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Whether you are looking for the best Blu-ray picture quality & sound, stunning sound from CD & SACD our  upgrades squeeze every last ounce of performance out of this player. The BDP-83SE is such an accomplished player not matter what the format, that we have designed the upgrades to specifically target all the areas that maximise its already fine achievements.  These targeted  areas are Jitter, resonance control, AC power supplies, DC regulated power supplies, analogue signal processing. With all these sectors of the player radically improved the players performance puts is in a class of its own regardless of price!

The diverse abilities of the Oppo BDP-83SE means that your particular requirements from the player may not be the same as the next person. For example, while the Oppo can be modified to significantly improve 2-channel audio to suit customer A, customer B might want to use the Oppo as a digital transport and negate the need for any analogue upgrades.

To cover all the known variables we have divided the upgrades options as follows;

Full Player Upgrade:- A perfect balance of upgrades for picture, as well as 7.1 audio channels. Ideal for the Oppo user who wants excellent performance from the HDMI output, has wants to use the players internal 7.1 audio channel outputs.

HDMI Only Upgrades:-  We have 2 available HDMI only options which target performance increase predominantly to the HDMI output. These upgrades are perfect for the user who wants to connect the Oppo BDP-83SE to a HDTV, AV receiver, etc.

The 2-channel audio upgrade can be added with the HDMI upgrade options giving the best movies picture and sound, and best 2-channel audio performance for CD, SACD.

2-Channel Upgrade:- A modification designed to seriously boost audio performance for hearing the best from CD, SACD or DVD-A in a Hi-Fi set-up.

Digital Transport Upgrade:- Combined with any of the HDMI only upgrades, this modification converts the Oppo in to a high-end CD transport to connect to an external DAC via the RCA coaxial output.

TO PURCHASE AN OPPO BDP-83SE WITH MODIFICATIONS INSTALLED CLICK HERE >>>

Modification Walk Through

We installed the various stages, power supplies, clock system and audio board, then accessed them accordingly. Starting with the power supplies we first installed large Bybee purifiers on the AC inputs, followed by Slipstream purifiers on the three 5V DC rails for the main processing board. Since switching power supplies by their nature are noisier than linear types the Bybee noise reduction is highly effective at removing noise that the Oppo noise reduction circuits cannot. The 5V power feeds go directly to data processing chips such as the sil9134 HDMI transmitter. Reduced noise at the load equals reduced errors and maximum performance figures from the sil9134 HDMI transmitter, and associated processing circuits.  The BDP-83SE’s switching supply  is packed to the hills with cooking grade decoupling and bypass capacitors, not a low ESR in sight. The output capacitor has a ripple voltage (seen as noise on the supply voltage) proportional to the ESR of the capacitor. By selecting the best grade low ESR capacitors we drastically reduce ESR which results in lower noise. We replaced all the decoupling and bypass capacitors with very low ESR/ESL types from Rubycon and Panasonic.

Hooking up the player to our AV set-up and accessing the same chapters of movies again we watched prior to Bybee treatment and power supply upgrades; we keenly observed any differences in picture and sound quality. Clearly, colours were bolder, contrasts between whites and blacks more defined, with deep blacks more inky black, and whites fresher and cleaner looking. On CD playback the sound had greater depth and body, digging out extra weight in low frequencies while extending and sweetening the highs.

The Oppo BDP-83SE has 5 clocks, but we are only concerned with the ‘master clock’ for the core processer, the OP8521G chipset. The OP8521G has a built-in ‘Pierce Oscillator’ (inverter gate) the external quartz crystal (27 MHz) provides the required clock frequency. This type of oscillator is simple to implement but has the worst arrangement for high phase noise, jitter. The Pierce Gate receives noise from the hundreds of switching processes of the OP8521G chipset which is transferred to the output of the clock signal. We replace the Pierce Oscillator with the Superclock 4. With the OP8521G referenced to an ultra-low jitter external clock jitter is significantly reduced with major improvements in 2-channel and multi-channel sound quality, as well as improvements to picture and movie sound.

