soundstage that was less than satisfying. Reviews of more recent Sony products and products by others told me, now is the time to step up.  Furthermore, my Sony blu ray player was an entry level machine and while good, was not great.  Then I came across a review of the Oppo 95.  I spent time on the web reading reviews of the Oppo and also talking to folks from a couple of independent A/V stores who of course did not sell the Oppo but had solid opinions based on years of experience in the industry.  Everything pointed to replacing my two pieces with the Oppo 95.  My only concern was not its delivery of blu ray material but its ability to deliver high quality audio for my extensive SACD collection.  Well, I purchased the Oppo, and was delighted but still desired more.

One of the web sites that I read that helped convince me to purchase the Oppo was The Upgrade Company.  This site also talked about turning the Oppo into a machine that could rival the reproduction of music of machines costing $70,000.  Wow.  Bold statement. But was it a reckless statement?  Was this snake oil or the real McCoy?  A couple of reviews of The Upgrade Company accused its founder, David Schulte, of being a charlatan.  There was only one way to learn for myself:  I called The Upgrade Company and spoke to Schulte directly.

What I learned after numerous conversations with Schulte—and does this guy make himself available—is that he knows his industry, he knows the equipment he sells and upgrades intimately—who needs the manual when you have Schulte--and, most important, that he is a person of integrity.  When a small but rare problem occurred to my Onkyo 5508,  before I could finish describing the problem to him, he told me that he was shipping me a fresh 5508 and that he would cover the cost of shipping the new one to me and the cost of returning the damaged one to him.  That deserves another Wow.  Schulte does business the way I do—quality before profit.  With Schulte, you not only get his outstanding upgraded equipment—the Onyko and the Oppo are what he said they would be after his upgrade--but also his guarantee.  It is as if his personal integrity is found in every box that that he sends to you.

One last point before I give Schulte a swelled head.  I also purchased TimePortal power cords, speaker cables and interconnects.  What a difference these make, truly make.  I had good cables before, but TimePortals are truly as good as the most costly cords on the market today.  These make a huge difference even if you do nothing more to your present equipment.

Sincerely,
Alfred Balitzer, Ph.D.

A brief bio on Dr. Balitzer can be found on Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Balitzer

Hi David,

The Oppo 93 SE arrived late yesterday afternoon.  I was able to get it installed shortly after it came.  First impressions are excellent.  Both picture and sound improved considerably over my stock 93.  Used reference discs to make comparisons.  Your upgraded 93 beat out stock every time .. no matter what I was trying to evaluate.

One thing that really stood out .. at least for me .. is the very noticeable increase in deep bass sound quality.  I'm using twin Velodyne's and they've never sounded better.  Of course, the sound overall is much improved, but the deep bass is even more impressive.

Of course, these are just first impressions.  The unit doesn't even have 5 hours on it yet.  
But, it sure made a great first impression!

I can tell you right now, David, this upgraded 93 will not be coming back to you.

Great job!  Thanks,
Brent

In a message dated 1/14/2012 11:39:38 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, _______ writes:

Sure, David, go right ahead and post my comments.  I'd love for others to know how good your upgrades are .. right out of the box!!

I'll still be sending The Upgrade Company my Onkyo 5508 to be upgraded.  First, I want to give the Oppo 93 SE some burn-in time and let it settle in .. plus, get used to the new level of transparency and detail I'm now hearing in my system.  Once I'm used to the upgraded Oppo 93's "sound", I'll be in a better position to judge the individual merits of the upgraded Onkyo 5508.

The referrals removed all doubt in my mind about going ahead with this. 

Here's the bottom line: I didn't know my system could sound THIS GOOD!!

Brent

On Feb 1, 2012, at 4:52 AM, Brent Tuthill <   > wrote:

 December 2011

My Oppo-95 Signature Edition arrived in September-2011. Connected to the system it perform good but not State of the Art until it burned in.  I know this is usual with any brand new high end audio or video component.  Now after the ups and downs of the burn-in period, the sound is stable and just fantastic.  I will not be surprised if it continues to progress over time. The sound is wonderful; relaxed yet dynamic, voices are absolutely analog sounding even with recordings which sounded intolerantly bright with my previous player.  My previous player was a killer in the midrange, the Upgrade Co. Oppo 95 smoked it!!  I may have to sell my turntable now.

