OPPO 203 and 205 now Roon Ready

What a great free update, I was going to buy an endpoint for my living room, just saved me at least $300! Though to be fair if I reconfigure both systems, I will somehow spend more…

Thank you for the tip. Where can I read more about it? Thanks.

Here is the firmware link which is how I found out after it asked if I wanted to update.

https://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-203/blu-ray-UDP-20x-Firmware.aspx

Elk if you see this can you update the title to Roon Ready instead of Roon Endpoint?

Thanks!

FYI…You may want to do a factory reset after this update.

I use a audio de-embedder from the HDMI to put the 2 channel through the DirectStream Dac via toslink. When playing movies after the update it would drop the bit rate to 20 bits (oddly only during the movie, not the menu or anything else) from 24 bits. After the reset this is now back to 24 bits. This also gets around the downsampling that the player does using coax or toslink directly from the OPPO.

Interesting Veneet. What de-embedder do you use?

Hey Stevem2,

Using a Atlona AT-HD570 (HDMI 1.3) it will pass the bit perfect test all the way to 192/24 from toslink. I got this new from ebay for about $65 (I actually bought 2 for 130 from the same guy so it averaged down to $65. They range from $50-270 on ebay, they still sell them from B&H and other online places.

I tried the version with HDMI 1.4 to toslink, but it was really used, and it wouldn’t lock 192/24.

This 1.3 version works like a charm but you do have to plug the HDMI out into something (it seems like any hdmi in will work that is on, you don’t have to be using it). The version 1.4 actually has a switch to turn the HDMI out off and the toslink still works but, again, I could only get that to 96/24, but it could have been defective.

I love that you can get full sound quality from movies and other media. I played an SACD through the OPPO and it played 88/24 out since it goes from the HDMI Audio which also has the extra anti-jitter circuit.

If you have any other questions, please let me know, I looked around for a while to find something reasonably priced that would work. Happy to answer anything I can.

Thanks Veneet. That’s very helpful. It is annoying that the Oppos down-sample/truncate bits to the SPDIF outputs. I’ve never gotten higher than 96/24 to work using Toslink, although I haven’t tried that hard.

Veneet, the retail price for those units does seem to be about double what you paid for 2. I guess you scored. You said the HDMI out needs to be connected to something that is on. I really don’t want to give up one of my TV’s HDMI ports. Do you think a powered HDMI switch that is not connected to anything would work?

Hey Steve,

I just tested by unhooking the hdmi from the Atlona to my integrated, turned everything off, unplugged all connections to & from my hdmi switch that usually feeds my OPPO and plugged the hdmi from Atlona to just the Switch which had no output hooked in and it did work.

Just to check, I turned the hdmi Switch off and on again and once they found each other and established the handshake it worked again.

So, yeah, just need a switch that establishes the hdmi handshake and it does indeed work.

Let me know if you need any other test, that was a good one.

Excellent! That’s really above and beyond the call and much appreciated. I may actually have to give this a try.

Veneet, I got the TrippLite de-embedder. It seeks to work fine (plugged it into the Opposite 205’s audio-only HDMI out). I didn’t have to plug anything into the HDMI-out. It does still seem to downsample though. I put in a Blu-ray disk that I know is 96/24 (because I have ripped the files) and they played at 48/24. Still, better than the 48/16 that comes out the the Oppo’s Toslink connection.

Great news Steve, good to see that there are alternatives! Could you let me know what Blu-ray and I can see if I can try on my end and see if it is the same or different?

I do know that if while playing the Blu-ray on the OPPO and you can hold the info key down and a page panel pops up (different than the tap on info key) you can see the resolution that is playing in the player itself. Have you had a look at this? You will need to scroll down three screens in the info.

Also, maybe try a SACD as well. I had it playing the Sonoma - One album PCM 88.2 kHz/ 24 bit

Thanks,

Veneet

EDIT: Also, you probably have done this already, but did you check to make sure your output to HDMI was set to LPCM and s/pdif set to 192LPCM? Not sure that the S/PDIF setting does anything, but I noticed some interaction between that setting and the HDMI audio setting.

Thanks Veneet. The Blu-ray I used was Dire Straits Alchemy. The info screen shows LPCM 96/24 as the audio format but the third screen in (didn’t know it was there) shows the HDMI output as “PCM 2.0ch 48k”. I have HDMI output set to LPCM (also tried auto) and have tried 192 and 96 LPCM SPDIF settings. I’ve never managed to get 192k over Toslink so mostly I leave that set at 96k.

Edit: SACDs (non-hybrid) play at 44/24 over the HDMI-out. I get nothing out of the SPIF Toslink out.

Enough tinkering for the moment. Time to just enjoy some music.

Hey Steve I will go ahead and order it, but could you quickly try changing the s/pdif setting to Dolby digital and see what happens? Just curious I won’t be able to try till Thursday night/ Friday.

thanks!

No need to order a particular disc Veneet. It seems to be the same regardless of the disc (except the bit rate is sometimes 16). I’m not that worried about it. Selecting Dolby Digital or anything else has no effect. Still getting 48/24. Maybe it’s my de-embedder.

Cool, well at least there is improvement. I will chat with you later, I don’t actually own a music blu ray, so if nothing else I will see if there is one that I want any way.

Have a great week!

Thanks Veneet. You too. When you get back and get a chance, if there are regular movie Blu-rays you use to test the high-res audio de-embedding, I’d be curious which ones.

Hey Steve,

On my way back today so will be able to update tomorrow. I ended up by Eric Clapton Crossroads blu-ray (2010) it alleges to have pcm 96/24 stereo so will give that a shot. Movies wise all my 4K movies have been 48/24, I have heard that there is an Akira movie bluray that actually has 192/24 but that is dolby true hd which I am not sure what would happen with the oppo converting to pcm, it’s on my list to test.

More interesting may be the release next week of David Gilmour Live at Pompeii Bluray, shot in 4K(not sure if it will actually be a 4K release) but also high res stereo pcm 96/24, the boxed set seems like a good deal with cds and other stuff if you like him.

will update when I land if the delivery came.

Thanks Veneet. Absolutely no rush. I’m just curious if you manage to get 96/24 or higher off a Blu-ray. It could be my de-embedder is doing some processing, although that would seem unnecessary.

Hey Steve,

So at least with this Crossroads disc it does 96/24 through the de-embedder into the DirectStream DAC. None of the S/PDIF settings changed that (which is good). Changing HDMI output to Bitstream didn’t either (see below). Changing the disc menu between surround sound and stereo didn’t change it from 96/24 either.

So the de-embedder must be doing at least some processing (I have the selector on 2ch stereo pcm) to at least convert bit stream into pcm. The OPPO is set to down-mix 2 channel.

Let me know if you want me to try and mirror anything different to what I have in my set up.