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Butcher

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Everything posted by Butcher

  1. The PS5 would be useless to me - no Dolbyvision support, no analog audio output. All for more than double what I'd pay for a decent 4K with the features I want.
  2. A further update: I had occasion to play a DVD over the weekend. I've been building out my collection with Blu-ray movies, and HD downloads, so I rarely open a DVD anymore. I had a sudden desire to watch Iron Man (my inner child demanded it), so I popped that in the Oppo and pushed the go button. I have never seen upscaling that worked this well. Most players cause blurs, pixel flips, and other artifacts. In some cases the artifacts are so bad I'd not be surprised if Indiana Jones ran across the viewing room chased by a very large stone ball that was badly blurred followed by natives with pixellated faces. The Oppo did not cause problems on the journey from 480 to 1080, quite the opposite - some of the scenes appeared to be 4k. Others, those who had lower contrast, and those with washed out palettes, appeared to have a slight error to them. Overall the effect was very well done. And as I may have explained before, I was told by the previous owner to have the Darbee circuit join the party whilst leaving the settings at '0' assistance. Perhaps that does the trick. However it works, I'm happy this player has saved me from buying a Blu-ray replacement for my DVD.
  3. This player continues to thrill me. I've been meaning for quite some time to get away from my multi-channel Atmos thingy receiver. The only thing that has kept it in place has been the use of the remote for input switching, control of my Marantz Blu-ray player, system volume control, and lastly the ability to break the sound out of the HDMI and send it to my stereo amp. With the retirement of the Marantz player the list of reasons to hold on to the AV receiver just became shorter. I'd just lacked the spare moments to attempt any experimentation. I finally tripped over an adequate block of time that was just sitting there, derelict, which provided the opportunity for me to play some bypass shenanigans with the receiver. I took the HDMI output from the Oppo and sent that directly to my panel display, and the analog outputs went to my highly-regarded Nakamichi CA-7 preamplifier. With everything connected thusly, I found that I had stellar sound coming through my speakers, but somehow the tv was still getting sound and passing it through my Sonos "home theater". I silenced that noise, then found that the soundtrack was playing perfectly through the analog stereo but the vocals were far, far back, as if the speaking roles were phoning in their post-production dubs and Foley from the comfort of the loo. More research and experimentation were warranted. A few layers into the Oppo audio menus I discovered a positively wonderful setting that allowed me to choose what audio output format I wanted. It was but a moment to select 2.0, no LFE, and my show was ready for the big room. I found that Oppo thoughtfully provided a volume control on the remote. With the telly managing the inputs, the analog sound playing perfectly through the stereo, and the Oppo controlling the volume for my ancient, non-remote but very rare and stellar preamp, the Marantz receiver has been retired. Its a brilliant unit but not my particular malt anymore. I do believe my adventures with multichannel are over.
  4. Gents, I forgot to mention that I had purchased said Oppo 103D. Although I miss my Marantz - which has now taken an exalted spot with my office stereo equipment, as I'd mentioned before - the Oppo styling has grown on me quite a bit. It is square and purposeful, somewhat of a throwback to mid-80s hifi sensibilities. Performance-wise, it has done at least as good a job as the Marantz, and whilst I wasn't expecting it I did notice a bit of extra detail and depth to my favorite test movie. I mucked about with the Darbee for a bit, and I found myself enabling it but leaving it set to "zero", and it did make a difference. I thought for certain that I had read about that technique here, but I couldn't find the post. In any case I had no bias in favor of Darbee so I approached it with an open mind. I find this player to be a decent player at the price I paid - $300 - and though it lacks 4K and Dolbyvision I believe it will serve me well. Many thanks to my friends here who urged me to pursue it.
