The new OPPO UDP-205 Ultra UH Blu-Ray Disc Player takes the already excellent UDP-203 player a step further. Drawing from over a decade's worth of experience in advanced image processing technology and high fidelity audio performance, the UDP-205 provides reference level sound quality through the analog outputs, improves the clock precision of the HDMI audio output, and increases the power of the built-in headphone amplifier.
For the analog output stages, the UDP-205 utilizes two ES9038PRO 32-bit HyperStream DACs, delivering best-in-class audio performance for both stereo and 7.1 channel analog audio. As the flagship of the ESS Sabre PRO series, the ES9038PRO sets a new benchmark for audio excellence with its best in class 140 dB of dynamic range. The headphone amplifier is connected directly to the ESS SABRE PRO DAC and the new design offers more power and higher performance over standalone headphone amplifiers and improves the already renowned circuits of the previous generation BDP-105/105D players.
By bypassing the poor quality DAC of traditional computer soundcards, the UDP-205 turns any computer into a high performing multi-media source by utilizing the ES9038PRO DAC. This turns the OPPO UDP-205 has an ideal component for modern music systems. The UDP-205 is able to play all universal disc formats, such as 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and CD. It also offers extensive media format support such as MKV, AVI, MP4, WAV, FLAC, APE, DSD, etc. It supports connected USB hard disks and thumb drives, and has the ability to access content from DLNA servers and SMB shares over the local network.
The player features two HDMI outputs – an HDMI 2.0 port for connecting to the latest UHD TVs, projectors and A/V receivers, and an HDMI 1.4 audio port for connecting to older A/V receivers. Users with newer 4K- and HDR-capable A/V receivers can use a full HDMI 2.0 signal path, while users with older A/V receivers can have a split A/V setup. An HDMI 2.0 input port supports UHD resolution and is available for users to connect an external streaming device. This approach affords the flexibility to choose from a wide range of streaming devices and easily upgrade as streaming technologies evolve, while still taking advantage of the UDP-205's audio and video processing capabilities.
The UDP-205 also features a high-stability, high-precision HDMI clock and a special HDMI audio jitter reduction circuit. This unique design significantly reduces jitter and eliminates timing errors, allowing users to enjoy music with increased accuracy when they use the audio-only HDMI output port for connecting the audio signal. PCM and DSD signals rely on the HDMI clock directly, so the HDMI audio jitter reduction circuitry can improve the sound quality of PCM and DSD audio. For compressed bitstream audio, it helps to ensure error-free transmission, and may improve the audio performance depending on whether the audio decoder in the A/V processor or receiver uses a synchronous or asynchronous clock scheme.
An asynchronous USB DAC input supports sample rates up to 768 kHz PCM and DSD 512. For additional convenience and flexibility, the UDP-205 can convert digital signals from cable and satellite boxes, televisions, video game consoles and other digital transports with coaxial and optical digital outputs to analog. The stereo output section offers both XLR balanced and RCA single-ended connectors. By transmitting a pair of differential signals, the balanced output provides better common-mode noise rejection and improves signal quality.
Audio format support has been expanded to multi-channel DSD64/128, as well as 192kHz/24-bit PCM used in high-resolution lossless formats such AIFF, ALAC, APE, FLAC and WAV. (DSD64 is played back in native mode or converted to PCM, DSD128 converted to PCM.) In addition to supporting the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio surround formats, the UDP-205 supports bitstreaming the latest object-based immersive formats, such as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
Individual analog 7.1-channel surround outputs are ideal for connecting to a 7.1-channel or 5.1-channel surround sound system. The 7.1-channel analog output can also be configured to a stereo down-mix mode as a Zone 2 audio source. The UDP-205 has a stereo audio output powered by a dedicated ES9038PRO DAC chip and specially designed buffer and driver stages.
The UDP-205 is also equipped with two USB 3.0 ports on the back and another USB port on the front. Users can play video, music and photos from USB hard drives or thumb drives. Built-in 802.11ac Wi-Fi or Gigabit Ethernet connects the UDP-205 to home networks, so users can easily play media files stored on computers and home servers.
Image Specs
With over a decade of experience developing high-end DVD and Blu-ray players, OPPO has once again teamed with MediaTek to produce and manufacture a specialized 4K UHD Blu-ray decoder SoC - the quad-core OP8591, which offers the most advanced image decoding and processing technology available for 4K UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD and user generated media formats. The UDP-205 is capable of playing the new 4K UHD Blu-ray discs as well as 4K media files. Support for decoding the HEVC, H.264, VP9 4K, and Hi10P video codecs provides increased compatibility with user generated media.
One of the more exciting elements of the new 4K UHD format is the inclusion of high-dynamic range (HDR) video support and an expanded color range (Wide Color Gamut), allowing for more natural and true-to-life colors. The UDP-205 supports the HDR10 format, and it is also capable of providing an accurate conversion from HDR to SDR for older displays. Support for Dolby Vision (12 bit) will be available in the future via a firmware upgrade, as for the UDP-203.
The UDP-205 features support for all current SD, HD, and UHD resolutions, including 4K@60p, 4K@50p, 4K@30p, and 4K@24p using various color spaces such as PC RGB, Video RGB, YCbCr 4:4:4, 4:2:2, and 4:2:0. Also, the UDP-205 is capable of upscaling lower resolution content up to 4K Ultra HD, which is four times the resolution found on a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Advanced picture controls allow users to adjust brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, and sharpness, to compensate for any limitations found in home theater components, or merely to adjust the image to own personal taste.
Construction
The UDP-205 features a brushed aluminum front panel and a metal chassis that continues the tradition of excellent workmanship found in previous generations of OPPO universal players. The new double-layered chassis further enhances the stability and vibration-canceling capabilities. Four heavy-guage machined feet provide a stable foundation for the UDP-205, and isolate it from outside vibration. The internal layout and chassis design promote healthy air flow so critical components can be naturally cooled. Strategically placed heatsinks and ventilation grills allow the UDP-205 to run both cool and quiet without the need for internal or external fans. The thermal design has been optimized, analyzed, and stress-tested to ensure reliable operation for years to come.
The new player has separate power supplies for digital and analog circuitry to eliminate virtually all harmful interference, and the analog audio circuitry is powered by a massive toroidal power transformer, which offers superior efficiency and significantly lower exterior magnetic field interference compared to traditional laminated steel core transformers. The toroidal linear power supply provides a very clean and robust power source to the audio components.
The UDP-205's disc loader features an optimized laser mechanism that delivers super fast disc loading, compatibility with a wide range of optical media, strong error detection and correction to ensure error free physical media playback. The newly updated, high-resolution user interface has been designed to be incredibly convenient to navigate, and provides an easy way to manage and access media files from both local and network storage.Finally, the UDP-205 is easy to integrate into any system due to its ability to receive standard control via IR, RS-232, OPPO produced UDP-20X MediaControl smart device application, third party IP Control system, and HDMI CEC commands. The player also supports Trigger In and Out, so it can automatically turn on and off other devices connected to it for the ultimate convenience.
The UDP-205 is priced at $1299 and is currently available directly at oppodigital.com and soon from specialty retailers and custom installers.
http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-205/
