Oppo Sonica USB DAC and Streamer Review

[RichB]

I was a beta tester for Oppo and helped in the testing and development of the PM-1/2, PM-3, HA-1, HA-2, Sonica speakers, and Sonica DAC, and it was pretty heartbreaking when Oppo Digital was dissolved. Such great products and great people.

I was also a beta tester for this device and have a 205, 203, and Sonica DACs. I recently bought a Matrix Element i but when compared to the Oppo UDP-205 level match with the Fluke 87, the Matrix came up lacking. If the Sonica DAC supported Roon, it would be still be a top-performing streaming DACs. I am gravitating toward building a Raspberry Pi streamer front end.

Not only did Oppo build top-quality products at great pricing, they were also gracious and professional, a top-notch company.

- Rich

 

[MarkD]

Glad to see that you reviewed this device. I still use it in my hi fi system. I have just made a video where I have reviewed Oppo Sonica dac and compared it to Cambridge audio CXN v2. I have opened top cover on both and guys, it is night and day. Oppo build is 100 times better than CA CXN v2. I will complete editing my video and upload it on youtube soon, then i will post a link here. Well, i have to mention that Cambridge is faulty unit and i will be returning it. It freezes after 15 min of playback and then shuts down. What hi-fi magazine is a piece of crap. It is enough to look inside of both Oppo sonica and CA CXN v2 to see how bad CA unit build. Ow about Sonica - excellent quality, excellent build, no glitches at all for 2 years that i have own it. The only thing which i dont like is a very cheap and old screen, looks like the screen of 20 years old mobile phone. Also, i noticed that sound volume is much higher when i connect through XLRs compared to RCA outputs. it is quite big difference in volume levels. It is a big shame that Oppo decided fo stop production. they also stopped supporting their app. Despite surprisingly today they have issued update for their ios app, it still has issues. That was the only reason i decide to buy CA CXN v2, but no luck. After seeing what is inside i will never come back to CA.

 

[dmac6419]

Glad to see that you reviewed this device. I still use it in my hi fi system. I have just made a video where I have reviewed Oppo Sonica dac and compared it to Cambridge audio CXN v2. I have opened top cover on both and guys, it is night and day. Oppo build is 100 times better than CA CXN v2. I will complete editing my video and upload it on youtube soon, then i will post a link here. Well, i have to mention that Cambridge is faulty unit and i will be returning it. It freezes after 15 min of playback and then shuts down. What hi-fi magazine is a piece of crap. It is enough to look inside of both Oppo sonica and CA CXN v2 to see how bad CA unit build. Ow about Sonica - excellent quality, excellent build, no glitches at all for 2 years that i have own it. The only thing which i dont like is a very cheap and old screen, looks like the screen of 20 years old mobile phone. Also, i noticed that sound volume is much higher when i connect through XLRs compared to RCA outputs. it is quite big difference in volume levels. It is a big shame that Oppo decided fo stop production. they also stopped supporting their app. Despite surprisingly today they have issued update for their ios app, it still has issues. That was the only reason i decide to buy CA CXN v2, but no luck. After seeing what is inside i will never come back to CA.

 

[MarkD]

I will just add that all panels on CA are very thin and also, capacitors in power board look so bad. Your pictures does not show that.

 

[dmac6419]

I will just add that all panels on CA are very thin and also, capacitors in power board look so bad. Your pictures does not show that.

I'm waiting for your review video, stay well.

 

[Midfiguy]

Yep, sucks they shut down. I’ve the HA2-SE and really like the ESS sound. It sees double duty as my main DAC and head phone DAC. Mostly main system.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I was also a beta tester for this device and have a 203, 203, and Sonica DACs. I recently bought a Matrix Element i but when compared to the Oppo UDP-205 level match with the Fluke 87, the Matrix came up lacking. If the Sonica DAC supported Roon, it would be still be a top-performing streaming DACs. I am gravitating toward building a Raspberry Pi streamer front end.

Not only did Oppo build top-quality products at great pricing, they were also gracious and professional, a top-notch company.

- Rich

RichB! Fellow beta tester Eric K. here!

 

[Wes]

BTW, does anyone know anything about the efficacy of the low jitter HDMI circuit on the oppo-205 ??

 

[amirm]

BTW, does anyone know anything about the efficacy of the low jitter HDMI circuit on the oppo-205 ??

