Oppo UDP-205 users - USB DAC firmware

Streaming Audio
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Have you upgraded? Does the Oppo need on-screen interaction when you run the updater software as my Mac is not that portable!

My 205 is still on USB firmware USB-0112.

There is a USB-0115 and a USB-0118. There’s also a rumoured USB-0119 ‘beta’.

USB-0118 adds full MQA unfold/decoding via the USB DAC input, though apparently causes issues with DSD playback on some systems (Linux based I believe).

I have no idea what USB-0115 brings to the table. Can’t find a changelog.

I ask as yesterday I found this in a drawer unused:

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Updated my gen 10.5" iPad Pro to current iPadOS and managed to find a suitable USB A to B male to male lead to connect to the 205, and Apple Music playback in hi-res lossless worked.

I was hoping the Oppo would output the audio over optical so that I could use it as a transport and the Nova as the rendere DAC via optical in from the Oppo. (Terminology???)

While both Nova optical inputs see ‘something’ with 32 kHz and 48 kHz shown on the Nova’s screen when I link via optical, these inputs are silent.

Tried (very late) via L/R RCA out from the Oppo to the 282 and that worked but perhaps as the oppo was cold, perhaps because of a cheap RCA-RCA lead, perhaps due to fiddling with Oppo audio ‘filters’ and not having it connected to a display I wasn’t over impressed with the sound.

That may change, and I have to say using iPad with animated artwork and scrolling lyrics on tap was nice:

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So I guess my question boils down to:

1 - Have you updated the USB firmware?
2 - Any negatives or positives?
3 - Any idea what USB-0115 helped?
4 - I believe if I install USB-0115 then USB-0118 I can revert to USB-0115, but no obvious way to downgrade to USB-0112
5 - Do you need the 205 hooked to a monitor/TV via HDMI to update?
6 - Do any of the updates enable output of the DAC input over optical/co-axial as I suspect my Nova would sound better in the D/A department

An additional question - the UDP-205 has been moth-balled for ages - I’m getting 2-3 loud relay click at startup, is this normal?

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@GeeJay has it also. Maybe he knows.

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I alreday had the UDP-203 which was a fine BluRay player.

When Oppo sadly discontinued their disc players I was lucky to snap up a UDP-205 before the prices went silly.

There are likely to be improvements to video quality simply as players become more powerful, check out HDR optimisation in this:

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AC, I’ve moved this over to the Streaming Audio room for you in the hope of getting some more responses from any UDP-205 owners.

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Thanks. Primarily a query of pros and cons of USB DAC firmware upgrades and ease of doing so.

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Hmm, I though several here had Oppo UDP-205s.

Perhaps I’m right but no one has needed to update the firmware or maybe few even use the USB DAC capability.

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Well for now this wil take a rest.

Was not excited by Apple Music from iPad > Oppo UDP-205 > NAC 282.

The killer is that Apple Music on iPad > Airplay > Nova > NAC 282 is considerably better and that won’t even be hi-res! Suspected as much. The Nova yet again brings so much to the table.

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We have an Oppo 205 but it’s only ever been on video/blue ray duties, currently connected to an Ambeo. I had no idea they were sought after until this thread. I’m not certain but I’m pretty sure it always updated over the network vía wifi. I haven’t checked in a long time since I assumed there was no longer any support.

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Thanks.

The USB DAC firmware needs updating via a Mac or PC for some reason unlike the main system firmware. There are unlikely to be any further system firmware updates but you never know I suppose.

You might be surprised at some of the e-bay costs for this model.

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I think I paid around 800 Euros, they seem to be going for 3000! I think I threw out the original box with the bag and bits and pieces a few months ago. Should have kept it!

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Hi AC, see below, noting that it’s been a while, so I’ve done my best to recolllect.

1 - Have you updated the USB firmware? Yes sequentially from 0112 through 0115 and 0118 to 0119
2 - Any negatives or positives? MQA full decode and render on USB input with 0118, but can’t have both MQA and native DSD on same input.
3 - Any idea what USB-0115 helped? No
4 - I believe if I install USB-0115 then USB-0118 I can revert to USB-0115, but no obvious way to downgrade to USB-0112 I wasn’t aware that any DAC FW can be reverted, but check with OPPO if important.
5 - Do you need the 205 hooked to a monitor/TV via HDMI to update? For DAC FW no, via USB to the computer running the upgrade app
6 - Do any of the updates enable output of the DAC input over optical/co-axial as I suspect my Nova would sound better in the D/A department - I don’t know -not sure why you would bother doing this rather than going usb direct from source to chosen DAC ( I find the 205 to be pretty good as a DAC anyway)

An additional question - the UDP-205 has been moth-balled for ages - I’m getting 2-3 loud relay click at startup, is this normal? Yes, also get similar click starting SACD/DSD replay.

In short, there may be value in going to 0115 (but don’t know what specifically) , but go to 0118 and 0119 only if you wish to get full MQA decode and render over USB input (e,g, most likely if using with Tidal Masters). The issue with 0118 is playing both MQA and native DSD - with a windows source I find that I have to use Wasapi for MQA and ASIO for native DSD, I think 0119 was meant to fix this but doesn’t seem to have succeeded from my experience, others may have a different perspective.

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Thanks for that comprehensive response!

3 - I wasn’t that excited by the audio from the 205 to my pre-amp over RCA - I guess I was wondering if it is sonically better with later firmware (Naim firmware can affect soni signature a fair bit). The audio filters somewhat complicate things on the 205 - nice to have options though.

5 -The fact that I do not need to have the 205 hooked up to a screen to do the FW upgrade is very useful to know and simplifies things considerably, thanks.

4 - I scoured many fora for answers and think I saw that you could go back to USB-0115 from USB-0118, but possibly not earlier - either not possible or USB-0112 installer simply not ‘out there’ in the wild to do so.

6 - I was hoping to use the 205’s USB DAC feature to relay Apple Music digitally to the Nova which does not itself work as a DAC over USB. Going to try a cheap Topping D10s instead.

Relay clicks - glad not just me! My 203 doesn’t do this so I found it a bit jarring at first.

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