Oppo and SACD

derekcohen

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I have a newly acquired Oppo bdp-83 SE with minimal mileage. It works great, and I am getting excellent sound for CDs. The amp is a Devialet Expert 120 (and set up for the Oppo as a CD player). The TV is a LG OLED. When a DVD is inserted, this plays appropriately via the TV and sound via the hifi speakers (Kef LS50 Metas/KC62).

I have just purchased my first SACD, and discovered that it only plays music via the TV speakers and not the hifi speakers. Without changing settings, if a CD is inserted, this then plays through the hifi speakers. In other words, it is as though the Oppo wants to treat the SACD as a DVD.

What do I do to get the SACD to play as if it was a CD, that is, via the hifi speakers? I have the remote control to bring up the controls on the TV screen, but do not know what I should be looking for.

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
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Admittedly I have a later Oppo, but have no problems. How is your Oppo connected to your Devialet Expert 120? Optical / Coax will not work (unless you play the CD layer) - you cannot play SACD using the Devialet's internal DAC. The analogue connectivity will work just fine.

If you want to play the CD layer of a SACD, select that from the menu (under SACD Priority). I assume you want to play the stereo SACD layer.
 
The Oppo was set to output in PCM and CD Mode. It has not made a difference. Rats.

Here are the control screens ...

oppo1.jpg

oppo2.jpg

And when the disk plays (sound only via TV speakers) ...

oppo3.jpg

What does work - although I am not yet sure it is worth it, that is, whether there is loss of the SA in SACD ...

I routed the TV via my Cambridge Audio CXN (V2). Now it plays. Sounds decent (but fat in the bass). No comparisons made as yet with CD, per se

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
I have turned off secondary audio. Changed to SACD Stereo. Playing the system at lowish levels - it is late - using the Cambridge CXN. It sounds surprisingly good ... well, very acceptable. No joy with directly into the Devialet.

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
Can't help specifically with the Oppo as I'm not an owner as I use a Pioneer LX500 for multi channel SACD. The recording quality of the vast majority of SACDs is higher than that of redbooks, certainly if re-mastered. Depth and soundstage and instrument separation always seems better. A lot of this is down to that re-master especially if the disc is cut from the original recordings.

Unless you're a classical music fan then purchasing rock or pop discs can prove to be rather expensive. Discogs is your friend. Never, ever tell your partner how much they cost. A frying pad to the face can be rather painful.;)
 
The audio format setup options are for HDMI, but you Devialet doesn't do HDMI. Secondary audio doesn't exist on SACD. All of these settings are irrelevant.

Are you the using an analogue stereo connection to your Devialet (should work) or a digital coax (cannot work for SACD layers) or optical (also cannot work for SACD layers)?

I seem to remember vaguely that some earlier Oppos had trouble playing the CD layer of a SACD (as per your setup screen) over S/PDIF. My memory may well be wrong, and even if not, it may have been resolved by a firmware update.

In any case, run an analogue cable from the Oppo to the Devialet and select the SACD Stereo layer as the SACD priority default. It ought to work just fine.
 
Thanks Mark

This is where the Devialet runs into difficulties for me. There is only one analogue input, and mine is set up as moving coil preamp for the turntable. There are two digital inputs, which are coaxial. So it looks like I am out of luck with a straightforward set up.

Fortunately, I have not invested in SACD (just the one disk to sample), and it does play via the Cambridge. I'll stick to LP, CD and streaming.

Regards from Perth

Derek
 

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