The picture is the best I have seen. Given the 95's multiple format possibilities, the possibility to connect to external music drives, connection to the Internet, all make the Upgrade Co. Oppo 95 the perfect do-it-all player.

I have to say thank you to David; I don't care what you do inside the player.  For potential customers out there; don't worry about the negative speculations about The Upgrade Company; you will only fool yourself!

B.Rud, Norway

Mr. Rud's previous player was a highly modified Pioneer with LC-clock XO3 with a dedicated power supply, WBT silver teflon wires, silver solder, tantalum resistors, all Black Gates in power supply and all electrolytic caps on the circuit boards, Mundorf Silver-in-oil bypass-caps, WBT Nextgen terminals, analog audio op-amps - and the transport was dampened with 1-kg of lead, as well as the player itself with 10 kg.

 December 2011

Dear David.

I have received the upgraded OPPO DBP-95 equipments.

I have listened to it with my High End friends (VIVID Audio B1 speakers, PASS First Watt J2 Amp, ASI Cables) and we stated that this is the best Disc Player we have ever listened to and seen.  Every single signal source fall  ( Esoteric, Jadis, Zanden, DCS, Wadia etc.) well behind the performance of OPPO. Music is streaming from OPPO. It is said by a professional bassoon player who has been bassoon artist since for 45 years and has been playing in a Hungarian National Filharmonic Orchestra.

Congratulations and thank you very much.

Best regards,

Tamás S.,  Hungarian Philharmonic Orchestra

I contacted The Upgrade Company to purchase a new upgraded Oppo 95.  Once home with about 48 hrs of running in on repeat I found it to be leaps and bounds above my very well burned in NuForce NX-93 player. I did not expect this level of improvement.  Prior to the NuForce I had a stock McIntosh MVP-861 and I've demo'd my share of high end CD/SACD players in my system.  None of these players are even in the same ballpark with the Upgrade Co. Oppo 95.  Enough said.

After hearing what Upgrade Co. did with the Oppo 95, my skepticism was gone.  I called them back up to discuss the rest of my system, to see what they could offer.  Upgrade Co. advised me to take the plunge to upgrade my $12,000 Linn Kisto surround preamp and my $7,000 Nuforce MCH 300-SE top of their line  amplifier. David explained how the final sound is only as good as the worst sounding component, never the best. Think of a fire hose: if you run it through a garden hose, the amount of water will be reduced. This is what happens when you run an Upgrade Co. maxxed-out upgraded player through stock electronics: half the upgrade or better is gone.  The stock equipment simply cannot keep up.  Sounded convincing, but both the Kisto and NuForce amp were already sounding great I thought. However after hearing what they did to the Oppo 95 I took the plunge and had my Linn Kisto and top of the line NuForce MCH-300SE amplifier upgraded.

I got both back in about 2 weeks.  Hooked them up, let the system run for an hour or so while I did some work.  Entering the room I could hear immediately:  the sound quality had been transformed.  I sat down in the middle seat...My jaw literally hit the floor!

There's so much more bass weight & slam. Backgrounds are now a deep black.  There's dead silence between notes with far greater musicality and dynamics, higher resolution, the highs are sweeter than grandma's apple pie, and most important the midrange finally has that "live" presence.

Prior to having the Kisto and NuForce MCH-300SE upgraded, I was ready to dump my Martin Logan Ascent speakers:  the sound was always too forward and shy in the bass and highs, and spatially flat, despite lots of burn-in: probably well in excess of 1,000hrs.  I've never heard any Martin Logan's sound like this at the stores.  The sound stage my Ascent's throw is now wide open and deep.  They now have a strong low and extended top end, and good depth, not so forward at all.

The new stock preamps, prepro's and amps I've demo'd barely made a difference.

The Upgrade Co. "SE" upgrade is truly "Night and Day" superior.

Doing business with The Upgrade Company is a no brainer.

Oneil B.
Chicago, Illinois

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September 2011

 Brand new NuForce Edition Oppo 93 Signature Edition upgraded player

I have now been playing for 3 weeks with my new NuForce Edition Oppo 93 Signature Edition upgraded player and I must say that this is my best buy I have ever done.  Yes I am very VERY happy with it and everything you said turns out to be true.

