Oppo Releases Sonica DAC with Flagship ESS Sabre Pro Chip

Megalith

Megalith

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I am a couple of days late on this one (their availability e-mails never seem to reach me), but Oppo has finally released their Sonica DAC, which may be of interest to those of you who are looking to upgrade their desktop sound. Personally, I think a solid DAC and studio monitors are the way to go for computer audio—it’s a simple chain that provides neutral, powerful sound that is clear of problems like EMI (which I used to consistently run into with traditional soundcards).

At high-end audio shows, I typically lose count of how many Oppo UDPs enjoy a prime spot in equipment stacks. Now, with the Sonica DAC ($800), Oppo eliminates spinning discs from the equation and presents a machine tailored that to the task of reproducing two-channel audio with exceptional quality. Asynchronous USB DAC capability means you can use the Sonica with a PC or Mac, and you can connect USB storage devices to it. The Sonica DAC also supports DLNA servers, Bluetooth, and AirPlay. With USB input support for PCM audio up to 32-bit / 768 kHz and DSD512, it can handle pretty much any audio file out there. It’s also quite adept at handling high-resolution audio over a network. When streaming, it can handle up to 24-bit /192 kHz PCM as well as DSD64.
 
Oppo make some outstanding equipment, their DVD players in the day were outstanding for the $$ and their Bluray players are no exception today. I'm sure this DAC is awesome.
 
I'm in need of a DAC upgrade but I wouldn't drop that much cash on one....I mean, how different can they be? I'm a bit of a newbie audiophile myself so I'm legitimately curious. I still have a relatively entry-level DAC I bought three years ago going through a Yamaha receiver and some decent bookshelf speakers/monitors.

. IMG_9209.JPG

I mainly got the speakers and receiver for my vinyl player that is to the right of my desk but not pictured.
 
Sonicks said:
I'm in need of a DAC upgrade but I wouldn't drop that much cash on one....I mean, how different can they be? I'm a bit of a newbie audiophile myself so I'm legitimately curious. I still have a relatively entry-level DAC I bought three years ago going through a Yamaha receiver and some decent bookshelf speakers/monitors.

.View attachment 16231

I mainly got the speakers and receiver for my vinyl player that is to the right of my desk but not pictured.
Click to expand...

May I recommend the Schiit Modi Miultibit?

At $250 it has been said (by people who claim to know a lot more than I do) to outperform just above everything up until the $599 Bifrost Multibit, and many even prefer it over the Bifrost Multibit.

I don't have much personal experience with which to compare, but I love my Schiit Modi Multibit.

schiit.jpg
 
Sonicks said:
I'm in need of a DAC upgrade but I wouldn't drop that much cash on one....I mean, how different can they be? I'm a bit of a newbie audiophile myself so I'm legitimately curious. I still have a relatively entry-level DAC I bought three years ago going through a Yamaha receiver and some decent bookshelf speakers/monitors.

.View attachment 16231

I mainly got the speakers and receiver for my vinyl player that is to the right of my desk but not pictured.
Click to expand...

If it sounds good then it's probably pretty decent. I just picked up the Monoprice headphone amp/DAC and for even it's current ~$100 price it's pretty stellar.

A/B'ing it with my LG V10 (which has a Sabre DAC and is considered by most, myself included, to rival high-end stand alone DAP's and DAC's) I can say that the Monoprice holds up very well to it. LG V10 might be a bit brighter but it's no more revealing. So yeah, even $100 can get you a nice DAC PLUS a powerful amp. Drives my 3000mW max Fostex T50RP MK3's just fine.

So stuff like this? $800? Meh, most likely better than what I have but certainly not 8x the price...well for us just normal folk who like great audio.
 
Sonicks said:
I mainly got the speakers and receiver for my vinyl player that is to the right of my desk but not pictured.
Click to expand...

Also,

Are those Micca's? I have two sets of the Micca mb42x's. Great little speakers for the price. One set are my surrounds on my home theater system, the others are the main stereo speakers in my Zone2 in my kitchen.

Edit: On second thought they arent trhe same speakers as mine. They look very similar though, down to the size and rounded edges on the cabinets, but mine have magnetic covers, so no speaker cover holes like yours.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Paging Commander Shepard (Just because I know you'll be interested)

I'd be curious to see how it compares.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Oppo emailed me about this a few days ago. Even included a pre-order link. Thought about getting one, but even if I really liked it I'm well past the return window for my Gungnir Multibit.

For the record, my GM is outstanding. Everything sounds brilliant. I have absolutely no complaints whatsoever... aside from the expense ;)
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
May I recommend the Schiit Modi Miultibit?

At $250 it has been said (by people who claim to know a lot more than I do) to outperform just above everything up until the $599 Bifrost Multibit, and many even prefer it over the Bifrost Multibit.