The clock will only perform as well as the power supply that feeds it, less power supply noise in this case = less phase noise. So we next remove the clock from the internal switch mode power supply and install the Superclock 4 ultra-low noise supply. This is a linear AC supply which incorporates its own on-board regulation and the benefits here are twofold. Firstly, the separate clock PSU isolates the clock power supply from the Blu-ray players switching supply, and secondly the low noise concept is taken back to the AC input ensuring the quietest power supply performance.  

Having put the BDP-83SE through paces with Blu-ray picture we set about to improve its audio quality. The ‘SE’ version of the player uses the ES9006 Sabre 32 DAC, an extremely high performance DAC with superlative sound quality. To extract the most form the DAC the quality of capacitors, regulation and op-amps are critical to performance. The voltage regulation can be considered the ‘heart’ of the power supply, while the op-amps process all the audio stages following the DAC.

The ES9006 requires a single 3.3V analogue supply, the quality of this supply is imperative to sound quality; any power supply noise will degrade performance and translate to noise at the DAC output. In the BDP-83SE 3.3V DAC regulator is pre-regulated by a 7805CV 5V regulator to improve ripple rejection. Starting with the 5V line, we upgrade the regulator to a specially selected 5V type with less than 10µV output noise compared to the 40µV of the 7805CV. The generic 3.3V regulator that follows is upgraded to a Super-regulator 3, a discrete ultra-low noise regulator designed specifically for audio circuits. This significantly reduces noise across a wide bandwidth, improves speed, enabling the DAC to perform to it optimum. The regulation bypass capacitors for the 3.3V, 5V & +/- supplies are all upgraded with Sanyo OSCON SP capacitors, renowned for their superior noise filtering and fine audio attributes.

Moving to the ES9006 DAC itself we upgrade the general purpose decoupling capacitors. The quality of decoupling capacitor for the DAC stamps its mark on sound, and the benefits of using high quality audio capacitors is far from subtle. The group of capacitors here are replaced with the Black Gate N type and Sanyo OSCON SP, widely regarded as the best for the task.

The architecture of the Sabre DAC allows the post DAC analogue circuitry to be kept simple; the BDP-83SE uses the industry standard NE5532 for this purpose. The 5532 is a low cost choice, but despite this and its age it still measures well and sounds above average. However, the sound of the 5532 has a sting in its tail; it errs on the leaner side of neutral and the upper frequency range is prone to hardness, edginess. For the BDP-83SE’s analogue stage we upgrade the NE5532 to the superior LME49720.The sound quality of the LME49720 is streets ahead of the NE5532, a veil from the sound is lifted; music has superior detailing, dynamics, improved transient response, better low frequency definition.

There are several upgrades options available for the BDP-83SE so if you need assistance with choosing the best upgrade package for your system please contact us by phone or e-mail.

We also offer custom upgrades including products not listed here, please contact us if you would like to discuss the options.

Modification Menu

Full Player Upgrade:- A perfect balance of upgrades for picture, as well as 7.1 audio channels. Ideal for the Oppo user who wants excellent performance from the HDMI output, has wants to use the players internal 7.1 audio channel outputs.

Oppo Full Player BDP-83SE Level-1

Furutech FI-10 IEC inlet.
Upgraded electrolytic capacitors for bulk decoupling of SMPS.
Upgraded electrolytic capacitors for decoupling regulated & unregulated DC lines.
Sontech SFRT-AL resonance control.
Superclock 4-S master clock.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling 2-channel DAC.
1x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling multi-channel DAC.
1x Sanyo OSCON SP bypass capacitor for 3.3V regulator.
4x OSCON SP for regulation bypass of +/- analogue supplies.
3x LME49720 op-amps for 2-channel audio.
Kimber internal wiring.

