OPPO Digital

Logo of OPPO Digital

OPPO Digital (Chinese: OPPO影音)^[1] is an independently operated overseas division sharing the brand name OPPO with OPPO Electronics, both owned by Chinese company BBK Electronics.^[2][3] Founded in 2004, it is based in Menlo Park, CA, United States.^[4] OPPO Digital designs and markets audio and video equipment, including Blu-ray Disc players and personal audio products such as headphones and headphone amplifiers, mainly targeting markets in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, USA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and India.

Recognition

After entering the personal audio market in 2014, PM-1 headphones^[5] and HA-2 portable headphone amplifier/DAC have both received prestigious EISA "Best Product" awards.^[6]

History

DVD Players

1. OPDV971H: OPPO Digital’s first upscaling DVD player released at the end of 2004. Its main selling points are the Faroudja video processor, DVI output, and DVD-Audio playback. It received the Best Product of 2005 award from Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity.
2. DV-970HD: Released in mid-2006, OPPO Digital’s second DVD player added support for SACD playback and traded the OPDV971H’s DVI video output for an HDMI output. Originally released as a lower cost video disc player than the OPDV971H. It received the 2006 Product of the Year award from The Absolute Sound magazine.^[7]
3. DV-981HD: Released at the end of 2006, OPPO Digital’s third DVD player improved upon the previous model. With the enhanced Faroudja video processor, the DV-981HD supported up-converting DVD to 1080p resolution. It received a Product of the Year award from The Absolute Sound for 2007.^[8]
4. DV-980H: Released in mid-2007, the DV-980h was an update to the DV-970HD.
5. DV-983H: Released in the beginning of 2008, the DV-983H would be the last DVD player OPPO Digital would release before moving on to Blu-ray. Due to the successful application in this player, the Anchor Bay VRS technology was later applied to OPPO’s BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc player.

Universal Blu-ray Disc Players

After waiting to see how the HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc format war would play out, OPPO Digital released its first universal Blu-ray disc player in 2008.

• BDP-83: Released at the end of 2008, the BDP-83 was OPPO Digital’s first universal Blu-ray disc player. It continued OPPO’s tradition of supporting multiple disc formats, including Blu-ray, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD and CD.
• BDP-80: Released at the beginning of 2010, the BDP-80 was a lower cost version of the BDP-83 that removed the Anchor Bay VRS video processor. It maintained OPPO’s universal disc playback capability, and was often used together with an external video processor or Audio/Video receiver with quality video processing.
• BDP-83SE: Released just after the BDP-80, the BDP-83SE featured an upgraded analog audio output stage utilizing ESS Technology’s new Sabre Premium 32-bit ES9016 DAC.
• BDP-93: Released at the end of 2010, the BDP-93 featured the Marvell Qdeo video processor, dual HDMI outputs, 3D playback capability, internet streaming services, and improved media file and media streaming support. It won the 2011 Readers’ Choice Award from PC Magazine.^[9]
• BDP-95: Released at the beginning of 2011, the BDP-95 was an audiophile version of the BDP-93, similar to the way in which the BDP-83SE was an audiophile version of the BDP-83. Unlike the BDP-83SE which was an upgrade modification to the BDP-83, the BDP-95 was designed from scratch to be an audiophile player, sharing the decoding abilities of the BDP-93 but using totally different power supply and analog audio section. The BDP-95 featured a toroidal power supply and the ESS Technology Sabre32 9018 Reference DAC, and high performance op-amps on its analog audio boards. It received the Product of the Year Award from Audioholics in 2011.^[10]
• BDP-103: Released in mid-2012, OPPO Digital’s third generation player featured 4K-upscaling, more robust media file and network playback support, and the inclusion of HDMI inputs allowing external HDMI devices to take advantage of the player’s audio and video processing. The player received the EISA Best Product award in 2013.^[11]
• BDP-105: Released at the end of 2012, the BDP-105 was a continuation of OPPO’s audiophile universal Blu-ray players. Its audio section design was largely based on the BDP-95 while its digital decoding was based on the BDP-103. It added new features such as a built-in headphone amplifier, an additional USB DAC and digital audio inputs to take advantage of the internal ESS Technology Sabre32 9018 Reference DAC. It received a Product of the Year award for 2013 from The Absolute Sound.^[12]
• BDP-103D: Released in mid-2013, the BDP-103D introduced Darbee Visual Presence, an intelligent video enhancement technology based on human’s visual perception theories.
• BDP-105D: Released at the beginning of 2014, the BDP-105D adds Darbee Visual Presence to the BDP-105 in the same way as the BDP-103D provides over the BDP-103.

