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February 22, 2012 - 4:36pm
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OPPO 95 vs Krell 20i CD Player
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If your curiosity is serious, note that Oppo offers a 30day return policy that makes it easy to find out if it suits you.
i have an older cd player from arcam that i have really liked. when i started getting the feeling, i bought i $480 r-dac and ran the optical out from the cd player into the dac. i received a much more modern sound with greater detailing, soundstaging and dynamics, but it still sounded like my great old arcam unit. in taking this unit to other audio friends' homes (its pocket sized), we discovered the same thing with an old sony scd-1, a creek cd player and other units, all good units in their day. in addition, there are additional inputs for computer music if you want. you are future proof. my dealer lent me this one over a weekend before i bought it, your local dealer would probably do the same for you on one of the modern dacs, does not necessarily have to be the one i chose.
let us know how it goes.
tom
I can easily live with the krell 20i. My thought was get a blue ray for the new TV, but don't invest much ($200-300) since I rarely play movies from discs. However, if the OPPO 95 also provide a significant improvement in music when compared to the Krell, then the purchase is justified since it serve both functions. However, if the Oppo is a great unit for the $1000 price tag, but it is not a major improvement in music quality compared to the Krell, then it may not be worth the investment. Simply buy an inexpensive blue ray for the occasional movie. Then wait for the Krell to die or I get tired of it, then replace it with a unit that would provide superior sound.
I understand the technology has advanced and the quality has gotten better. Then seeing the Sterophile A rating for the Oppo 95 set me off on this thought. I dont want to order one just to return it, unless I am pretty confident it will have the sound quality I am looking for. Thanks for the comments.
Joe
If I were you, I'd keep the Krell, which had one of the best transports ever made, and get a a great DAC for the price of the Oppo. DAC chip technology, like everything computer/digital has exponentially improved in the last 15-20 years so I'd say you could get a major couple of steps up, though of course the Krell for the time was miles better than anything else around.
Actually, I recall Krell had plans to be able to upgrade that CD player's software/firmware, and maybe even produce upgradable DAC boards that could be plugged in and out. Did that not ever happen, or is it just too far out at this point?
I am not aware of any upgrades for the krell 20i. Last I talked to Krell was for some repairs about 5 or 6 years ago. I have stayed away from dealers since I was happy and didnt want to invest any more money at the time, so I do not know what DAC to even start looking at, any suggestions. Thanks for the response.
Joe
Those "upgrades" were probably part wishful thinking, part good marketing. I worked at a high-end dealer in the early 90's (part-time) and that's all I remember really. Talk about it. I didn't actually ever hear about them coming out with any. Still, a player like that was built so well and sounded so good, I can see it holding up way beyond other digital gear from that era.
I'd look at the latest reccomended components for DAC upgrades. I lean towards the analogue end of my system and haven't done any serious research into the new DACs for a while.
Another thing to consider is the high resolution capability of the Oppo. The Krell will not be able to match that.
If I understand correctly,
The Oppo 95 is a great unit for the price and comparable to something say in the $3000-$4000 range and would offer me an increased resolution due to the changes in digital in the past 20 years. The Class A rating of the Oppo 95 is based upon $/performance (a lot of bang for the $), but may not be comparable to other Class A units costing more. The 2 channel stereo performance difference between the Oppo 95 and the Krell may not be great enough to warrant the price. An external processor I could take advantage of some of the digital improvement over the past 20 years, but since the Krell 20i can not read the higher resolution it will not be passed on to the external processor.
The original intent of this discussion was to see if an improvement in stereo performance justified the price of the Oppo 95 since I was already looking at the Blue-ray player for my TV. Since I would rarely use the Blue-ray for the TV only, I may be better off playing the Krell 20i until it dies and picking up a cheap Blue-ray player for occasional use. As you can see I have been out of this for a long time, so If I am not correct feel free to jump in.
Joe11554
The great advantage of Oppo BD95 in terms of sound quality is the internal DAC Sabre 32 which gives you a smooth, aired and detailed presentation. Besides, the BD95 plays DVD-AUDIO, SACD, all kinds of music and video formats if you hook up an external disc to its USB or e-sata inputs.
Unfortunately, I have not heard the Krell 20i to say if I could notice an improvement in audio quality, but a few friends are adopting it as their standard player for all formats.
So far I rather use a standard good cd player than a dvd or bluray player for playing cds, but I have to admit that I have not heard of anyone who has not been very satisfied with the BD95.
Regards,
Pedro
I purchsed the Ayre C5xe player in 2006 based on the articles in Stereophile and the recommendations of several people who considered it the very best CD/SACD player at that time.
The "MP" upgrade a few years ago made a very noticeable improvement in its already excellent sound quality. I had never heard anything sound better until recently.
I think that experts would generally agree that while the Krell is quite good, it has its flaws and never was the equal of the Ayre. Stereophile did a full review of the Krell, but it significantly does not appear in the Recommended Components list (the Ayre is listed in the A+ category, with the BDP-95).
Now the punch line; the OPPO BDP-95 is significantly better-sounding than the Ayre for CD or SACD playback! It is by far the best I have ever heard.
It is an incredible leap in quality.; absolutely awesome! For $1000, it is such a bargain that it is a no-brainer to recommend it to just about anyone.
I think it has made every player from $800 to $8000 obsolete and irrelevant. If I was in a company making such a player, I would be crying the blues right now.
P.S....It's a good Bluray player too...lol.
I agree that the Oppo BDP-95 is a world class product. I have heard 3 different systems with the Oppo as the player and I was impressed. Never heard 1 single complaint from anyone that purchased an Oppo.
I owned the Oppo-95 and the aforementioned player from Krell and Ayre(on extended loan). The Oppo was uniquely, one of the most odd sounding players I have ever heard in my life...and I've heard quite a bit folks, up to levinson reference players and Wadia's best. Everything I played sounded like it had been put through a DS processor...I know, weird right? But after using it for awhile, and evaluating all my favorite recordings that I had enjoyed on many of my other reference players and systems, I began to hear the oppo inflicting itself upon every disc I played, as if it were being put through the "Concert Hall" setting of a reciever...remember those atrocities? It was subtle, but to someone who has heard a ton of great players and who doesn't need to sell advertising space, I realized that what I just bought was a multifunction audio equivelant of the "swiss army knife" for $1000 MSRP. I sold it immediately once my ear/brain figured out the trick it was pulling. For Faux high end sound it's A ok, but for the real deal...well, you need the real deal. FYI, I am refering to the performance of the Oppo-95 on 2 channel CD and SACD playback only:O)