The nature of high fidelity means it requires an acute focus of knowledge, expertise, research and resources in order to achieve it. This is why the best of the brands tend to have one major speciality, with perhaps one or two minor sub-specialities that are still linked to the major. Spreading yourself too thin by producing an array of products can often mean trouble – something will have to give, right? Usually, yes. But every now and then you will stumble across a brand that manages to do it all: an array of vastly different specialities, with no sacrifice to sound or build quality. And one of those rare brands is Oppo.
And when we say their array of products is vast, we aren’t exaggerating. As a global company they have major product lines which include MP3 players, portable Media players, LCD-TVs, eBooks, DVD/Blu-ray Disc players and mobile phones. They have also got a range of headphones and a matching headphone amp too. Of course, it’s the Blu Rays and headphones that have piqued our interest, so that is what we’ll be focusing on – but there is much more to Oppo than you could possibly imagine, yet they are still heralded globally for their quality and expertise – achieving high fidelity in audio, even when it’s not expected. If that isn’t a real hi-fi brand, we don’t know what is!
As Oppo have so many divisions and facets its a little tricky to pinpoint exactly when the journey began, but most sources point to it being founded in by Tony Chen 2004 in Guangdon, China. The California division Oppo Digital, based in Silicon Valley, was founded in the same year, and is responsible for the Blu Ray Players and headphones we know and love. Oppo never relied on marketing, succeeding in building a globally significant brand spanning a number of product genres based on reputation alone – a reputation built upon consistently excellent quality products loved by customers and critics alike. Whatsmore, they are frequently cited as a brand that appealed to both videophiles and audiophiles in equal measure. Not an easy feat!
Oppo Blu Ray
The first product off the line in California was the OPPO OPDV971H, an up-converting Universal DVD Player. It was immediately picked up by reviewers as something that hardcore videophiles – particularly ones who had a budget to consider! It was truly universal, able to play any media file under the sun, and all with fantastic attention to detail and quality, in both the audio and visual departments. It wasn’t much to look at – but what matters is the sound (and the image) and in those departments this was a player which ticked every box. Oppo knew they were onto something good, and followed suit from then on.
Following the success of their Universal DVD Players, quickly recognised for the versatility and quality, a Blu Ray Player release by Oppo was hotly anticipated. When the BDP-83 was released in 2009, Oppo was already a brand wit a loyal customer base. And despite the player being regarded as a little pricier than necessary, it was still highly regarded as the first Universal Blu Ray Player, that would happily play anything from DVDs to SACDs to everything in between. They successfully covered all bases in both the audio and visual fields, and paved the way for more releases.
The BDP-93 (top) and the BDP-95 (bottom) were the next off the line, with both praised for their build quality, their range of features and their ability to handle 3D with ease and finesse. Although both were considered to be on the more expensive side of the spectrum, most critics would admit that every penny would be accounted for by each of the models. Both models have EU versions as well.
Oppo have always been respected in in the hi-fi and AV industries for their ability to take a well-known product, perfect it… and add a feature (or many features) that take that well-known product to the next level. The same is true for their latest line of Blu Ray Players. Take the BDP-103D: a Network 3D Blu Ray Player which featured Darbee Visual Presence Technology, an image enhancer which is regarded as a breakthrough in image realism which is completely customisable to your personal tastes. Other benefits of the 103D is its inbuilt media options, including: Netflix, VUDU, CinemaNow, Pandora and Rhapsody as well as popular entertainment network services from Digital Concert Hall, Film Fresh, YouTube Leanback and Picasa.
Stepping up further still, the latest addition to the Oppo Digital family is the , a player that is so feature-rich it could practically be called an all-in-one audiovisual system. It will play anything in disc form to an incredible standard, it functions as a wireless network streamer too with Netflix, VUDU, CinemaNow, Pandora and Rhapsody (and everything else featured on the 103D) built in as standard. Whatsmore, it functions as a high end DAC! On top of it all, there’s also an inbuilt headphone amplifier and pretty much everything else you can think of. Yes, all of this may be packed into one (remarkably rigid) box, but each element is handled beautifully – in sound, visual and usability, it gets full marks in each category. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it to? With an Oppo Player, you can have all of the cakes. And they’ll be delicious.