Personal Audio Products

In 2014, OPPO Digital entered the Personal Audio market with the release of the OPPO PM-1 Planar Magnetic Headphones and OPPO HA-1 Headphone Amplifier and DAC.

• OPPO PM-1: The PM-1 planar magnetic headphones were released in early 2014. This model received numerous awards including the 2014 EISA Best Product award,^[13] as well as being added to the InnerFidelity Wall of Fame.^[14]
• OPPO HA-1: The HA-1 headphone amplifier/DAC was released in mid-2014. It featured a fully balanced Class A amplification section, and utilized the same ESS Sabre32 Reference DAC chip found in OPPO Digital’s high end BDP-95 and BDP-105 universal Blu-ray disc players. The HA-1 received the Product of the Year award from the Everything Audio Network in 2014.^[15]
• OPPO PM-2: The PM-2 planar magnetic headphones were released in mid-2014, and were marketed as being a lower cost version of the PM-1 headphones using the same planar magnetic drivers. Key differences were the use of synthetic leather for the headband and earpads, and a number of structural and ornamental components were changed to plastic as opposed to aluminum on the PM-1. The PM-2 was also added to the InnerFidelity Wall of Fame.^[16]
• OPPO PM-3: The PM-3 planar magnetic headphones were released in 2015. The PM-3 featured a closed-back design with a smaller driver than the PM-1/PM-2 and was marketed as being “the world’s first truly portable closed-back planar magnetic headphone”. The PM-3 was declared the winner of the “Best Over-Ear Headphones Under $400” category by The Wirecutter,^[17] and it was also added to the InnerFidelity Wall of Fame.^[18]
• OPPO HA-2: The HA-2 portable headphone amplifier/DAC was released in 2015. It was designed to provide better sound quality and power output to headphones when paired with a portable player such as a smart phone. It recently received the EISA Best Product award for 2015.^[19]

External links

• OPPO Digital USA
• OPPO Digital China

References

1. "OPPO影音中国". OPPO Digital China (in Chinese). Retrieved 7 January 2016.
2. Colin, David (July 7, 2005). "A Winning Digital DVD Player". Projector Central. So who is Oppo? They certainly are not a household name and with good reason as Oppo is a newly created North American branch of BBK Electronics of China, a giant in the manufacture of consumer electronics, employing 12,000 people worldwide. So while Oppo is a new name, the company and the technology behind it are quite substantial.
3. Beamish, David. "Review: OPPO Digital DV-971H (US - DVD)". dvdactive. OPPO Digital are based in Mountain View, CA and are the US arm of BBK Electronics who are a huge Chinese market leader and who have been a private label OEM for companies such as Denon, NEC and BOSE. Manufacturing all sorts of electronics gear, BBK Electronics is a market leader in China and looking to expand globally hence the creation of their North American arm – OPPO Digital.
4. "About us". OPPO Digital USA. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
5. https://www.eisa.eu/awards/hi-fi/history/2014-2015.html
6. https://www.eisa.eu/awards/hi-fi/3/european-usb-dacheadphone-amplifier-2015-2016.html
7. http://business.highbeam.com/436102/article-1G1-156160779/oppo-wins-product-year-yet-again-oppo-digital-dv970hd
8. http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/oppo-dv-981hd-named-product-of-the-year-award-by-the-absolute-sound-796787.htm
9. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2385751,00.asp
10. http://www.audioholics.com/product-awards/2011-audioholics-poy
11. https://www.eisa.eu/awards/home-theatre-audio/history/2013-2014.html
12. http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/oppo-bdp-105-universal-blu-ray-player-and-dac/
13. https://www.eisa.eu/awards/hi-fi/history/2014-2015.html
14. http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/innerfidelitys-wall-fame-full-size-open#z8mCDKQKy7y6pFiz.97
15. http://everythingaudionetwork.blogspot.com/2014/12/2014-awards-ean-announces-products-of.html
16. http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/innerfidelitys-wall-fame-full-size-open#z8mCDKQKy7y6pFiz.97
17. http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/best-400-over-ear-headphones/
18. http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/oppo-pm-3-competent-comfortable-mobile-headphone#JI9V6RJq4y3woDWS.97
19. https://www.eisa.eu/awards/hi-fi/3/european-usb-dacheadphone-amplifier-2015-2016.html#award