For me, OPPO Digital was the king of the disc. I have something like five of their players in the house, and I’ve been using and recommending them to anyone interested in top-of-the-line CD, SACD and Blu-Ray playback for about as long as I’ve been recommending things. They’re inexpensive. They work. And they sound great. That’s the hat trick, for me.
And now they’re going portable. Okay, so that might not be news exactly, but it’s still very cool. The HA-2 headphone amplifier ($299) is the size and shape of an iPhone 6 (regular, not Plus), with a nice leather case/wrapper, which means stacking it with your phone isn’t going to scratch either. It sports an async USB DAC featuring the ES9018-K2M DAC chip, which means it’s good with the hi-res (32-bit PCM up to 384 kHz, and up to DSD256, and with 300mW output into 16Ω, it can drive most of your headphones.
Speaking of which, have you checked out the PM-3 ($399)? I’m loving these things. The look/feel of the cherry-red (one of the color options, which also includes black, blue and white) is just shouting “take my money” every time I walk past a pair. The fit is comfortable and light, and the sound I get out of this headphone, especially paired with the HA-2, is very much on-the-go-able. Some of the best sound in the sub $1k category out there — and this is way under $1k. Value. That’s what that is.
But as for the new — I saw my a BDP-105d with a fancy (and not-for-sale; OPPO’s Jason Liao was apparently asked this numerous times over the weekend) glass top. Peering into the lit-up interior, I almost missed what was happening here — this unit was streaming Tidal. Hello, beta firmware! Due to hit General Release at some point in the near future, we’ll soon be able to stream Tidal directly through the OPPO, by way of the Oppo App –> Best news I heard this weekend. I’m ready!
Oh, and I’m gettin’ me some of the cherry headphones. Oh yeah.