I ran this test quickly a while back. From what I recall, levels were not the same so some adjustment in the system may have been in play.

 

[RichB]

BTW, does anyone know anything about the efficacy of the low jitter HDMI circuit on the oppo-205 ??

I can't recall the details but the HDMI audio out used a fixed blank video frame at a rate that was optimal to supply audio at different sample rates in the audio packets delivered between video frames.

I suspect is works and has less jitter but I never heard a difference.

- Rich

 

[Wes]

Thx - I guess this brings up the question of how bad is the HDMI interface anyway?

My other choice (coming from an HD TV) is optical

 

[dualazmak]

Hello amirm, MarkD and friends,

Let me express my hearty appreciations for amirm's nice review of OPPO Sonica USB DAC. Your review and MarkD's post are really nice and good timing for me, since I have been using Sonica DAC in my Hi-Fi audio system and I will soon have OKTO's DAC8PRO for my multi-channel multi-amplifier project. My DAC8PRO will depart Prague just today (!) and it will hopefully arrive at my home in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, by the end of this week.

I fully agree with MarkD for the excellence of Sonica DAC in every aspect, and I would like to preserve the Sonica DAC+single-amplifier as my reference sound system throughout the project with DAC8PRO; you would please refer to my schematic diagram shown here; I have already prepared SP-cable connection boards with which I may easily go back to Sonica DAC+single-amplifier whenever I would like to check and hear my reference sound.

After the arrival of DAC8PRO, I would like to firstly very carefully compare the total sound quality of Sonica DAC (ES9038Pro) and DAC8PRO (ES9028Pro) in stereo L&R 2-channel mode with exactly the same single-amplifier system. Fortunately, my ACCUPHASE E-460 integrated amp has two balanced XLR inputs, and they can be easily switched by a remote controller. (I may repeat the comparison trials four times to check all of the 8 channels of DAC8PRO). I will, of course, not go into the detailed measurement of DAC8PRO since amirm already reported the in-depth thorough review of DAC8PRO.

I would like to share my impressions (subjective results with my ears+brain) of such comparison in my thread soon, and your visit and participation will be much welcome.

After I would fully recognize/complete the sound and burn-in of each of the 8 channels of DAC8PRO, I will move forward to the multi-channel multi-amplifier system using DAC8PRO, always having the Sonica DAC+single-amplifier as my reference sound.

Glad to see that you reviewed this device. I still use it in my hi fi system. I have just made a video where I have reviewed Oppo Sonica dac and compared it to Cambridge audio CXN v2. I have opened top cover on both and guys, it is night and day. Oppo build is 100 times better than CA CXN v2. I will complete editing my video and upload it on youtube soon, then i will post a link here. Well, i have to mention that Cambridge is faulty unit and i will be returning it. It freezes after 15 min of playback and then shuts down. What hi-fi magazine is a piece of crap. It is enough to look inside of both Oppo sonica and CA CXN v2 to see how bad CA unit build. Ow about Sonica - excellent quality, excellent build, no glitches at all for 2 years that i have own it. The only thing which i dont like is a very cheap and old screen, looks like the screen of 20 years old mobile phone. Also, i noticed that sound volume is much higher when i connect through XLRs compared to RCA outputs. it is quite big difference in volume levels. It is a big shame that Oppo decided fo stop production. they also stopped supporting their app. Despite surprisingly today they have issued update for their ios app, it still has issues. That was the only reason i decide to buy CA CXN v2, but no luck. After seeing what is inside i will never come back to CA.

 

[yejun]

Currently Oppo holds 8.7% of the worldwide cell phone market. Dwarfs anything they could do with blueray players.

https://www.idc.com/promo/smartphone-market-share/vendor

Russ

From this article, it looks like that BBk actually has 20% market share.
https://www.androidauthority.com/bbk-phone-manufacturer-808839/

 

[RichB]

Hello amirm, MarkD and friends,

Let me express my hearty appreciations for amirm's nice review of OPPO Sonica USB DAC. Your review and MarkD's post are really nice and good timing for me, since I have been using Sonica DAC in my Hi-Fi audio system and I will soon have OKTO's DAC8PRO for my multi-channel multi-amplifier project. My DAC8PRO will depart Prague just today (!) and it will hopefully arrive at my home in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, by the end of this week.