I am hearing more music and more information than ever before and the whole sound is up to a new level over anything I have tried.  Big improvement to my system.

Heidar Gislason, Iceland

August 2011

Oppo 95 and Marantz SR-7005 Signature Edition upgrades

The Marantz SR-7005 and OPPO 95 are great so far; their performance has kept improving day by day.  Excellent Upgrade!

Henry Chin, CA

Oppo BDP-83SE w/Signature Edition Upgrade and NuForce Edition mod

Your upgraded NuForce Edition Oppo 83SE has got to be one of the biggest bargains in the high-end industry. It is so much better then my Wadia 861 it replaced, the Wadia sounds really old fashioned next to it, bloated and grainy.  Your upgraded NuForce works really well as a transport also, it bested my friends Mark Levinson 31 hands down:  much more musical, fuller more colorful mids, more soundstage depth. However since these are older machines, I borrowed an 8,100 euro new model Audio Aero Capitole Reference from my dealer modded with the latest Audiocom Superclock 4+PSU, V-Cap TFT coupling cap upgrades, and a built in preamp.  Your upgraded NuForce 83SE creams it, even when I connect the NuForce to the Audio Aero's own internal pre-amp (it has analogue inputs next to digital). Much more detail, way bigger soundstage, stronger tighter bass, it's really quite sick how much better your upgraded NuForce is.

Emile B., London UK

April 2010

Oppo 83 Special Edition and NuForce Oppo 83 Special Edition

David,

I'm writing this and including pictures we took.  I'm still flat-out amazed.

I made an appointment with David  Schulte of The Upgrade Company to trek 5 hours  north up to Harbor Springs to compare the stock versus upgraded Oppo 83 Special Edition and stock vs upgraded NuForce Oppo 83 Special Edition players.  I was contemplating purchasing one if I liked what I heard.

David first put on a new OPPO 83 Special Edition player he'd just upgraded. We double blind A-B compared it against an entire Esoteric P-03/D-03/G-0Rb 3 box digital CD/SACD system worth about $45,000 MSRP.  The "upgraded" Oppo beat it bad. Right off the bat. Since I'd just met David an hour earlier I was in disbelief and had to literally pull the interconnect cables from each one as it was playing to believe it.

When I arrived I'd offered to help David unbox the heavy Esoteric P03/D03/G0Rb set that had just been delivered earlier that day. I helped him carry it inside and set it on the demo rack. The P03 transport weighed about 70 lbs alone, the D03 dac not far behind. The 3 Esoteric boxes were all still sealed, I actually broke all the tape myself with the box cutters. Each box had his customers shipping labels on them, so I asked David to track the shipments and show me when they arrived. UPS.com showed all 3 boxes had just been delivered less then 2 hrs ago that day. I had David pull the tops off all 3 Esoteric pieces to see if they were indeed still stock, and they all looked original, and the screws showed no signs of prior removal, and I looked close.

I think anyone would agree with me that the upgraded Oppo creamed the Esoteric P03/D03/G0Rb set. My girlfriend sure did. Not only did we both find the sound of the upgraded Oppo to be far larger and more open and more musical with higher resolution, the Oppo's bass was real quick and deep and just slammed. The Esoteric had very weak bass, a small soundstage and it sounded aggressive, forward and harsh sounding. When we switched to the OPPO 83SE, the treble and mids were clear as a bell, intelligible and detailed. I checked behind everything to see if there were different power cords or analog interconnects. Everything looked the same. David offered to switch the power cords and interconnects on the OPPO and D-03 dac around just to further eliminate variables. He did so, I heard the exact same results. We then switched duplicate discs back and forth, same results. We swapped various power cords and interconnects, still the upgraded OPPO always was way ahead sonically. Volumes were level matched as to within 0.1dB using a digital tripod mounted SPL level meter.

We let both the Esoteric and OPPO play on repeat using identical discs, power cords and interconnects for a couple of hours on that demo system while we hung out and checked out his place and the other systems. Couple of hours later, the OPPO ended up pulling even farther ahead as it warmed up. The Esoteric set was reported to be 2 years old and well used, so it had plenty of burn-in on it. David said the Oppo was brand new & shipping out to it's new owner shortly. So clearly the Oppo had a disadvantage being brand new. The Esoteric's Transparent Reference AES-EBU and MIT BNC-BNC clock cables were reported to be 4 years old, so in my eyes the cables were not holding the Esoteric back at all. Switching to the upgraded OPPO was like letting the dog off the leash. Woosh!