Oppo Headphones & Headphone Amplifiers
Oppo are quite famous for keeping their fingers on the pulses of both the audio and the visual industries, and are forthright in working with their customers. They must have twigged they’d drawn attention from the hi-fi world with their AV products (which delivered high fidelity, of course), and realised that there was a little more they could do with their keen abilities with sound. The results were quite spectacular, with the release of the Oppo PM-1 Planar Magnetic headphones.
This was Oppo’s first attempt on a pure hi-fi product, but it didn’t show. Extreme comfort and mind-boggling sound resulted in them being praised as some of the finest headphones the world had ever seen from the moment of their release. This sound is owed to a very thin and light double-sided diaphragm. This, coupled with the planar magnetic drivers and Oppo’s signature build quality – designed for continuous use and designed to last – resulted in a pair of headphones that critics and customers adored from the get-go.
It went down so well Oppo decided to push the boat out a little bit further. The HA-1 headphone amplifier (which also functions as a DAC and a pre-amplifier) was designed specifically to work with the PM-1s, although functions beautifully with any high end headphones. In true Oppo form,it is laden with features, with a multitude of inouts and outputs and will function on a number of levels, but that doesn’t mean the sound it delivers is in anyway cheapened. No, much like everything else Oppo, the sound it delvers is nothing short of stunning. In fact, it is one of our favourite headphone amps – and is our go to amp for demonstrations in the listening station of our showroom! And yes, you can come and visit any time.
Knowing they were onto a good thing, it wasn’t long before Oppo released a second pair of headphones. The Oppo PM-2s used several of the same technologies of the acclaimed PM-1s but were condensed into a much more affordable price. It cuts down by shaving off the accessories provided with the PM-1s and making some small changes, such as replacing the lamb skin ear pads with synthetic leather ones and the use of a plastic trim instead of a stainless steel one. However these alterations are fairly arbitrary, and the sound is almost identical, making the PM-2s some of the most cost effective high end headphones in the world.
What’s Next?
In the fields of mobile technology, Oppo are making leaps and bounds in their offerings in the Android market, with many of their smartphones winning awards and gaining some momentum as an alternatives to Samsung and HTC hand sets – you may well have yourself an Oppo smartphone in the coming years (hey, maybe you already do!) but in the mean time, they haven’t quite neglected their new found high fidelity fans either. However, they did reveal the latest models at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival.
The PM-3s will feature the same planar magnetic technology, and the 7 layered voice coil double sided diaphragm, with attention paid to weight and portability. What’s more, they’ve been designed with mobile devices and portable music players firmly in mind, which suggests that the PM-3s are to be the road-worthy versions of the PM-1s.
Further weight to this argument comes in the form of the new headphone amplifier, the HA-2 which, as you can see, is in fact a portable headphone amplifier.
This rather adorable little amp is quite a formidable feat. It features a class AB amplifier and a USB DAC offering high performance digital-to-analog conversion for both Apple and Android devices. A standard AUX 3.5 mm input works with any portable music players which do not have a USB-compatible digital output. It can charge in less than 30 minutes too, which makes it the perfect travel companion.
I think it’s fair to say that Oppo are a brand that is not afraid to turn their hand to anything that they believe in. They have held tight to their values since the very beginning, and as such have won a place in the hearts of all who know of them. The fact that they cater for a number of price brackets, without skimping on the technology that makes their products as special as they are, sums up their approach beautifully. Perfect audio and visual is something which should be enjoyed by all – which is why they’ve extended it to all of their products, and why they keep on making it something that’s accessible to all.
If you’d like to see what all the fuss is about yourself, we stock a few of their latest Blu Ray Players, as well as their current range of headphones and their awe-inspiring headphone amplifier, and we have everything on demo in our showroom if you happen to be curious. Just give us a shout!
And to anyone who may be sceptical that a brand that doesn’t specialise in a niche product can’t deliver a product that pleases the critics of that niche, we invite you to come and try them out and see for yourself. Oppo are a brand that have that real hi-fi magic about them, and that shows no signs of going away any time soon.