I have an intent to buy an Oppo-205 - anybody have any thoughts?

[Samuel T Cogley]

5 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

 

I do it with sony blu-ray players and marantz avrs, marantz network players, etc......i would be very surprised if it wouldn't see a sonica.

 

If "it" is accessing content on a DLNA server, sure, I can do that too.  But can you specify a Sony blu-ray player as a playback device and send it content using some other means.  Or put another way, you seem to be implying that a sony blu-ray player can behave as a dumb playback device that is being controlled by some other device.

[beerandmusic]

Just now, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Thanks for this, but this is not what I'm looking for.  I'm still quite skeptical, but the idea here is that the Sonica, allegedly using DLNA, can act as a Digital Music Player (DMP).  I think we all agree the Sonica can access content on a DLNA server.  That's not the issue.  The question is whether the Sonica (for the 205 for that matter) can appear as a playback device using DLNA.

I said you can play to the oppo over ethernet with your existing hardware. 

You can control it with Jriver, and many other players as well.

[Samuel T Cogley]

Just now, beerandmusic said:

I said you can play to the oppo over ethernet with your existing hardware. 

You can control it with Jriver, and many other players as well.

 

Yup.  Just trying to understand how.  I need a little more than, "just try it", because it's not clear to me what "it" is.

[beerandmusic]

4 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

If "it" is accessing content on a DLNA server, sure, I can do that too.  But can you specify a Sony blu-ray player as a playback device and send it content using some other means.  Or put another way, you seem to be implying that a sony blu-ray player can behave as a dumb playback device that is being controlled by some other device.

 

I can speak from experience on the sony bluray player...

you just configure Jriver for both DSD and DLNA.

YOu then can put the sony in network mode.

You then can send dsd files from your media storage to the sony and all controlled by jriver.

Pretty transparently too!

 

I am relatively positive that the oppo will work in same fashion....as i have done so using a lot of different gear that supports dlna (teac, marantz, sony, sacd, network players)....they all work.

[Samuel T Cogley]

2 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

 

I can speak from experience on the sony bluray player...

you just configure Jriver for both DSD and DLNA.

YOu then can put the sony in network mode.

You then can send dsd files from your media storage to the sony and all controlled by jriver.

Pretty transparently too!

 

I am relatively positive than the oppo will work in same fashion.

 

Thank you.  I will investigate this mysterious "network mode".

 

[GUTB]

I’m also at a loss at how this supposedly works.

 

You have to configure an output device in JRiver. That is going to a driver of some sort...WASAPI, KS, ASIO, etc. There is no option to configure a network connection as an output device, is there?

[beerandmusic]

^^^ Once you configure both DLNA and DSD on jriver, you can define the player most devices that support dlna....

5 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Thank you.  I will investigate this mysterious "network mode".

 

on the sony menu, where you pick network, you will see any dlna servers that exist on your network (in this case the pc with jriver with dlna configured).

You can pick songs that way from the sony menu, but you can also now control it from jriver...i have done this for years.

 

You can even configure jriver so the sony or oppo is your default device, and then everything will play that way, so you don't have to selectively select songs to "send to"...you just operate it like it was local storage if you configure the DLNA device as your default player.

[GUTB]

1 minute ago, beerandmusic said:

^^^ Once you configure both DLNA and DSD on jriver, you can define the player most devices that support dlna....

on the sony menu, where you pick network, you will see any dlna servers that exist on your network (in this case the pc with jriver with dlna configured).

You can pick songs that way from the sony menu, but you can also now control it from jriver...i have done this for years.

 

You can even set jriver that as your default device, and then everything will play that way.

 

Lol the truth comes out at last.

[beerandmusic]

5 minutes ago, GUTB said:

I’m also at a loss at how this supposedly works.

 

You have to configure an output device in JRiver. That is going to a driver of some sort...WASAPI, KS, ASIO, etc. There is no option to configure a network connection as an output device, is there?

Yes....i have done so for years.

[beerandmusic]

1 minute ago, GUTB said:

 

Lol the truth comes out at last.

 

what truth?  Not hiding anything?

[Samuel T Cogley]

4 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

^^^ Once you configure both DLNA and DSD on jriver, you can define the player most devices that support dlna....

on the sony menu, where you pick network, you will see any dlna servers that exist on your network (in this case the pc with jriver with dlna configured).

You can pick songs that way from the sony menu, but you can also now control it from jriver...i have done this for years.

 

You can even configure jriver so the sony or oppo is your default device, and then everything will play that way, so you don't have to selectively select songs to "send to"...you just operate it like it was local storage if you configure the DLNA device as your default player.

 

Thanks.  I'm quite skeptical, but you've given me a fun rabbit hole to explore during Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[beerandmusic]

Just now, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Thanks.  I'm quite skeptical, but you've given me a fun rabbit hole to explore during Thanksgiving weekend.

 

takes about 30 minutes to configure...without knowing anything and just googling...

There is probably a youtube.

i will see if i can find one....

