I seem to have created some pollution here and I want to clear the air first before I continue.

It is a FACT that the audio sent out by both the Oppo and HTPC is bitstream which is raw and untouched without any processing. All things being equal, when the same receiving AV amp processed the bitstream audio, the quality WILL always be exactly the same regardless of whether we use HTPC, Oppo 105D, Popcornhour, Dune Max, ACRyan or any media player. YES, I totally agree with your statement about this and do not dispute it. With that being said, I shall continue with my own personal opinion about the bitstream audio.

Please regard what I say after this as my fairy tale story which are based on nonsense so you will be right if you disagree with me... I will not make any rebuttals. Just continue to read and give it some thought.



Look at my drawn diagram above. As I mentioned earlier, when the AV Amp received the Bitstream Audio, it will be the same when "all things being equal". Unfortunately it is not equal in my own assessment after various tests done by me. Don't misunderstand me... I don't refute anything about the Bitstream Audio itself. Its about the "pollution" affecting the delivery of the same Bitstream Audio before it reaches the AV Amp to be processed.

There will always be the neverending discussions about the reasons for using an expensive HDMI Version 2.0 cable (RM 200++) when a cheapo one selling at RM 50 can do the job equally well because the digital signal will still be the same in 0's and 1's. I belong to the "cheapo" HDMI camp previously because I do agree that its a fact that the digital audio and video will not change no matter what cable we used except for the loss of signal when extremely long HDMI cable is used. One day, a friend of mine brought an HDMI 2.0 cable costing around RM 380 (2 metres) for me to test and compare with my no brand cheapo RM 55 one. I was a disbeliever but I was caught totally surprised when the audio and video quality did actually improve based on my own observation. I was wondering... what the hell is going on? Then I was told that a good quality HDMI cable with proper electromagnetic shielding and gold-plated contact with silver strand in the cable can "ease" and "speed up" the transfer of the signal to the receiving amp with less pollution, less resistance and interference. Its just like water (bitstream audio/video) flowing through 2 pipes where one is a clean pipe and the other is a dirty pipe... the water is the same but its quality drops when the delivery has problems.

Ok... lets return to the HTPC versus the Oppo player. The computer is notorious for ground loop noise which are generated from various internal parts which can possibly pollute bitstream audio before it is sent out. PC Bluray drives can be very noisy without any effort done to dampen its internal mechanism and its build quality just cannot be compared to the drive in a good quality player such as the Oppo, Marantz, Primare.



About 1 to 2 years ago, I tested using a bluray disc on these 4 different "players" using my previous Denon 4520 AV Receiver (sold recently)...
1) My Oppo BDP-105D media player.
2) My Intel NUC i5 mini PC.
3) My MSI 17 inch i7 Notebook.
4) My Desktop i7 PC with 3 bluray drives.

... where the result was (1) has the best audio and (4) is the worst.

Eventhough my Desktop PC is water cooled, it can be quite noisy with its 5 large internal casing fans and an NVidia graphics card that has 2 fans. Somehow I believe that my Desktop PC should have "polluted" the audio from the time that its read from the disc, goes to the PC RAM memory, travels along the motherboard to the graphics card and then out to the HDMI cable. Probably the path that the audio travels is more complicated when compared to the path used by the Oppo player. I believe why the Intel NUC is the second best is because there is no moving parts inside with M2 SSD harddisk and the power supply is external.



I even used a low noise power supply unit from Jay's Audio to power my harddisk dock to reduce the current noise affecting the reading of the data in the harddisk!! Very small improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

I also played DSD audio from my Intel NUC mini PC to my DAC and found out that the sound quality from a SSD harddisk is slightly better than a 3.5 inch harddisk connected the same USB harddisk dock!



However, the audio from playing an actual bluray disc is better than from any harddisk. The bluray concert sounds much more lively and detailed.

And ALL using the same Bitstream Audio output! Anyone can call me stupid, call me crazy, say that I am talking rubbish and what I can reply is... I deserve the criticisms! Hehehe... no problem.

Video and Audio is both objective and subjective so its up to each person to choose what he/she thinks provides the best quality for the money spent. If anyone says that HTPC video quality with MadVR is much better than Oppo BDP-105D, then you are right not to buy Oppo. If anyone says Oppo is better, then that is also right too.

Sorry for my extremely long reply.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jul 14 2016, 07:19 PM

jamesleetech
Oppo 105D built in Darbee video processing, better picture quality

Well we are at this topic. I just learn something because of speaker keep having some humming sound which I could not figure out why. After some changing cables and connecting differently, than I realised the sound comes from my power adapter. Is a common power adapter we use for small electric item. I am using rapsberry pi2 as my music server. It is even more quiet than NUC and it use 5v electric supply. Min noise from electric. How knows the power adapter which can cause humming sound in the speaker. After changing the adapter problem solved. I believe the source of your audio or video will have pollution if is not properly setup. All this connection with cables is one big area where noise (pollution) goes into the system.