Oppo Full Player BDP-83SE Level-2

Furutech FI-10 IEC inlet.
Bybee Large purifiers for AC input.
Sontech SFRT-AL resonance control.
Upgraded electrolytic capacitors for bulk decoupling of SMPS.
Upgraded electrolytic capacitors for decoupling regulated & unregulated DC lines.
4x Ultrafast recover diodes for SMPS.
Superclock 4-S master clock
4x OSCON SP for regulation bypass of +/- analogue supplies.
4x Elna Silmic II bulk power supply decoupling for audio board.
1x Specially selected low noise regulator for 5V supply.
1x Super-regulator 3 for ES9006 Sabre DAC.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP bypass capacitor for 3.3V regulator.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP bypass capacitor for 5V regulator.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling 2-channel DAC.
1x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling multi-channel DAC.
12x LME49720 op-amps for 5.1 channels.
3x LME49720 op-amps for 2-channel audio.
Kimber internal wiring.

HDMI Only Upgrades:-  We have 2 available HDMI only options which target performance increase predominantly to the HDMI output. These upgrades are perfect for the user who wants to connect the Oppo BDP-83SE to a HDTV, AV receiver, etc.

The 2-channel audio upgrade can be added with the HDMI upgrade options giving the best movies picture and sound, and best 2-channel audio performance for CD, SACD.

Oppo HDMI Only BDP-83SE Level-1

Furutech FI-10 IEC inlet.
Superclock 4-S master clock
4x Ultrafast recover diodes for SMPS.
Upgraded electrolytic capacitors for bulk decoupling of SMPS.
Upgraded electrolytic for decoupling regulated & unregulated DC lines.
Upgraded power supply capacitors for decoupling & bypassing (main PSU).
Sontech SFRT-AL resonance control.
Kimber internal wiring.

Oppo HDMI Only BDP-83SE Level-2

Furutech FI-10 IEC inlet.
Bybee Large Quantum Purifiers for AC input.
Superclock 4-S master clock
4x Ultrafast recover diodes for SMPS.
Upgraded electrolytic capacitors for bulk decoupling of SMPS.
Upgraded electrolytic for decoupling regulated & unregulated DC lines.
Upgraded power supply capacitors for decoupling & bypassing (main PSU).
Sontech SFRT-AL resonance control.
Kimber internal wiring.

2-Channel Upgrade:- A modification designed to seriously boost audio performance for hearing the best from CD, SACD or DVD-A in a Hi-Fi set-up.

2-Channel Audio Only Upgrade

4x OSCON SP for regulation bypass of +/- analogue supplies.
4x Elna Silmic II bulk power supply decoupling for audio board.
1x Specially selected low noise regulator for 5V supply.
1x Super-regulator 3 for ES9006 Sabre DAC.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP bypass capacitor for 3.3V regulator.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP bypass capacitor for 5V regulator.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling 2-channel DAC.
3x LME49720 op-amps for 2-channel audio.
Kimber internal wiring.

Digital Transport Upgrade:- Combined with any of the HDMI only upgrades, this modification converts the Oppo in to a high-end CD transport to connect to an external DAC via the RCA coaxial output.

Digital Output Upgrade

WBT NextGen cu RCA phono.
Bybee Slipstream Purifier
Audio Consulting enamelled Silver wire.

Superclock 4 Power Supply:- . This is a linear AC supply which incorporates its own on-board regulation and the benefits here are twofold. Firstly, the separate clock PSU isolates the clock power supply from the Blu-ray players switching supply, and secondly the low noise concept is taken back to the AC input ensuring the quietest power supply performance.  

WBT NextGen cu RCA phono for 2-channel L/R:- The Oppo 2-channel RCA phono outputs are low cost PCB mount type. This upgrade replaces them with the superb WBT NextGen connectors, Kimber signal wire is used from PCB to phono jack.

This modification has been discontinued.