Lexicon Rebadged The Oppo Blu-ray Player as Lexicon and got Caught

[hometheaterdoc]

^agreed.... not doing any mods whatsoever or making any changes whatsoever except to build it into a nicer case is a no-no and they deserve whatever blow back comes their way for that.

[tmazz]

I wonder if Lexicon made any attempt to update the chip programming?

Good point, as a change software algorithm can be put onto a chip that has the same physical form factor as the stock chip and would look no different in a photograph. Even without asking you could at least make a closer examination of the chip sets and see if they are at least labeled differently. Of couse if the original design used some kind of programable chips the new software could go on the exact same chips and there could be no visable difference.

[bmr3hc]

In this situation it appears that for Lexicon to be so blatant in this case, that they may have been doing this for so long, that its has become the norm. I can only imagine how many other products they have just "rebadged" and increase the price 10x. They have probably enough marketing research data that shows many  "consumers" really do believe the higher the cost the better the sound.

Henry

[rollo]

Goldmound was caught as well using a Pioneer unit.


charles

[JLM]

It's your own business if your enough of a elitiest chump to pay way extra for a rebadge, knock-off, copy, or whatever.  Are the king's clothes there or not?

But what does it say for the manufacturer?  That they can't develop a legitimate product on their own?  That they deceive customers with offering so little added value?

[tmazz]

I am sure that they were banking on the assumption that somebody shopping for a $4500 would not be A-Bing it against something in the $500 range, so there was a very small chance that anyone would notice. Oh well, you know what happens when you assume.

[RussL]

My Ayre is a CX7e-MP, it's not a 5. The Ayre magic comes from the digital filtering algorythm that they use, and that is proprietary. In the digital realm it's not all about the hardware used, it's more about the software. I wonder if Lexicon made any attempt to update the chip programming? Has anyone actually posed the question to them about what they may or may not have changed?

Bob- Meridian and PS Audio are now using the apodizing filter algorithims too.  Don't know if each has their own implementation but this certainly seems the way of the future.

Russ

[bmr3hc]

""Bob- Meridian and PS Audio are now using the apodizing filter algorithims too.  Don't know if each has their own implementation but this certainly seems the way of the future. ""

Russ


According to TAS HI- FI+Magazine, issue 69, page 14, quote "Ayre announced its new DX-5 play- everything machine. Part heavily modified Oppo Blu-ray player, part exciting new QB-9 USB converter; the stereo-only player was one of the few video sources in use........"
It may well be that Oppo has hit on something here that others are utilizing. Here it it known that Ayre is utilizing some of Oppo parts and or/schematics with their own implementation and expertise. That I can accept. I am looking at the Ayre CD player after my Wadia 850.

Henry
 

 

[BobM]

Some of us heard the new Oppo multi-format player this past Saturday. Maybe it wasn't fully broken in, maybe it needed different cables, maybe ...

But I'm not sure too many people liked what they heard. It was very detailed and hard sounding. Thin on SACD with little bottom end. Very pristene and sterile on CD's with no "love factor". Not close to what I would call analogue sounding.

My Ayre on the other hand is the polar opposite of this. Very analogue sounding with the detail and the love and the extension end ... I don't know about the new Ayre CX5, but I would suspect it sounds like my CX7 and not like the Oppo we heard. That's probably due to 3 key things, a different power delivery, a different analogue section, and their apodizing algorythm. Hardly a clone.

[Black Sand Cable]

Some of us heard the new Oppo multi-format player this past Saturday. Maybe it wasn't fully broken in, maybe it needed different cables, maybe ...But I'm not sure too many people liked what they heard.

Funny you mention this as I recently went through the same thing. I just finished spending a few weeks with the SE version of the Oppo and I really don't get what all the fuss is about with this player. Great on the video side (is there such a thing as a bad Blu-Ray player?) but I personally didn't find the audio side of this machine as great as some are making it out to be which surprised me a bit as (on paper at least), I like what the SE version brings to the table.