David switched, I listened. I switched and listened. David paused each player to show which one was playing after I had voiced my preference as to which sound I Iiked better. This way it was truly double blind.

We also put in and double blind A-B'd an Upgrade Co. upgraded NuForce 83SE that had about 40 hours of burn-in on it, and we double blind AB-'d some other "modded" players, some older Upgrade Co. upgraded players, and yet more stock expensive players including an $11,500 EMM LABS CDSA player which I expected would easily surpass the upgraded Oppo 83SE, but it did not, not in any way whatsoever. However when David pulled out his upgraded EMM LABS CDSA it creamed the NuForce, as would be expected out of an upgraded $11,500 player with a pricey upgrade.

I'd heard about Denon 5910's being popular to mod so I asked to hear one. David had on hand a 2 year old SE upgraded Denon 5910 that was traded in, and it too was also better then the stock P-03/D-03/G0Rb and all of the other players we tried including the stock EMM LABS CDSA and the other modded & stock players. I got the sense that Upgrade Co. has improved a whole lot over the years, because the 5910 was clearly not in the league of the Oppo/NuForce 83SE's that were upgraded.

I wanted to demo the upgraded McIntosh MVP-881, but unfortunately they did not have one in stock the day I was there. David claims the upgraded McIntosh 881 player is even better sounding then the NuForce 83SE. They did have a new stock Denon DVD-A1UDCi, but not an upgraded one on hand. The Denon didn't sound very good at all stock, rather poor.

Overall I liked the NuForce Oppo 83SE with the Signature Edition upgrade the best of all the players I heard that day because it was the only upgraded player within my budget.  It beat all the stock players, but clearly the upgraded $12,500 EMM LABS CDSA and upgraded Esoteric DV-60 players were better then the upgraded NuForce 83SE but out of my budget.

I heard clear and utterly convincing sonic variations between each and every player. Some were clearly worse and some were clearly better. There was not one stock player that I could live with after hearing the upgraded players.

Only when heard next to an upgraded player did I find that stock players have a characteristic "whitish" hazy background and overall lack of clarity, lack of bass weight, veiled ill-defined mids and scratchy/screechy highs and mids, a characteristic lack of musicality, lack of dimensionality, generally flat, small, rolled off, and boring sounding. I don't want to slam manufacturer's or other modders, but I can tell you it was a real eye opener. I can now see why Upgrade Company is the only one who can provide a 100% Buy-Back Guarantee and still stay in business after all these years. They had lots of customer's stuff in there waiting to be upgraded.

The work you do at The Upgrade Company stands alone and is unmatched. It's  impressive to see you take a stock $899 Oppo 83 Special Edition and surpass the stock $45,000 Esoteric P-03/D-03/G-0Rb 3-box CD/SACD player.

Some audiophiles do not believe in upgrades/mods. I too was skeptical and did not believe Upgrade Co's claims until I performed live double blind A-B comparisons myself and checked all the wiring and eliminated every possible variable I could.

The Upgrade Company is providing audiophile's a huge "bang for the buck" option.

Anthony B.
Michigan

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December 2009

OPPO BDP-83 "Signature Edition" Upgrade

I wanted to get back to you regarding the Oppo BDP-83 you upgraded for me with your Signature Edition upgrade. I'd like to write something up for your website.

You know the history I have with you and your mods over the past nearly 5 years and you know the equipment I've had on hand here which includes an earlier APL modded Esoteric, Underwood "Ultimate Edition modded" Marantz SA-11 with the tubed ultimate mod that Underwood charged like $5 grand for, and the highly regarded $11,500 EMM LABS CDSA-SE SACD/CD player.  I've also owned a few mid-fi components in the likes of Marantz SA-1, Sony SCD-1, Arcam CD-92, Arcam CD33t.