I fully agree with MarkD for the excellence of Sonica DAC in every aspect, and I would like to preserve the Sonica DAC+single-amplifier as my reference sound system throughout the project with DAC8PRO; you would please refer to my schematic diagram shown here; I have already prepared SP-cable connection boards with which I may easily go back to Sonica DAC+single-amplifier whenever I would like to check and hear my reference sound.

After the arrival of DAC8PRO, I would like to firstly very carefully compare the total sound quality of Sonica DAC (ES9038Pro) and DAC8PRO (ES9028Pro) in stereo L&R 2-channel mode with exactly the same single-amplifier system. Fortunately, my ACCUPHASE E-460 integrated amp has two balanced XLR inputs, and they can be easily switched by a remote controller. (I may repeat the comparison trials four times to check all of the 8 channels of DAC8PRO). I will, of course, not go into the detailed measurement of DAC8PRO since amirm already reported the in-depth thorough review of DAC8PRO.

I would like to share my impressions (subjective results with my ears+brain) of such comparison in my thread soon, and your visit and participation will be much welcome.

After I would fully recognize/complete the sound and burn-in of each of the 8 channels of DAC8PRO, I will move forward to the multi-channel multi-amplifier system using DAC8PRO, always having the Sonica DAC+single-amplifier as my reference sound.

You should level match playing and measuring with a volt-meter.

- Rich

 

[dualazmak]

You should level match playing and measuring with a volt-meter.

- Rich

Thank you, RichB,

I am not an objective measurement addict, but I should be much careful about the level match in my ear-listening comparison sessions for the two DACs; before to listen to my audio sampler music tracks, I will use tracks, especially track-4, of CBS/SONY's "Super Audio Check CD" (which I also introduced here in my thread) and ACCUPHASE E-460's Level meter for exact level match. Thank you again for your kind reminder.

 

[RichB]

What source do you plan to use the 8 channels? It is too bad that there isn't a HDMI switch that could extract HDMI 2.0 digital audio to feed the 8 channels. That would be a cool minimalist system. Maybe Okto should contact HDFury

I noticed Okto now has a dac8 Stereo product with built in Raspberry Pi4. That looks like it could be a killer Roon endpoint.

- Rich

 

[dualazmak]

What source do you plan to use the 8 channels? It is too bad that there isn't a HDMI switch that could extract HDMI 2.0 digital audio to feed the 8 channels. That would be a cool minimalist system. Maybe Okto should contact HDFury

I noticed Okto now has a dac8 Stereo product with built in Raspberry Pi4. That looks like it could be a killer Roon endpoint.

- Rich

Hello RichB,

You would please visit my thread for details of my project. I have little interest in any of AV sources, 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 music sources. My project is pure Hi-Fi L&R stereo audio system with frequency crossover multi-channel using software crossover EKIO and DAC8PRO. Your visit and participation will be much welcome.

 

[dualazmak]

Hello again, RichB,

My post here and here in my thread are well illustrating what I would like to do with DAC8PRO, for your kind notice.

 

[Saidera]

The state of relying on the DAC chip is just a state where one star player is put into a small team in a competition where teamwork is important. With such an unbalanced composition, it will be difficult to beat the strong in competitions where teamwork is important. Design teamwork is important for DAC design. As a result, the superiority of the DAC chip appears only when it can support the star player (high-end DAC chip) firmly and bring out the ability.

The most typical example these days is the Oppo Sonica DAC. It is the cheapest DAC using ES9038. This is a DAC that uses the highest spec IC, but it is not the highest quality DAC. Of course, this product is not bad from the price, but it is not the quality that can be claimed as a high-end sound. Therefore, it is a fact that it does not become a prominent product with a one-chip principle. However, it was a great leap from the conventional product HA1. The internal design is also evolving.

In the first place, it is a mistake to position this product as high-end. Actually, I thought that this product was a very well-developed product that targeted the masses in the first place, which was quite contrary to the high-end orientation. I think the mission and purpose of Sonica DAC is to be the ultimate mediocre sound that does not stand out.

I have no intention of disinclining Sonica DAC, but rather see it as a threat. This What Hi-Fi? review says "It's not fun to hear," but I thought that was what Oppo was aiming for!

Is Oppo digital an American company?

The definitive information is that Sonica DAC's Oppo digital head office is in the US, development is in the US, and manufacturing is in China. However, it was originally established by the Chinese company BBK.