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

2 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

takes about 30 minutes to configure...without knowing anything and just googling...

There is probably a youtube.

i will see if i can find one....

 

 

So is this just jriver acting as a remote control for the DLNA client in the BD player?  Because that's not how we started this.  We started this with the idea that some network protocol would allow the 205 to be a "network playback device" that content can be streamed to from some other network device.

 

If this is just remotely controlling the DLNA client inside the BD player (including the 205), that's not the same thing.

[beerandmusic]

I checked my current configuration...don't have a sony hooked up right now, but have a marnatz AVR....

Here you can see i can click a song track and then "play to", and select the Marantz as the playback device.

 

Once you have configured correctly and turned on, and have ip on your sonica, you will see it here.

 

Also, you can set it as your default device (see pic 2), so that everything you play will go to that device.

 

 

[beerandmusic]

16 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

So is this just jriver acting as a remote control for the DLNA client in the BD player?  Because that's not how we started this.  We started this with the idea that some network protocol would allow the 205 to be a "network playback device" that content can be streamed to from some other network device.

 

If this is just remotely controlling the DLNA client inside the BD player (including the 205), that's not the same thing.

 

I am not sure I understand your question. 

My initial statement was that i believe that native dsd over ethernet will sound better on the oppo than playing it to any $2k pcm only dac via pc usb.

 

Since i mainly listen to DSD material, i personally would rather have an oppo than a $2K pcm only dac.

 

In this latest scenario, you will be sending the dsd file over ethernet to the sonica, and using the sonica's ethernet interface and the sonica's embedded dac.

 

You then said you would need to buy a special server, and I said you could use whatever you are currently using.

 

You can accomplish this without any new hardware, and use many different players....then you said you couldn't use jriver, and i said you were wrong.

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

Just now, beerandmusic said:

 

I am not sure I understand your question. 

My initial statement was that i believe that native dsd over ethernet will sound better on the oppo than playing it to any $2k pcm only dac.

 

Since i mainly listen to DSD material, i personally would rather have an oppo than a $2K pcm only dac.

 

In this latest scenario, you will be sending the dsd file over ethernet to the sonica, and using the sonica's ethernet interface and it's dac.

You can accomplish this without any new hardware, and use many different players....then you said you couldn't use jriver, and i said you were wrong.

 

 

This is where I think either one or both of us is confused.  Using the Sonica as an example, I would access the DLNA client using my smartphone, then I would receive the audio content with the Sonica (this is a "pull" when you're proposing a "push").  After a bit of investigation into DLNA, I see it's possible to remotely control DLNA clients (this would still be a "pull"), but this is not the same as pushing content using jriver (for example).  Again, I will investigate this further.  Thanks.

 

[beerandmusic]

19 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

This is where I think either one or both of us is confused.  Using the Sonica as an example, I would access the DLNA client using my smartphone, then I would receive the audio content with the Sonica (this is a "pull" when you're proposing a "push").  After a bit of investigation into DLNA, I see it's possible to remotely control DLNA clients (this would still be a "pull"), but this is not the same as pushing content using jriver (for example).  Again, I will investigate this further.  Thanks.

 

 

I am not confused, the only time i used the term "push" was in reference to your usage of the word.....It doesn't matter to me what you want to call it (grin).  Nothing I have said, has changed..... bottom line to me is that native dsd over ethernet sounds better than the same dsd source, downsampled, then resampled to play through any pcm only dac via pc usb....and i have done this 100 different times using same tracks and many different dacs from $100 to $2000....i would also tend to believe that playing a physical SACD on the oppo will sound better than any ripped copy of same playing on any pcm dac via pc usb (without toys).

 

I can't speak of comparison with usage of usb toys, because i haven't tried any, nor do i intend to....i will stick with ethernet interface.

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

8 minutes ago, beerandmusic said:

 

I am not confused, the only time i used the term "push" was in reference to your usage of the word.....It doesn't matter to me what you want to call it (grin).  Nothing I have said, has changed..... bottom line to me is that native dsd over ethernet sounds better than the same dsd source, downsampled, then resampled to play through any pcm only dac via pc usb....and i have done this 100 different times using same tracks and many different dacs from $100 to $2000....i would also tend to believe that playing a physical SACD on the oppo will sound better than any ripped copy of same playing on any pcm dac via pc usb (without toys).

 

I can't speak of comparison with usage of usb toys, because i haven't tried any, nor do i intend to....i will stick with ethernet interface.

 

 

In my experience, DSD source material is way harder to come by than PCM.  If I had to limit myself to DSD only, I'd have only hundreds of albums instead of thousands.  I agree that I prefer DSD through a DSD DAC.  And I will also point out that that multichannel DSD is hard to playback through anything other than some kind of AV device (BD player, etc.).  This unit could be possibly the only exception to that.

 

DSD is just not as practical to me as PCM, regardless of its alleged sound superiority to PCM.