I don't have much personal experience with which to compare, but I love my Schiit Modi Multibit.

View attachment 16236
Click to expand...

Zarathustra[H],

I'd personally like to see an overview of your whole setup, running Linux Mint, looks awesome!
 
BulletDust said:
Zarathustra[H],

I'd personally like to see an overview of your whole setup, running Linux Mint, looks awesome!
Click to expand...
Z knows his Schiit about this DAC audio stuff! He was a big help to me in my search for a new DAC. I was set on the Oppo Sonica DAC, but it was delayed and I wanted to make a purchase before getting sidetracked with some upcoming projects. I'm thrilled with my Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC. No regrets at all for not waiting on the Oppo. Were I making a purchase now, I definitely would try the Oppo alongside the Gungnir. Doubt you could go wrong with either choice.
 
BulletDust said:
Zarathustra[H],

I'd personally like to see an overview of your whole setup, running Linux Mint, looks awesome!
Click to expand...


I'd be happy to oblige. I've posted it to death, but it is in a constant state of change. It's the system (with specs) in my sig.

Here is an older pic from ~summer 2015, but its mostly the same, except for a different microphone, different DAC, different headphone amp and a second set of headphones. Weakest link right now are those Logitech desktop speakers. I want to replace them, but they keep on trucking, and I struggle with spending money on stuff when the old ones still work.

screens.jpg



Center screen is my 48" 4k Samsung JS9000, and on each side in portrait are my Dell 2007FP (IPS version) 1600x1200 screens. Keyboard is a Unicomp (they bought out the Lexmark/IBM keyboard plant/design) buckling spring board. Mouse is a Logitech G502 Proteus core on a Ratpad. The microphone pictured is a Audio Technica ATR2500-USB which has since died and been replaced with a CAD U37.


schiit-jpg.16236


On the left in this pic is my Schiit Modi Multibit DAC, On the right I have a Schiit Jotunheim headphone amp. They offer it as a DAC-Amp but I opted for the DAC-less version, because I already had the Modi Multibit, and it is a better DAC.

Pictured in the top image are my older 250Ω Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro headphones. They mostly take the back seat to my Sennheiser/Massdrop HD6xx headphones (Massdrop version of HD650) these days, but I still use them occasionally when I need to block out sound, as they are closed backed.

The rig is custom water cooled, built into a Corsair 750D case. Again, specs in sig.

open.jpg


Oh, and hi. There's my new CAD u37 mic.

Keeps my overclocked (2063Mhz, yeah I lost the silicon lottery) Pascal Titan X at a chilly 32-36C under max load. The older sandy-E hexacore i7-3930k runs comfortably at 4.8Ghz, and has since new in 2011, but is starting to get flaky as of late, and it is clear I'll need to replace it in the not too distant future.

My primary OS is Linux Mint 18.1, but I also have a Windows 10 Pro VM in Virtualbox for the rare occasion I need to run some Windows software. I also dual boot to win 10 pro for games. I've tried to mess with Linux versions of games and Wine in the past, but I've found it to be a disappointing experience, so I still keep the real thing around for games.

I'm a firm believer in the "small fast local drive, and large slow mass storage" combination, so I keep a 400GB Intel 750 PCIe SSD in my rig, and all other storage is on my NAS.

I have a dedicated 10GBit intel NIC that connects to my server in the basement (in Sig under Server). It runs a ton of VM's for my server needs, including my MythTV backend for all my TV/DVR needs, and also hosts my ZFS storage pool.

15268538436_a8ac02e4ed_b.jpg

(old pic from back when I was still running VMWare)

It has 12x 4TB WD Reds arranged in two RAIDz2 vdev's of 6 drives each, for a ZFS equivalent of RAID60. It also has 2x 512MB Samsung 850 Pro drives for a TB of read cache, two mirrored 100GB Intel S3700's for ZIL/SLOG devices, as as a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO for TV recording buffer (new recordings go to SSD, and are moved to pool when full). It boots off of two mirrored 512GB Samsung 850 EVO drives, which it also uses as VM storage, and has two more 128GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD's, one for swap and one for a Live TV buffer for mythTV.

Feel free to ask any other questions. :)
 
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Oppo makes some very nice headphones as well (I seriously considered getting them before deciding on a Beyerdynamic Amiron).
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
I'd be happy to oblige. I've posted it to death, but it is in a constant state of change. It's the system specs in my sig under "Desktop".

Here is an older pic from ~summer 2015, but its mostly the same, except for a different microphone, different DAC, different headphone amp and a second set of headphones. Weakest link right now are those Logitech desktop speakers. I want to replace them, but they keep on trucking, and I struggle with spending money on stuff when the old ones still work.

