Forgive me if I’m misunderstanding the discussion, but I own three different generations of Oppo players (83, 95, and 205) and they are all capable of sending DSD direct to capable devices.
In my mini home theater I use an older Integra DTR 9.9 that can receive DSD direct via HDMI. The DTR displays DSD. Although I’m usually using the analog outs for audio.
I have a Bryston BDA-3 in my headphone rig and it also can receive DSD direct via HDMI. The DSD light on the front is lit when I play SACD’s.
Once again, forgive me if I’m misunderstanding. I saw the discussion this morning while having car issues before heading to work (fun!).
I’ve attached three screen shots from manuals of the devices I’ve mentioned. Hope this helps.
The DSD over multimedia HDMI is not compatible with I2S over HDMI to outboard DACS.
It only sends raw DSD to a Home Theater Receiver that has the Sony chipset to receive and decode the signal.
There won’t be a Stellar CD transport for quite a while. Nothing has been designed, it’s just been discussed that we want to eventually make one. No way to pre-orders for it, but there are for the upcoming PST.
TOUCHSCREEN DISPLAYS:
Touchscreen displays look ‘cool’, but they often do not work great and are less intuitive. (I am not saying that they can not work great - but that the vast majority of the time they simply dont). Often these ‘features’ seem to be added to simply follow trends, and not to make the user experience actually better.
Sometimes (not always, but sometimes) the simplicity of ‘old ways’ just works better.
I commend PS Audio for not following trends and creating a ‘cool looking’, hokey solution for their new disc player.
The simple interface with physical buttons is tried-and-true and is bomb-proof.
And, in my personal opinion, is more enjoyable to use.
In my personal opinion it is hokey and boring. My touch screens work great on all my PS Audio gear and they are examples of a forward thinking approach to getting the job done. If I wanted a click button set up with no direct track access I would use an old CD player from the eighties! They usually are more unreliable than the mechanical push button’s which do have a finite lifespan. We must agree to disagree on this one for sure!
They really shot themselves in the foot with that one. But at the time (as with every new format, including audio cassette tapes) the primary concern on the part of the artists and their labels was that you were putting out a near-as-dammit studio master. So it wasn’t just Sony that wanted that protection.
For fellow Oppo 203 owners out there I did the I2S card modification to my Oppo 203. It’s very simple tho requires a small cut with a Dremel tool on the back for the HDMI/I2S connector. Sends native DSD to the Directstream Dac.
$220 well worth it!