Now coming into this, we shall go into cable. I am in the same boat of thinking some cheap HDMI and expensive HDMI make no different until I had use 12 meter long HDMI which is super cheap compare to a 12 meter long HDMI which cost me 10x more. Straight can notice the picture quality different. OPPO has 2 HDMI output which is great to separate the audio and video. This makes it even better. I do use himedia player as well for some movies playback from HDD. It is iso BD files I am using for the media player. Even so the quality it comes out is not comparable with OPPO. Even speaker cable I had tried from cheap cable to thousand of ringgit cable. I can tell you the different is amazing. So believer or not, you can try and find out

Ya, you are not wrong to say HTPC with MadVR can beat Oppo. I respect your views. In your case, its a waste of money to buy Oppo. For me, its a different story. In my opinion, its a case of "one man's meat is another man's poison".

However, you misunderstood SSJBen's main point when you generally agreed with what he said in his reply to me.

Have a look at the diagram below...



What SSJBen was saying is that the "Bitstream Audio" is 100% not touched/processed when it reaches the AV Amp. Because both HTPC and Oppo delivers the same bitstream audio, SSJBen believe that Oppo bitstream audio will NOT be better than HTPC.

Your comment on the MadVR refers to the Video part of the signal but this cannot be compared together in this situation because the video signal from HTPC and Oppo have been changed differently and are not the same when it reaches the AV Amp.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jul 14 2016, 07:15 PM

Now coming into this, we shall go into cable. I am in the same boat of thinking some cheap HDMI and expensive HDMI make no different until I had use 12 meter long HDMI which is super cheap compare to a 12 meter long HDMI which cost me 10x more. Straight can notice the picture quality different. OPPO has 2 HDMI output which is great to separate the audio and video. This makes it even better. I do use himedia player as well for some movies playback from HDD. It is iso BD files I am using for the media player. Even so the quality it comes out is not comparable with OPPO. Even speaker cable I had tried from cheap cable to thousand of ringgit cable. I can tell you the different is amazing. So believer or not, you can try and find out

[/quote]



This post has been edited by stilo10: Jul 14 2016, 08:21 PM

Yeah, I do noticed significant improvement after changing to more expensive cables be it on sound or picture quality.

https://vimeo.com/174634186
Did a simple video today on my HT cum hifi

[quote=stilo10,Jul 14 2016, 08:16 PM]
Now coming into this, we shall go into cable. I am in the same boat of thinking some cheap HDMI and expensive HDMI make no different until I had use 12 meter long HDMI which is super cheap compare to a 12 meter long HDMI which cost me 10x more. Straight can notice the picture quality different. OPPO has 2 HDMI output which is great to separate the audio and video. This makes it even better. I do use himedia player as well for some movies playback from HDD. It is iso BD files I am using for the media player. Even so the quality it comes out is not comparable with OPPO. Even speaker cable I had tried from cheap cable to thousand of ringgit cable. I can tell you the different is amazing. So believer or not, you can try and find out

[/quote]

[/quote]
Wow you got Oppo player? Btw, is the quality significant different on 2 meter long HDMI between cheap and branded?

Hotel California, Eagles (1976).

Wow... I wish I have a room large enough to fit a large home theatre screen.

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jul 14 2016, 09:35 PM

@bold letters.

This is the point I was explaining on what I believe is the cause based on my own observation. Pollution was what I believe was causing my HTPC audio quality to lose to my Oppo BDP-105D and also my Oppo 95. Well... only my opinion so I may be wrong.

Bitstream Audio output is just the same common denominator for all the different sources such as HTPC, Oppo bd player, Denon bd player, etc.

Was using a pair of QED Genesis Silver Spiral and found that its a bit too bright, less warm. Then I changed to DL Labs Q10 Speaker Cables (3.0M) at RM 2000+ per pair.... sweeter and more detailed.



This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jul 14 2016, 09:45 PM

:thumbsup:






This post has been edited by stilo10: Jul 14 2016, 09:46 PM

[quote=saitong09,Jul 14 2016, 09:32 PM]

[/quote]
Wow you got Oppo player? Btw, is the quality significant different on 2 meter long HDMI between cheap and branded?

[/quote]
Yes it does

The tube is Int amp. Yamaha AVR A3050. The small thing beside the sub is my player.

Vermouth (black pearl) is magnificent cable but is pricy

Oh... you use NuPrime DAC with a pair of Musical Paradise USB DAC Power Supply.

How much is the Vermouth per metre and who is the dealer? What is the character of this cable? Suitable for vocals? Warm? Detailed?

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jul 14 2016, 09:58 PM

I am also using jay audio psu for the musical paradise USB as it is battery power and require recharge. don't remember per meter but is 2.4meters in total. The price is about 4K. Hifi creations is the dealer

My new toy

Ok, thanks. Will find out from HiFi Creations Audio Boutique at Persiaran Surian, Petaling Jaya. My Jay audio is AC powered.

Your tube int amp is Musical Paradise MP-501 V4 KT120 KT150. And your sub is SVS PB13U.



Let me guess... you bought your Oppo 103D and AV rack from Actsessory Shoppe?

This post has been edited by jamesleetech: Jul 14 2016, 10:18 PM

Just the rack. OPPO is from CMY bought 3 years ago. The MP-501 is using KT150

Wow... a single 12TB NAS harddisk. For use with HTPC and for Audio only or AV?