View attachment 16239


Center screen is my 48" 4k Samsung JS9000, and on each side in portrait are my Dell 2007FP (IPS version) 1600x1200 screens. Keyboard is a Unicomp (they bought out the Lexmark/IBM keyboard plant/design) buckling spring board. Mouse is a Logitech G502 Proteus core on a Ratpad. The microphone pictured is a Audio Technica ATR2500-USB which has since died and been replaced with a CAD U37.


schiit-jpg.16236


On the left in this pic is my Schiit Modi Multibit DAC, On the right I have a Schiit Jotunheim headphone amp. They offer it as a DAC-Amp but I opted for the DAC-less version, because I already had the Modi Multibit, and it is a better DAC.

Pictured in the top image are my older 250Ω Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro headphones. They mostly take the back seat to my Sennheiser/Massdrop HD6xx headphones (Massdrop version of HD650) these days, but I still use them occasionally when I need to block out sound, as they are closed backed.

The rig is custom water cooled, built into a Corsair 750D case. Again, specs in sig.

View attachment 16240

Oh, and hi. There's my new CAD u37 mic.

Keeps my overclocked (2063Mhz, yeah I lost the silicon lottery) Pascal Titan X at a chilly 32-36C under max load. The older sandy-E hexacore i7-3930k runs comfortably at 4.8Ghz, and has since new in 2011, but is starting to get flaky as of late, and it is clear I'll need to replace it in the not too distant future.

My primary OS is Linux Mint 18.1, but I also have a Windows 10 Pro VM in Virtualbox for the rare occasion I need to run some Windows software. I also dual boot to win 10 pro for games. I've tried to mess with Linux versions of games and Wine in the past, but I've found it to be a disappointing experience, so I still keep the real thing around for games.

I'm a firm believer in the "small fast local drive, and large slow mass storage" combination, so I keep a 400GB Intel 750 PCIe SSD in my rig, and all other storage is on my NAS.

I have a dedicated 10GBit intel NIC that connects to my server in the basement (in Sig as Proxmox KVM/LXC Server). It runs a ton of VM's for my server needs, including my MythTV backend for all my TV/DVR needs, and also hosts my ZFS storage pool.

15268538436_a8ac02e4ed_b.jpg

(old pic from back when I was still running VMWare)

It has 12x 4TB WD Reds arranged in two RAIDz2 vdev's of 6 drives each, for a ZFS equivalent of RAID60. It also has 2x 512MB Samsung 850 Pro drives for a TB of read cache, two mirrored 100GB Intel S3700's for ZIL/SLOG devices, as as a 1TB Samsung 850 EVO for TV recording buffer (new recordings go to SSD, and are moved to pool when full). It boots off of two mirrored 512GB Samsung 850 EVO drives, which it also uses as VM storage, and has two more 128GB Samsung 850 Pro SSD's, one for swap and one for a Live TV buffer for mythTV.

Feel free to ask any other questions. :)
Click to expand...

Now that's a setup, downright awesome my friend! Respect where it's deserved!
 
I see you use Clementine? I use Banshee. Does Clementine offer any real advantage over Banshee?
 
Clementine is downright awesome, just downloaded and installed - I'm hooked!
 
BulletDust said:
I see you use Clementine? I use Banshee. Does Clementine offer any real advantage over Banshee?
Click to expand...


I think I actually liked banshee better. I stopped using it though as my large music collection would cause Banshee to frequently crash, which was a bummer.

Clementine isn't much of a step back though. I've come to like it over time.

Honestly, most of my listening these days is in Spotify with the extreme setting (320kbit OGG). It's just so much more convenient, and I can't tell the quality difference.

I still keep a local file collection of the more obscure music I tend to like that isn't on Spotify.
 
I got the e-mail on the 31st but still thinking on whether I need to replace the Emotiva DC-1. Looking at Sonica for its ability to play DSD natively and its network connectivity.
 
jevans64 said:
I got the e-mail on the 31st but still thinking on whether I need to replace the Emotiva DC-1. Looking at Sonica for its ability to play DSD natively and its network connectivity.
Click to expand...

Do you actually have DSD content?

I worried about my inability to play DSD content natively on my DAC when I first bought it, but I've since come to realize that DSD is mostly a dead format with Sony not releasing any more content.
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
Do you actually have DSD content?

I worried about my inability to play DSD content natively on my DAC when I first bought it, but I've since come to realize that DSD is mostly a dead format with Sony not releasing any more content.
Click to expand...

All of the stuff I bought from Channel Classics is in DFF ( DSD ) format. I've converted most of it to FLAC for PC consumption but push it through the Oppo in DFF format on my main system. The option is there with the Sonica just in case I want to start collecting Sony discs. ;)
 
There is a thumb drive size DAC that you can buy for somewhere around $60 and the last I heard a few months ago it was one of the best sounding DACs in the world, and certainly the best for the price.