  5. That "technology" is just as good today. I have an ancient issue of Starlog magazine from the 70s that shows how to get the 3D effect from a pair of adjacent photos by crossing one's eyes. The Viewmaster took care of that for the user, and the result was as good as the source material. Since those pictures were taken from 35MM masters, the results were usually very good. I still have mine, and they've got lush, deep color and they're very sharp. I could imagine that the same player with high def pictures would be amazing. Just for the sake of the discussion, I was a dealer for 3dX back in the early 90s, which used a sort of fresnel lens in a modified rear projection cabinet to split an image into two imperfectly aligning images which was then resolved with glasses similar to the Epcot 3D movies of the early days. My demonstrator system was installed on a Pioneer Elite RPTV of a substantial size. The effect was quite striking. Not 3D as you're used to, with the images reaching out of the telly in an exaggerated fashion, but rather what 3dX called "depth enhancement", where the scene suddenly had a realistic viewing depth. Particularly striking when one would watch an action movie. Where... would that spike go? That appears to be an old patent medicine treatment for people who couldn't stop looking at pictures of landmarks. Ah, the old stereo photos. Long before the Dolby ProLogic photos took over the market. Those were the days. Still not as muddled as the new generation Atmos photos, where you have photo information overhead. It makes complete muck of the viewing experience, I'm afraid. Eagle Eye, indeed.
  6. That is an excellent resource. Bum to the rescue! I believe the best way for me to settle that would be to pull the top cover and have a look at the main board. I will of course report my results here. If you have the Darbee, could you please explain what it does, and under what circumstances it would be useful?
  7. As a side mention - would the proper answer to this be "= 3"? Asking for a mate. Yes I believe this player will be getting a healthy dose of grain spirits when I open it up and begin working on it. Techspray makes a fine 198 proof beverage that will really make it shine. I've spent some time researching the current generation of players and I've seen there's maybe 5 now that have analog audio. The next best thing would be to have an external DAC, as you say, but that means the player must have a 1.4 HDMI output in addition to a primary HDMI 2.0 output. Things have changed so much from when I started. The very first time I walked into my hifi store, I encountered an NEC S-VHS machine. Playing through a Proton monitor, I was astounded at the quality. Compared to today's pictures, it looks like viewing the world through a teething tot's toy binoculars.
  8. It appears I'll be purchasing that 103D then. At the risk* of sounding pretentious, would anyone here know what DAC package this unit has? Bum? You have one of everything they make, apparently. I've downloaded the user manual and read it through a few times but I still have no idea what the Darbee nonsense is; it seems to be some kind of image enhancement, perhaps the visual version of Sonic Holography. Visual Holography? That would be a bit redundant, I think. The 103 doesn't have 4K and DolbyVision so I'll need yet another player later on when I get a new display, but this Oppo should be fine for my business at the moment. *Always make sure you get Australia first, you'll be a shoo-in for victory. Yes Asia gets you 7 armies and its fun saying "Kamchatka" every few moments, but its such a pain to hold on to.
  9. One must add value wherever one goes. Leave the earth a better place once you've done with your particular bit of it, and so forth. Thank you for the review!
  10. Interesting you mention that. Someone just tried to sell me an Oppo 103 with "DarbeeVision" for $300, whatever the blazes that is. I did not know much about the brand so I declined. You'll have to forgive me, I've neglected my video education these past 20 years.