The first piece I had you upgrade for me nearly 5 years ago was a Marantz SA12 S1 SACD/CD player and I very much liked what you had done to this unit . After a year or so went by you sent me an Upgrade Co Denon 2900 to try out because you said you had found more ways to improve upon digital players. As you know I bought that Denon 2900 from you and I ended up selling the Marantz SA12 to a good friend of mine who still uses it to this day. He has also demo'd a few of the latest high dollar players wondering if he got his money's worth but your SE upgraded Marantz has stayed in his system and he loves its performance. Well about two years ago you told me that I should try moving up the ladder and find a good deal on a Denon 5910Ci and then send it to you for your latest upgrade so I did and then sold the Denon 2900 and it ended up with Jim Winey of Magenpan, which I understand is still playing great at his winter home.  When I had the 2900 I had the opportunity to listen to an APL modded Esoteric, Underwood modded Marantz SA-11 and s stock EMM CDSA-SE. Your upgraded Denon 2900 easily outperformed the first two but the EMM was a struggle. It did hold it's own which was an amazement to both my wife and I. The APL and Underwood went out the door and the EMM CDSA stayed a little longer. I decided to send you a Denon 5910Ci to upgrade and you promised me that the 5910 would surpass the EMM with ease and it did. This was done two years ago and I have been a very happy listener since.

Two years go by and you tell me that your parts selection and techniques have further improved but I was just happy with what I had and didn't want to invest more money at that point. I was just to busy to do too much. Well, Blu-ray came on the scene and was growing rapidly.so I knew I wanted to get a Blu-ray player next. I'd been reading about the Oppo BDP-83 and the price looked great in regards to the reviews. But you know I had really been looking at the Denon 3800BDCi Blu-ray and almost pulled the trigger at one point on one but never did. Then one day you emailed me and asked If I had seen the new Oppo and I told you I had and you said I really needed to hear one of these upgraded. As you know I decided to buy a new Oppo 83 online and play it for a while to hear what it was like in stock form. It wasn't bad for a $499 player. RBCD was pretty weak and strident and SACD was better than I thought it was going to be. Perhaps close to a stock Denon 5910. One thing I noticed about the stock Oppo in regards to its house sound was it's texture and bite. The stock 5910 is more of a pansy in this area. Perhaps a bit more listenable at higher volumes but I think the Oppo has more detail retrieval and is better at lower volumes. But, as you turn up the volume on the stock Oppo the sound gets pretty bright and hard which fatigues the listener fast. I ended up putting about 500 hours on the stock Oppo which did help it relax a bit, but it was still miles behind the upgraded Denon 5910Ci you did a couple of years ago for me.

As you know I still was not sure I wanted to pour money into my new Oppo, but I was really wanting to know what it's true capabilities were. The Oppo BDP83 plays all of the formats even HDCD and the video is outstanding, so with your 100% money back guarantee, I pulled the trigger and sent it off to you. The whole time it was gone I was listening to the Denon and saying to myself there is no way the Oppo is going to be better than this but you kept telling me that I am going to be very surprised.

When the OPPO arrived there was excitement in the air. I took it out of the box and let it come up to room temp and then plugged it into an outlet for a little longer and spun a disc. Once it was warm I put it on the shelf by the Denon. The Denon was playing this whole time as well. I then unhooked all cabling from the Denon and put it on the Oppo and went through all of the settings. Now I was ready to throw in a disc. The Denon was playing Dixie Chicks on HDCD so of course this is what I was going to put in the Oppo. I wanted this disc because of the female vocals and is recorded well. Their voices on some songs are very peaky in the upper midrange and the stock Oppo absolutely fell apart at moderate volumes (70db at listening position). Same thing on the higher notes on a piano. The stock Oppo would just really ping and harden. Well, when I hit play I was not expecting too much at first because it has only been in the house for a couple of hours. When the first note played there was a bigger sense of liveliness that was more revealing than the Denon 5910. Within the first 10 seconds my skin crawled and chills went up my spine. The vocals were very immediate and big and the hardened glare was completely gone which was so prevalent in the stock Oppo and to a similar degree on the stock EMM Labs CDSA. The Oppo was playing bigger and more forceful than the Denon and EMM and the detail retrieval was already better. The soundstage had great layering. Then it really hit me when I put on few tracks with heavy bass and percussion: The bass had massively changed and the music became tremendously more involving.