 

[Cebolla]

1 hour ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Thanks for this, but this is not what I'm looking for.  I'm still quite skeptical, but the idea here is that the Sonica, allegedly using DLNA, can act as a Digital Music Player (DMP).  I think we all agree the Sonica can access content on a DLNA server.  That's not the issue.  The question is whether the Sonica (for the 205 for that matter) can appear as a playback device using DLNA.

 

Be careful when referring to JRiver's Wiki, especially with regards to UPnP/DLNA as it's likely to be misleadiing at best.

 

DLNA defines the Digital Media Player (DMP) device class as one that can access and network stream the files from a DIgital Media Server (DMS) device class, all on its own. This is commonly known as the two-box system, where the control function is built into the network player, so the files are being 'pulled' to itself.

 

DLNA also defines the Digital Media Renderer (DMR) device class as one that needs to be told what to files to stream from the DMS by the Digital Media Controller (DMC) device class. This is commonly known as the three-box system, where the control function is on a device other than the network player, so the files are being 'pushed' by the controlling device to the network player.

 

JRiver Media Center comes with a built-in DMC, which when enabled will list all the DMR's available on the network for it to control. Also, there's nothing technically stopping a network player, being a both a DMP & a DMR. I know that the older Oppo 10x & newer 20x players are, but I have no idea if the Sonica is too.

[beerandmusic]

29 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

 

Be careful when referring to JRiver's Wiki, especially with regards to UPnP/DLNA as it's likely to be misleadiing at best.

 

DLNA defines the Digital Media Player (DMP) device class as one that can access and network stream the files from a DIgital Media Server (DMS) device class, all on its own. This is commonly known as the two-box system, where the control function is built into the network player, so the files are being 'pulled' to itself.

 

DLNA also defines the Digital Media Renderer (DMR) device class as one that needs to be told what to files to stream from the DMS by the Digital Media Controller (DMC) device class. This is commonly known as the three-box system, where the control function is on a device other than the network player, so the files are being 'pushed' by the controlling device to the network player.

 

JRiver Media Center comes with a built-in DMC, which when enabled will list all the DMR's available on the network for it to control. Also, there's nothing technically stopping a network player, being a both a DMP & a DMR. I know that the older Oppo 10x & newer 20x players are, but I have no idea if the Sonica is too.

 

HI Cebolla....you got me going with ethernet and DLNA 4 years ago, and you will always be one of my heroes here (wink)...

 

 

[Norton]

On 22 November 2017 at 9:04 PM, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

So is this just jriver acting as a remote control for the DLNA client in the BD player?  Because that's not how we started this.  We started this with the idea that some network protocol would allow the 205 to be a "network playback device" that content can be streamed to from some other network device.

 

If this is just remotely controlling the DLNA client inside the BD player (including the 205), that's not the same thing.

 

An  Oppo 105 (and I guess your sonica) can act as both a DLNA client and (unlike the previous 95 model and germane to what you are discussing) a DLNA renderer.  

 

In the latter case, for example, I have a PC holding my music library and running JRiver on the network.  I use the JRemote app on my IPad to control JRiver on that PC (the DLNA server) telling it to push music to the Oppo as a DLNA renderer.  Alternatively, you can use the Oppo app to control the Oppo as a DLNA client, pulling music from JRiver.  In the latter case I'm more likely to just use the Oppo app to pull music from a SMB share instead.

[Samuel T Cogley]

6 hours ago, Norton said:

 

An  Oppo 105 (and I guess your sonica) can act as both a DLNA client and (unlike the previous 95 model and germane to what you are discussing) a DLNA renderer.  

 

In the latter case, for example, I have a PC holding my music library and running JRiver on the network.  I use the JRemote app on my IPad to control JRiver on that PC (the DLNA server) telling it to push music to the Oppo as a DLNA renderer.  Alternatively, you can use the Oppo app to control the Oppo as a DLNA client, pulling music from JRiver.  In the latter case I'm more likely to just use the Oppo app to pull music from a SMB share instead.

 

Did some experimentation and this works with jriver.  I find the interface a bit clunky.  I found it necessary to begin playback before other DLNA Renderer devices could be discovered and used.  And I had a hit or miss experience with gapless playback in this mode.  Sometimes maybe, sometimes no.

 

A big thank you to @beerandmusic for teaching me something about my setup I didn't know!

 

[beerandmusic]

1 hour ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

Did some experimentation and this works with jriver.  I find the interface a bit clunky.  I found it necessary to begin playback before other DLNA Renderer devices could be discovered and used.  And I had a hit or miss experience with gapless playback in this mode.  Sometimes maybe, sometimes no.

 

A big thank you to @beerandmusic for teaching me something about my setup I didn't know!

 

Not sure what you mean by begin playback before other DLNA services can be discovered?

 

You should be able to just set the sonica to network input, and then it should be able to be seen....

YOu may have changed several things before you got it to work, but if you just do this step first and leave in that mode, you should be able to set jriver default playback device to the sonica, and then everything should be work fluidly....at least it works like that with my sony.