  11. That looks like a very nice player, based on what I've just read at HTHIFI. Thank you for the recommendation. Yes I'm sure it does, just as long as I don't mind it playing everything no earlier than November. 🤨
  12. Hello lads, component disaster has struck yet again here at Schloss Butcher. I've been quite happily using a universal player that gave me Blu-ray (no 4K), SACD, and excellent analog audio - until recently. The bloody thing suddenly decided that no matter which format of video disc I placed in its treacherous maw, it would not provide any signal over the HDMI - only sound over the analog ports. I've switched cables, inputs, media, and even brands of hopped beverage - to no avail. Of course it is long past its in warranty date. It still performs admirably as an audio player - for now - and it will henceforth be relegated to an honored position in another room, delivering quality audio to one of my favored stacks of vintage hifi. (It was either that or the Fist of Doom, and I'm still rightly embarrassed about that whole thing with the M1.0t.) What I need is a Blu-ray player that can handle SACD - and DVD-Audio and 4kHD if possible - whilst giving me a nice pair of shiny RCA jacks to hook into an amp for when I decide to show people that stereo never went away. If the player can handle DolbyVision and HDR10 and all the rest of the alphabet buzzies, so much the better. I know everyone seems to be getting out of the physical media market, but there has to be something available at a reasonable cost. I would think under $500 would suffice. Sony makes the UBPX1100ES (why can't they just give it a proper name, like "Hank" or "Nigel"?) but I have no reason to trust Sony, based on my previous experience with their media players. (Dreadful things, they are. Enough to make a parson swear.) As my player was 7 years old, I'd gladly accept something 2-3 years old, if it were new-old-stock, and from an authorized retailer. Would anyone have a potential direction they'd be willing to point me towards?
  13. A great film, great music. Wave of Mutilation stands out, but my favorite song is missing from the official soundtrack for some reason that has never been explained:
  14. Thanks for the reply, David. I really wouldn't be interested in Roon. I'm not comfortable with either subscription software or with stuff that sits behind the firewall and opens ports/sends info to who-knows-where, and its all a lot more complicated/expensive than I need. I have a bunch of wifi speakers to play around with for that and the list is growing. Sonos, HEOS, and now B&W has Formation, Foundation, Inflammation, whatever it's called. None of it works perfectly or even hits most popular standards, so thats all just casual listening and TV sound. What I really need is just a box that gets in between my analog 2ch preamp and my source drive (whatever that may be, from a lowly USB3.0 up to an actual laptop sitting there with a drive full of music and a software interface) and makes sure everything matches. Digital needs to become analog, maxed out bitrate needs to be sweet music, and impedances and sensitivities must be at parity. A remote vol would be nice too, because while we were sneering about cheap Magnavoxes and Panasonics with their plastic remotes back in 1985, all those high end preamps we used to push on customers then didn't have any remote at all. "Why would you need to keep changing volume? The preamp is ten feet away, get up and do it, don't color your signal path with remote nonsense!"
  15. At $3k for what I'm sure is a good player, I think I'll pass on those Oppo(rtunitie)s.... My Marantz was $1k new, and its an excellent player. The other $2k would be best spent buying a big pile of Sumo gear, plus all the mods I'd need for the Carver stuff I currently have. I just noticed that link you put at the top of your post, Bum - thats some pretty neet stuff there! I wonder how it compares to the stuff MassDrop keeps emailing me about.
  16. I came to the pure digital folder to post up a question that may be answered in part by your investigation, David. Namely, how might us guys who have awesome two channel analog setups get around to playing our extensive digital libraries through our ancient equipment? I have an AppleTV, it'll stream audio happily to anything that its connected to, via HDMI or optical. Not one single bit of my ancient audio collection can handle either one. I have a great Marantz Blu-ray/SACD, but it doesn't accept outside audio sources, its output only. It does have a "network" port on it, so I might be able to hook it to a drive via a router, but thats a bit too involved for what should be simple. It has a USB port on it, but since its from 2014, thats for playing .mp3 not for lossless files (which is what I have). What I really need, apparently, is something that hooks into an AUX or TAPE input on a typical 2 channel preamp, something does D/A conversion and gives me a high quality analog source. Something I can plug either a USB3.0 drive into, or attach it to a cheap NAS. Have you found anything that does that?
  17. Thanks muchly! What is the dividing line as far as pre-departure and post-Bob equipment? Was there a change in nomenclature, something obvious? Or did CarverCorp change internals but not the chassis names for a while? I really dig manufacturer-specific forums like this. People who are hear to enjoy their gear by understanding what it does, posting experiences, and checking out refreshes and upgrades. By reading threads here when I was in lurk mode, you guys actually saved me from some eBay mistakes before I even got here.