I am absolutely stunned by the transformation over the stock Oppo. Your upgraded 83 just crushed the already superb performance of my Upgrade Co.  upgraded 5910Ci sitting right next to it.

Now that I've had my Upgrade Co. Oppo 83 for a month, all I can say is how do you do it? Not that I really care how, but it is amazing what you've achieved out of an Oppo.  I know that my Denon 5910Ci has a two year old Signature Edition upgrade, but it bettered the stock fully burned in $11,500 EMM LABS CDSA SE I demo'd in my system right next to it for days.  I have no idea what digital at any price could rival your upgraded Oppo 83, and personally I don't really care. The fact that you can transform a budget player to this magnitude is beyond me and must say it is worth much more than the Signature Edition upgrade investment.. All of the money I've spent on cabling and the new speakers I bought have not come close to the performance leap I got out of this Signature Edition upgraded Oppo 83.

Paul Canady, Nevada

March 2010

Nuforce Oppo BDP-83SE "Signature Edition" upgraded review by Mark Coles, London, UK

As the owner of an Upgrade Company (TUC) Esoteric X-01 referred to by EM Lee (Lloyd) in his OPPO review elsewhere on the www.upgradecompany.com site, my interest was piqued by what I heard at that shoot-out back in January. Whilst the early TUC Oppo 83 Non-Special Edition wasn't in the same league as my player, it had an inherent musicality and was fun to listen to.

As we all know, the world of digital evolves quickly and I'd been having reservations about having too much invested in a player whose sole media is in the twilight of its years. A number of conversations with David Schulte led me to believe that the 32 bit Oppo Special Edition version of the Oppo had a far greater audio potential than the base 83 and was the way forward for me. Having found a new home for my Esoteric after 3.5 years of ownership, I placed an order for the NuForce edition with all the options available at that time (Bybees and hi-end fuse). The Upgrade Company's balanced XLR output stage hadn't been fully developed at that stage and I understand that gives a considerable further improvement.

When I received my NuForce 83SE player, I left it playing with a burn in disc on repeat for a few hundred hours before attempting any critical listening. My initial impressions were that it was good, more transparent than the upgraded $14,000 Esoteric X-01. I had a chat with Lloyd, who told me about the improvements he heard with HRS damping plates. As an experiment, I had a go at dampening the chassis with things close to hand - some polymer deflex pads, a large book and a 5 kg dumbbell. Wow. Everything now clicked into place musically and the player sounded nothing short of sensational!

Compared to my Esoteric X-01, the extra transparency allows one to see deeper into the recording and better place instruments / voices within the sound stage. Greater tonal decay is also evident, as are stability and solidity. The Esoteric had a tendency towards a more analytical and tipped up presentation and the NuForce OPPO is better balanced throughout the frequency range, testing the bass extension of my speakers more fully. The only negative I can report is that I miss the battleship build quality of the 60lb Esoteric!

In closing, I would also like to give praise to the service David Schulte has given me consistently over the four years that I've known him. He has always been attentive in answering emails with helpful advice and 100% committed to customer satisfaction.

With The Upgrade Company's 100% money back guarantee, there's little risk to putting their uprgade to the test in your own home!

Mark Coles
London UK 

January 18, 2010

OPPO BDP-83 Upgrade Review

I burned in my new Upgrade Company "Signature Edition" upgraded Oppo 83 (standard version upgraded by TUC) for 600 hours and then got my high end audio friends together for a shoot out in 2 sessions:

• Wadia 380
• Wadia 781
• Zanden MkIV Signature DAC
• Esoteric X-01 Signature Edition SACD/CD player
• ARC DAC7
• Unico tube CD player

The Upgrade Company (TUC) OPPO 83 Signature Edition handily beat the Unico and nosed past the lesser Wadia 380. (I preferred Oppo). If Oppo is a 1.0, Unico was only 0.6 & Wadia 380 .95. The OPPO 83 Signature Edition was preferred by all present.

The Wadia 380 (in UK) currently costs 7x the cost of the TUC Oppo 83 including shipping!!