[rollo]

  Maybe it boils down to what they listened to before. Their reference so to speak. I call it the wanna be factor. so many are looking for that inexpensive player to knock off the top contenders. It would be great but in reality it is not happening IMO.
  Unfortunately one must spend some serious money to get it right. Starting with the Bryston DAC and up the ladder. Please do not misunderstand my point it is not just price as we know it is where the better players live. Bummer !
  The Lector for me is just that. Yeah over $5000 now but worth every penny. I believe when one gets into Esoteric, Muse, AR, Berkley, Meridian etc there is no turning back. Just the way it is.



charles

[bpape]

It's certainly not a high end audio player IMO.  That said, it has excellent video performance and audio that's better than many more expensive, more mainstream type players.  Not going to compete with the Lector or Meridian, etc. but it's also 10% of the price.

For a 2nd system where you want music and video, I think it's a steal personally.  That said, I wouldn't use it as a source for my main system.

Bryan

[BobM]

What's wierd though is that my $200 Oppo has a great picture also. No, it doesn't do Blue Ray, but it does upsample. Why would I spend 4x more, unless I really wanted/needed Blue Ray? But aren't there less expensive alternatives?

[hometheaterdoc]

For $1000, including parts to make some minor modifications (the TI opamps MUST go based on the results I now have with the modded SE here), the BDP-83SE is a great machine.  It's sonic balance still leans toward the lean, neutral side of the house.  But for what it is, it's a very nice machine.

The Oppo 83 is better than the lower end Oppo DVD pieces for non-bluray content.  I know, I've got them here and did a head to head just in the last couple weeks.  The differences were more than subtle, especially after calibration of my JVC RS25 on 100" Stewart screen.  The Oppo pieces are exceptionally good value for video playback.  But the 83 is their best piece in that regard.

The bonus of the 83 is that it plays absolutely everything you throw at it.  I've yet to trip it up with SVCD, Divx, MPEG4 content, DVD-A, SACD, badly done multi-region DVD, Blu-ray, etc.  The only thing it's missing is HD-DVD for the disks I have here.  That's it...  If you are never going to use any of this content and only going to play regular DVD content, you're missing the point of its capabilities and it then becomes a much more questionable value judgement.  As for whether or not you should be watching Blu-ray (or even AVCHD content) over the same content in regular DVD, that's one comparison where I'm always going to choose the HD content... no ands, ifs, or buts..... and yes, the 83 is much better than the $200-$300 Blu-ray players I've been trying.  JVC had one that was fast to load and had decent picture quality.  But it was still not as good as the Oppo.... if you are only going to use the player for video playback via HDMI out and not as your music source, the cheaper Oppo blu-ray player is exploring.

In the context of the system this unit is likely being used, it's a heck of a deal at the price.  As long as you work within the context of it's leaner presenation with components that bring the overall system more to your tastes, it's certainly better than any other $1K universal player I've ever tried.... and better than a lot of $2K CD transports and players I've tried as well.  It's certainly better than the Pioneer and Denon players I have used in the past and costs a whole lot less.  A very good mid-tier component that offers video that rivals some of the best and audio that's a whole lot better than what you find in $300 machines (this refers to the SE, not the standard version... which is not an audiophile sounding piece at all).

[tmazz]

The Oppo 83 is better than the lower end Oppo DVD pieces for non-bluray content.  I know, I've got them here and did a head to head just in the last couple weeks.  The differences were more than subtle, especially after calibration of my JVC RS25 on 100" Stewart screen.  The Oppo pieces are exceptionally good value for video playback.  But the 83 is their best piece in that regard.

This is not surprising since the BD 83 uses the Anchor Bay VRS video processing system just like Oppo's DV-983H DVD player, which had a significantly better picture that the bottom tier DVD player at the time (DV-980) which was advertised as using a "system on a chip"  video processing system just like the lower level BD-80 Blu-ray player. And like the in both cases the "83" model was several hundred dollars more than the "80" series. You get what you pay for.