| Editorial January 2010
Home Theater & Sound's Products
of the Year 2009
Every time there’s a new product from Oppo Digital,
most of the writers of the SoundStage! Network vie for the review. This year, the Oppo
folks were kind enough to send us two samples of their BDP-83 universal Blu-ray
player, so both associate editor Roger Kanno and I got one.
 We all want any new Oppo
component because their products inevitably light our fires, and the BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc
player ($499 USD) had all of us salivating (see my review here, and Roger’s review here).
With all the luxury-market products floating through the SoundStage! Network offices, you
might wonder why Oppo’s budget-priced products get us so excited. The answer is easy
-- because we can always count on:
- the latest technology, often things seen only in the
Tiffany-priced competition
- maximum adjustability
- playback of SACD and DVD-Audio by virtually every model
- state-of-the-art picture
- near-state-of-the-art sound
- stunning customer support and service
- low price
If the part about a "state-of-the-art picture"
from a $499 player seems unlikely to you, read what Roger wrote in his October review:
"I found the Anchor Bay VRS video processing in the BDP-83 to be essentially
equivalent to the Gennum VXP processing built into the Anthem Statement D2 processor --
which costs $7499." That’s 15 times the cost of the Oppo.
But a $499 Blu-ray player couldn’t have great sound,
could it? This one does. My thoughts were, and are: "The analog circuits of Oppo
players have often drawn praise from the audiophile community, and that’ll be a
resounding ditto for the BDP-83." Roger concurred: "The BDP-83’s sound
quality through its analog outputs was surprisingly good for a $500 player. The BDP-83
simply had a more balanced sound from top to bottom, with a smoothness that didn’t
sacrifice detail . . . [and] was also able to sort out complex arrangements with more
precise imaging. The same could be said of ‘Red Book’ CDs, which the BDP-83
reproduced with a solid and coherent quality."
Yet, you may ask, aren’t there other great
Blu-ray players for even less? Mr. Kanno’s pithy response, from his review:
"Comparison? You’re kidding, right? There simply isn’t anything else
on the market at or anywhere near $500 that offers Blu-ray and SACD and
DVD-Audio playback and state-of-the-art video processing. Marantz and Denon make
massively built, statement Blu-ray players that play SACDs and DVD-As, but they cost nine
to 12 times as much as the BDP-83. . . . At its price, the Oppo BDP-83 has little, if any,
competition."
I couldn’t agree more, and stand by the wrap-up I
wrote in July: "Oppo has come up with so many winners over the last five years that
it’s starting to resemble a dynasty. The BDP-83 is yet another winner and, at $499, a
stunning bargain."
The fact is, Oppo is one of the good-guy companies out
there, and reviewing their BDP-83 was a privilege for Roger and me. Each of us ended up
buying his review sample. The BDP-83 is now my reference Blu-ray player.
 Aperion Audio’s business model is to
cut out the retailers so that the consumer can have a quality product for much less money.
Our Kevin East thought the Aperion Audio Intimus 5T-DB Hybrid HD home-theater speaker system was a
bargain at $2829. He especially fell in love with the canny Intimus 5DB switchable
surround speaker, which can be swapped between dipole mode for ideal film sound, and
bipole mode for seamless, laser-locked soundstaging of music-only recordings.
Kevin was also knocked out by Aperion’s Bravus 10D
remote-controlled subwoofer, complete with a highly flexible parametric equalizer with
"four adjustable parameters: Narrow (a particularly narrow band of frequencies), Wide
(a particularly wide band of frequencies), Normal, and amount of boost or trim (Level) . .
. You can increase or decrease loudness, tame the blurred edge around that all-important
cosmic explosion, deepen the rumble of the Klingon battle cruiser, and so on. This, as
well as the adjustable crossover, gives you an amazing amount of control of not only how
much bass is output for any application, but how it is shaped for your room."
The combo of the Intimus 5T front left and right speakers
with the Bravus 10D sub really lit up Kevin for music from discs silver or black.
"When I switched from surround mode to simple stereo," he wrote, the sound was
"like a smack across the chops . . . an immediate and dramatic improvement
in the overall sound." That means that the Intimus system’s $2829 price gets you
not only a fantastic 5.1-channel speaker system, but also a smoking stereo system that
Kevin called "a two-channel system that is musical without much compromise."
All in all, a 5.1 system for $2829 that has high-quality
parts, real wood, a gorgeous finish, and that also happens to have startlingly good,
"smack across the chops" sound, is the type of product we can all believe in.
Value for your dollar? It lives!
As we turn to 2010, there are a few truths you can continue
to count on: The New Year will bring even better equipment. Designers will uncover new
ways to make the home-theater experience sound better, look more realistic, and cost even
less. And you can rely on us at Home Theater & Sound, and at all the SoundStage! Network sites, to
stay on top of the very best equipment.
Happy New Year!
. . . Wes Marshall
wesm@hometheatersound.com |