The information so far is confirmed information, and the following are personal opinions. The other question is where is the current status as a "middle man"? It looks like a gray zone with no definitive information. Although it is true that the corporation is in the United States, it is said that the relationship with Oppo in China is unknown even when looking at Wikipedia.

Personally, I think there is an important reason for that. Recently, South Korean astell & kern are using German brands, but it seems that the number of Asian companies actively using Western brands is increasing. So it's only speculation, but I think Oppo Digital has the same strategy. If the reality is that even in China, it is an American company with a corporation in the United States, so it is true that it is advantageous in terms of image strategy.

With Oppo's careful and accurate marketing ability, it is not strange to make business decisions around that. The fact that the HA1 internal design has a Chinese atmosphere also supports the reason why I thought so. It's the sense of component selection and the layout. In Sonica, the internal design evolved in the same direction as Gustard in the same direction (changed from a stuffed type to a generous layout), so there is a trend of design know-how and technology propagation in the Chinese-speaking world.

Oppo is the North American branch of BBK Electronics of China, a consumer electronics giant with 12,000 employees worldwide. So Oppo is a new name, but the company and the technology behind it are pretty important.

OPPO Digital is a US-based office of BBK Electronics, a giant Chinese market leader and personal label OEM for companies such as Denon, NEC and BOSE, based in Mountain View, California. BBK Electronics, a manufacturer of all kinds of electronic devices, is a market leader in China and aims to expand globally and create OPPO Digital, the arm of North America.

The possibility of mass audio in Oppo

Oppo was at the same level as domestic production when it was HA1. The color was strong in the high range, the band balance was very poor, and it was a typical flashy sound. However, with Sonica DAC, such drawbacks have been largely eliminated, and it is at a level at which a strange sound is not heard at first glance. I feel that this is getting closer to the direction of contemporary trends since Mojo & Hugo.

Stagnation that clings to the current situation is the same as decline. Because the times are constantly evolving and changing.

I think Sonica DAC is a product that won't compete forever for garage makers, but I think oppo products should be regarded as a threat by manufacturers targeting masses like domestic giants. In order to win this product, it is necessary to have a higher level of basic quality and a high level of musicality at the same cost.

The biggest feature is that it is ES9038 and that it uses the best class low noise product called ADM7151 for the power supply IC. This is a complete Chinese advantage, as domestic majors tend to avoid such costly ICs. This sounds like a really good sound.

However, I also heard the sound of this product, but it is not bad, but it is a sound that does not come out unexpectedly. There is nothing to overwhelm anything. Is it possible to think of a design that is too common sense? Perhaps they seem to be pursuing theoretically good things, but everything is too common sense and nothing more. It's possible that a solid design made the product less impressive.

What is lacking may be some kind of deviation from the high end, confident judgments in sound making and deciding, deliberately unconventional design, or something out of the ordinary. It is conceivable that this is why they lack persuasiveness and communication with others. It's the same as saying that music played exactly according to sheet music is not always great.

However, I thought this was an ideal position for a mass-produced product called Oppo. It is possible that they are more aware of their mission than we audiophiles expect and are well aware of the importance of not overdoing it.

In the high end, as I have introduced so far, penetrating or protruding something creates a musical direction and raises the cost, but on such a line it tends to be biased in a specific direction. As a result, it is selling well, so it has succeeded as a result. It seems that this is a very good product for the mass market.

It's a pretty boring product for enthusiasts, but it's the ideal price for the masses, with prices that anyone can afford, and moderateness that doesn't depend on taste. Surely the perfect square in the top area analogy might be just as boring as the exact music, but at least this is what the finished audiophile puts in his ideal path. It is not such a product. It's a product that ordinary people who don't have get it. I'm sure those users still don't know the ideal sound they want. Most high-end products that are sharp for such people are still not desirable.

Sonica DAC may be such a product that you can enjoy a sound that is one rank better than the major products in the same price range. Now this can be achieved with Sonata HD Pro. Music played exactly according to sheet music is not always great, but for the masses - it is!

 

[BDWoody]

However, I also heard the sound of this product, but it is not bad, but it is a sound that does not come out unexpectedly. There is nothing to overwhelm anything. Is it possible to think of a design that is too common sense? Perhaps they seem to be pursuing theoretically good things, but everything is too common sense and nothing more. It's possible that a solid design made the product less impressive.

Uh huh...