  18. Excellent! I think I'll pick up the C-9 at the earliest possible junction. I have a line on one locally. Can you point me to any good threads on the PM-900? I understand that thing is absolutely bonkers with power, like if the 1.0t is Richard Dreyfus taking over a small Central American dictatorship, the PM-900 is Sean Connery posing as the direct descendant of Alexander the Great and taking over Kashmir/Nepal. I'm fairly proficient at using the multimeter; at the very least I don't put the probes in my nose, so I've got that going for me. I have a few projects in the design phase (meaning I'm being the irritating mosquito in the ear of some people with a higher skillset than me) and some simple refurb/upgrade work with my Carver gear would be great for skill-building. Hifi at large is an addictive hobby. At some point in the future I'll post up some images of what I'd accumulated prior to starting my trip down Carver Lane. Its not as crazy as some people, but I've accumulated a bit from a lesser known manufacturer, and I'm continuing to do so before the general hifi public finds out what they've been missing. I see what you did there... I sincerely appreciate the electric welcome mat. I plan on posting pics when I get this stuff sorted out. By then I'm sure I'll be over the 10 post threshold. Before I start hot-rodding things, I would just like to do whatever refurbs are necessary and make sure these amps are posting good numbers in stock form. I'd take the time to get a feel for the sound as Bob intended, and then get on with mods. I know my question could be solved through judicious search, but if you have any favorite threads regarding refresh and/or mods, please post them here for me. That could cut through a lot of chaff. Plus I'm lazy, and tired from carrying all this gear into the house. Thank you, gentlemen! I will. You're far from the only person to say that. I've read hundreds of threadposts elsewhere It seems that while the 1.5t has a following, its put in third place after the 500 and 1.0. Good to know. Pics forthcoming after the threshold is crossed. The C1 seems to be the goto here and elsewhere. I'll be on the lookout for one.
  19. Greetings to all, and welcome to my introductory thread! I used to sell Carver back in the 80s, but oddly I don't remember a thing about it, other than I always wanted to have some myself but always got distracted by other stuff like Nakamichi or Sumo. I recently, suddenly, very quickly - and a few other adverbs may apply - acquired a bunch of Carver stuff in seperate* buys. I'm the proud owner of the following: TFM-25 M1.0t PM-900 MXR-130 CT-3 I've tried the first two amps out so far, and had good results with a range of different preamps before settling on a Nak 7A, sourced with a Marantz SACD player and driving various speakers. I'm currently on the TFM-25 but I switch back and forth on random occasions. Either amp certainly plays better than the old Hafler I had in there, which sounded like a box full of mud compared to the Carvers. They're very clear and strong, surprising for amps of that age. I figured the smoke demons would get released as soon as I plugged them in but they've been doing great. The amps, not the smoke demons. The PM-900 is DOA, but I'm eventually going to get around to repairing it after I find out how. I know the circuits inside are quite a bit more involved than the simple Class AB amps I've messed with prior to this. And by "messed with" I mean "tried not to spill my drink inside while I looked at them with the cover off". The other two I haven't messed with yet. I always wanted a "The Receiver" when I was early in the business so I was happy to get the MXR-130. I think it would be great driving a couple of bookshelf speakers for my workshop. The CT-3 I know close to nothing about, except that it's black, its lightweight, and thats about it. If I keep the TFM-25, maybe I'll put them together with some old B&Ws or whatever I happen to have around. Stuff I'd like to get: a few M400t - they remind me of the old NeXT Cube, and I understand they're pretty good amp, coincidentally M1.5t - because you always need more power maybe a C9 Sonic Hologram? Is there a point to that anymore? If anyone has opinions about the gear collection as it sits, or can offer advice on capabilities, trouble spots, mods, please let me know. *intentional mispelling** ** so was that
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