To Wes Marshall,
I read and enjoyed your recent review of the Marantz AV7005 from the September 2011 SoundStage! Xperience. The checklist for an AVP and how the Marantz AV7005 scored was particularly helpful.
I am currently looking at replacing my old CD/Blu-ray player and my old surround-sound receiver (also recently bought an Emotiva XPA-5 amp for a 5.1 setup).
I have read many reviews on the Oppo BDP-95 and I am excited about the Marvell Qdeo video processor, the ESS Sabre DACs, the beefed-up analog power supply/outputs, and the ability to handle various streaming/networked music and video inputs including high-resolution music (24/96).
Given that the Oppo BDP-95's video and audio capabilities are better than the Marantz AV7005, the only reasons I can see using the Marantz AV7005 are:
- Volume control. Although the Oppo has this capability, it probably is not as good in terms of preamp quality as the AV7005.
- Possibly using the Audyssey room correction for multichannel music and movie soundtracks, but this would mean giving up the Oppo BDP-95's DACs and analog back end.
- Switching flexibility for other devices like my HD cable PVR.
Would I be better to buy the Oppo BDP-95 and feed it directly to my Emotiva amp (and also feed the PVR directly to the HDTV; obviously I would not have surround sound), and wait for Marantz or others to come out with an improved version of the AV7005? I would appreciate your thoughts on the best short-term (one year) and long-term (2+ years) strategy regarding an AVP and the Oppo BDP-95.
Thanks and regards,
Bob Jones
Thanks for the note. If you’ve read much of my stuff, you’ll know I am a big fan of Oppo’s products. I own a BDP-93 and it is my go-to player when I have a Blu-ray or DVD lined up. You don’t say anything about your speakers or room, but the Emotiva is a fine power amp and you are positioned to have a fine system by simply adding the BDP-95. That being said, I would not consider it for myself for a number of reasons. I have a Sony PS3 that I love, a turntable and a large collection of LPs, a CD recorder, a Roku, and, perhaps most important, a DISH satellite system with an HD-DVR and a couple of terabytes of storage. I can’t imagine living without any of those, so just plugging an Oppo straight into an amp wouldn’t work for me. However, and this is a vital however, even if I didn’t have any of those other things and the only signal generator in my whole system was the Oppo, I still wouldn’t go the route of a direct input because I believe the Audyssey system’s control of a room’s acoustics is so far advanced that I can’t imagine having a system without it.
Marantz may very well be coming out with something new soon. I don’t know and they haven’t been forthcoming with that information. If you are concerned about it, wait until the Consumer Electronics Show is past (it runs January 10-13, 2012) and see if they announce anything new. As the landscape stands today, for all the reasons I enumerated in the checklist, I believe the AV7005 is the marketplace’s best bargain. Will it be two years from now? I can’t say, but I can’t imagine any other company beating it by a substantial margin.
Hope this helps. Enjoy your system! . . . Wes Marshall