The $17,000 Wadia 781 (15x price!!) was better... however, my OPPO 83 is the earlier standard edition and not the new "Special Edition 83" that is much better with 32 bit dacs and redesigned power supplies and beefed up analog output circuitry. I've heard the NuForce OPPO 83SE "Signature Edition" upgraded by TUC will beat the big Wadia. I do not doubt this based on my experience with standard TUC OPPO 83.

The ARC DAC7 was very warm, very natural...but did not deliver on the detail. The trouble with detail is stridency. Not with the Oppo and not with the Esoteric X01 by TUC.

The $14,000 Esoteric X-01 by TUC was a solid margin better than the Wadia 781. Unanimous by all three of us who directly A-B compared the two players for several hours. The Esoteric X-01 Signature Edition upgraded was the more natural, had the better decay, superior detail, and deeper soundstage... exceedingly natural and unlike digital. It bettered the Wadia 781 across the board. TUC has done it again.

The specifics:

• The standard edition OPPO 83 I have which was upgraded by TUC to "Signature Edition" exhibits loads of detail and is very comparable to the most expensive world leaders in "State of the Art" digital made today...with a strong solid soundstage.
• The TUC Oppo 83 is very natural. I own the $15,000 Zanden MkIV Signature DAC. While I am not replacing my Zanden... I was simply stunned at the quality of the TUC upgraded Standard Edition Oppo 83.

For less than $1800 shipped overseas, you could well prefer this to anything else in the world into the low 5 digit range... I do. But if you want to spend more than $1800...go ahead! But I'd speak with David first, TUC's OPPO's are that good!

He was helpful, responsive and utterly reliable. Thank you, David!!"

Regards,

Lloyd Lee, London UK

January 17, 2010

Denon DVD-A1XV and OPPO BDP-83 Upgrade

This is the second time I send a player to David ( Denon DVD-A1XV and OPPO BDP-83 ) and although the Denon was a very very good job, I think the Oppo has only one word to describe it, AWESOME.

I have the Oppo right out of the box ( no 600 hours burning in ) and it sounds PERFECT, it has the sweetness of a vinyl and the power of a solid state and it’s not expensive comparing with other models. The video is PERFECT too but I think most of the people that send David a player are more interested on improving the sound.

I have experience with the Denon and I know the Oppo is going to improve more and more with the hours…

If you are thinking about buying a Blu-ray player just e-mail David and voilá.

Thank you David, good job man.

Jose from Madrid, Spain

January 9, 2010

NuForce OPPO BDP-83 Special Edition "Signature Edition" Upgrade

David:

Today I had a few hours to connect up the audio of the new Oppo that I got from you and run it through its paces. I used all the connections and cables that I formerly used for the Esoteric. I used the two upgraded stereo outputs on the Oppo and went through the CAT and the Lexicon in by pass mode to the VK600 (all of which is Schulte Signature upgraded equipment) using all of your cables. You should have warned me. This player is awesome. I am extremely impressed right out of the box with no break-in. Wow.

Bass was unbelievable. I never heard digital bass like this before. I played several of my favorite well known CDs and SACDs. It is pretty damn amazing that this player can do - with your improvements of course. I have never heard it before but I am sure the latest chips in the SE version and the Nuforce upgrades also contributed. This is real damn impressive.

So I know the multi-channel analogue output for DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 sound is going to be killer along with the 5.1 PCM tracks on a lot of Blu-rays. I have the entire Neil Young Blu-ray box that I have not listened to yet to experience all that.

Thanks a ton. I know there cannot be many machines like this in the whole world right now - and I have one thanks to you.

John R.
New Jersey

Hi David,

The SE upgraded OPPO 83 arrived today. It has been playing around 3 hours only and yipeeeee!! It is awesome!! This is the best player I have owned by a mile!! I am going to let everything settle but the sound is so big and smooth, just pristine. It just doesn't just beat my older SE upgraded Denon and Pioneer Blu-ray players, it smacks them down. What is this going to be like in a month or 2 when it burns in? You should sell loads of these $1500 a snip!!! No one in the UK or US has modified Oppo's anything close to this and you would still pay $2250+ at least for all their mumbo jumbo and not get this, WELL DONE!!!!!!!!!. I can now use the 240v for everything which is great and multi region no problems at all. In future I am going to set up denon in another room as I still like it.

Thanks Again, I will let you now how it improves

James Brown, Ireland

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