The new Oppo BDP-83 not only looks better than any previous Oppo player, its performance sets a new benchmark at the price. Here are some of the glowing testimonies so far;
"The BDP-83 is a reference video and audio transport regardless of the format you throw at it. But it’s also the most user-friendly standalone player I’ve had the pleasure of using." By Kris Deering. Home Theater Magazine July 2009
"The Oppo BDP-83 truly is the ultimate Blu-ray player, and it's found a permanent home in my reference system" By David Vaughn. UltimateAVmag.com July 2009
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-83
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-83
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-83 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.
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-83’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-83 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.
The BDP-83 audio board is powered from a
+/-12V unregulated DC supply. General purpose capacitors are fitted to filter
noise at the input. We replace these with Rubycon ZA type, the ZA has ultra-low
impedance, excellent sound quality. The unregulated DC is regulated to the
required 5V for the DAC using generic 7805 voltage regulators. The 7805 is
noisy, not very linear, so this is replaced with a “Super-regulator” to provide
a very low noise supply to the DAC. The regulator bypass capacitors are
upgraded to Rubycon ZA type. At the CS4338 DAC
the general purpose decoupling capacitors are upgraded to Rubycon ZA, Sanyo
OS-CON SP type.
The post DAC analogue stage uses the industry
standard NE5532 op-amps output filer and buffer.For
the 2-channel audio we replace the 3 NE5532 op-amps with the high performance
LM49720. The power supply decoupling capacitors are upgraded to OS-CON SP type.
The signal output is capacitor coupled using low grade electrolytic capacitors
with a 0.1µF bypass to improve high frequencies. We remove the two capacitors
from L/R channels and install an Elna Silmic RFS audio grade capacitor.
A similar upgrade arrangement is
used for the Multi-channel sound. Here the CS4382 DAC is enrolled for 5.1
channels.
There
are several upgrades options available for the BDP-83 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-83 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
1x Specially selected low noise regulators for CS4338 DAC. [Multi-Channel]
1x Specially selected low noise regulators for CS4398 DAC. [2-Channel]
1x Rubycon ZA capacitor for CS4398 voltage reference.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling 2-channel DAC.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling multi-channel DAC.
4x LME49720 op-amps for 5.1 channels.
2x LME49720 op-amps for 2-channel.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP 120uf for decoupling 7.1 op-amps.
2x Elna Silmic II for output signal coupling.
Kimber internal wiring.
Oppo Full Player BDP-83 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 Rubycon ZA input bypassing capacitors.
9x Rubycon ZA bulk power supply decoupling for audio board.
1x Specially selected low noise regulators for CS4338 DAC. [Multi-Channel]
1x Super-regulator 3 for CS4398 5V analogue DAC supply. [2-Channel]
2x Sanyo OSCON SP regulation bypass capacitors.
1x Rubycon ZA capacitor for CS4398 voltage reference.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling 2-channel DAC.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling multi-channel DAC.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP 120uf for decoupling 7.1 op-amps.
4x LME49720 op-amps for 5.1 channels.
2x LME49720 op-amps for 2-channel.
2x Elna Silmic II for output signal coupling.
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-83 to a HDTV, AV
receiver, etc.
Oppo HDMI Only BDP-83 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-83 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 Rubycon ZA input bypassing capacitors.
4x Rubycon ZA bulk power supply decoupling for audio board.
1x Super-regulator 3 for CS4398 5V analogue DAC supply.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP regulation bypass capacitors.
1x Rubycon ZA capacitor for CS4398 voltage reference.
2x Sanyo OSCON SP for digital decoupling 2-channel DAC.
2x LME49720 op-amps for 2-channel.
2x Elna Silmic II for output signal coupling.
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.
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.