Found it: Dragonfly http://www.whathifi.com/audioquest/dragonfly-black-v15/review

It's incredible the quality of the DAC you can get for the money these days. Field programmable from what I've heard are making a huge impact. A DAC like this that is well under $100 will sound better than high end high dollar audio cards from just 5 or so years ago.

Ok so it has no DSD support, but if you have that format laying around you probably already have good enough equipment to play it well. I'm just looking for a general PC audio card, high sound quality is just a bonus.

I have heard the glory of DSD, Michael Jackson's Thriller on an electrostatic amp with LCDX headphones and I have never heard so much incredible clarity in my life. I can well appreciate it. But for a budget minded PC build multi thousand dollar audio setups are off the table, and something like the dragonfly offers incredible sound for the money.
 
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Of course, just when I grew tired of waiting for the iDSD pro and just got the iDSD micro black label in December, this rolls out. Had this been available then, I would purchased this instead... Typical... :)
In reality I will get this also and re-purpose the iDSD micro instead.... :)
 
I just read the Oppo DAC's comments section on the AVS forum; linked in the OP's first post. Most are about some minor function complaints like not being able to switch inputs or power on/off remotely. Others address some audio technicalities that made my head hurt while reading. The few comments about sound quality were very positive. Would be worth bookmarking that page if you're considering a purchase. I'm sure comments will flow as more people get the DAC and post their thoughts.
 
i've been dabbing my eyes on a bit of audio gear and then quickly shifting my focus off onto other things because i don't have time to research and learn it for such a little gain. But if any pro's can answer this simple query then perhaps i can be red pilled on it quickly. ;)

Would this kind of device be able to prevent speaker hum/noise (like when you have no sounds playing) like you get with onboard mobo audio or "cheap" speakers? I've done a little looking into it but couldn't find a simply answer on if it was possible to absolutely fix by simply having a decent setup or if its just a result of one item being dodgy and having to be an audiophile before i can resolve it!

to many projects and to little time. argh!
 
Mut1ny said:
If it sounds good then it's probably pretty decent. I just picked up the Monoprice headphone amp/DAC and for even it's current ~$100 price it's pretty stellar.
Click to expand...

There are quite a few DAC / amps in the $100 range that are probably perfectly fine for most everyone. I have a SMSL one that I use for headphones or coupled to a small tripath amp for bookshelf speakers if I don't need to worry about the rest of the house. To me the biggest deal is that I'd occasionally get background pitch noises when the computer was doing something. Most any external DAC will solve this and for me even the "cheap" ones are good enough for my use. I guess I don't have the golden ears, because even though I can tell the difference between my friend's Senn 650s and the much cheaper 518s that I use, I can't say that the 518s bother me in any way, and they still sound great. I put DACs in the same category. He works at OPPO and uses an HA-1... which is great, but I still can't justify such a purchase. But an inexpensive Schitt or SMSL or Monoprice DAC / amp... definitely worth it.
 
HoffY said:
i've been dabbing my eyes on a bit of audio gear and then quickly shifting my focus off onto other things because i don't have time to research and learn it for such a little gain. But if any pro's can answer this simple query then perhaps i can be red pilled on it quickly. ;)

Would this kind of device be able to prevent speaker hum/noise (like when you have no sounds playing) like you get with onboard mobo audio or "cheap" speakers? I've done a little looking into it but couldn't find a simply answer on if it was possible to absolutely fix by simply having a decent setup or if its just a result of one item being dodgy and having to be an audiophile before i can resolve it!

to many projects and to little time. argh!
Click to expand...

Any external DAC will get rid of this. Your noise floor becomes the capability of the DAC. For example if you have to go on a business trip with a company laptop with a crappy DAC that makes all kinds of background noise when moving the trackpad or accessing the hard drive or whatever, even one of those little <$100 USB powered external DACs like an E10k takes care of all that.
 
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Zarathustra[H] said:
Also,

Are those Micca's? I have two sets of the Micca mb42x's. Great little speakers for the price. One set are my surrounds on my home theater system, the others are the main stereo speakers in my Zone2 in my kitchen.

Edit: On second thought they arent trhe same speakers as mine. They look very similar though, down to the size and rounded edges on the cabinets, but mine have magnetic covers, so no speaker cover holes like yours.
Click to expand...

They are Music Hall Marimbas and they do actually have magnetic covers but they are fitted to insert into those holes there. Definitely not what I think most would consider audiophile-grade loudspeakers nor are they necessarily neutral sounding but I wanted a respectable vinyl listening setup that didn't break the bank. Between the turntable, the preamp, tubes, receiver, and speakers I still damn near paid a bit too much already and that's even considering I chose entry-level to mid-range equipment. As you mentioned, it is expensive hobby and I'm only getting started, haha. I'm already planning for a new cartridge for the player and possibly even a new pair of speakers.
 
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