BDP-93
Steven Stone, AVGuide.com
“...Nuforce’s designs demonstrate that improvements to an analog circuit (the digital parts are all the same as a stock Oppo) can make a noticeable change for the better to the Oppo BDP-93’s sonics…The NuForce boards handled all of this audio mayhem without any signs of distress or strain…
...I was especially impressed with the NXE board’s ability to handle low frequency signals without complaint. Even the quiet nearly subsonic rumblings hear while the transport ship Serenity is in space come through cleanly with no issues. At the other frequency extreme, the NuForce NXE preserved all the whistling wind sounds of desolate outlying planets with ease…
...Even with some of the almost whispered throwaway lines uttered during takeoffs and landings, the locational precision and detail of the dialog never suffered…When I compared the signal coming from the NuForce analog board with that coming from its S/PDIF digital outs to my Anthem AVM-20 processor, I preferred the NuForce feed, due to its much lower noise floor and superior dimensionality.Read Full Review; Download PDF
Srajan Ebaen, 6moons.com
"...measurements published by hometheaterhifi.com …The NXE board goes after a different more modern sound, adds extension in the frequency extremes, runs video-type time-base correction and completely bypasses the original clock…The $400 NE board strategically alters the distribution of THD to inject a 'triode-type' flavor…Acceptability for either hinges on carefully controlled amounts; and that the distortion remain low order or simple in nature. You really don't want anything above the 4th or 5thharmonic. There's no secret or surprise who the NuForce Editions are for…
...The $899 NXE board doesn't alter the triode flavor. It does however improve separation, ambient recovery and with it perceived resolution by a noticeable margin.
...Listeners drawn to NOS sound (Kusunoki-style zero-sampling digital without filtering) and its organic core flavor of relaxation, ease and a softer treble should in fact favor the cheaper NE board. …
...To my ears the NXE has higher conformity with 'modern' digital. Though presumably intact, the 2nd-order flavor seems less apparent. For video where dynamic range—the loudness differential between foreground dialogue and background din—is often a lot higher than it is for most contemporary music... It heightens magnification of those elements. Its greater treble energy also means added crispness. For predominantly 'visual' listening, the NXE should lead....
...What the smart money really wants to know is just how far outside their price range the NuForce Editions can punch....Connecting the Oppo/NuForce NXE to my Bent Audio Tap-X preamp, its digital output to the NWO-M's BNC input to A/B a $1.399 player with one upward of $20.000, I'll simply say that the modified Oppo is a shocker... I'm quite comfortable proposing that either of these modified units really could be that last physical disc player anyone should need .... “
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CDP-8
Stephen Mejias, Stereophile
"...I was not expecting the updated version of the CDP-8 to sound very different, but it did. The new version's faster, more precise…The new CDP-8 presented a smaller, brighter, less romantic picture, but without sacrificing any of the mood. The greater speed and precision of the rattling sounds worked to enhance drama…
…the updated version's greater speed and precision made the earlier presentation seem unrefined and brutish. While the original CDP-8 had me caught in an impressive but gentle eddy of sound, the updated CDP-8 pulverized me. Those deep pulses, which had previously swirled around my room, had now become part of my room…it seemed that some outside force was acting on my space, it now seemed as if my space were integral to the music—wonderful! …
...Through the original CDP-8, that guitar was depicted with a lovely, ruddy tone, but with less glassy vibrancy than I've become used to—as if Lipstate had turned down her amp's Presence setting and boosted the Bass…The updated CDP-8 presented this track as if Lipstate were playing closer to the bridge of her guitar, which was now clearly a Fender Jazzmaster…” Read Full Review
