Video Asylum

Posted by Audiophilander (A) on January 19, 2010 at 11:59:38

In Reply to: RE: Ayre, Lexicon and Theta all announced months ago they were using the Oppo posted by Jazz Inmate on January 19, 2010 at 08:54:55

Yes, everyone knew that the Oppo BDP-83 was going to be used by Ayers, Theta and Lexicon as a base player from which to build their own designs. I'm pretty sure that the logical assumption most A/V-philes would make is that performance would be ratcheted up by these high-end manufacturers with all sorts of modifications along with high quality parts as per the Nuforce edition along with proprietary firmware tweaks in addition to having a heavier case. That apparently has not occurred if the Audioholics testing is accurate.

>>> "I'm also not convinced the potential dampening/isolation/grounding changes from the chassis have no impact on the sound." <<<

Of course it "might" muffle a modest amount of internal noise assuming it was noticeable in the first place, ...but $3000 worth? Trust me, better component isolation can be achieved for a heck of a lot less. As this story unfolds it looks more and more like Lexicon may have gotten caught playing a shell game on their customers, the "shell" being a fancy face plate and a bought & paid label for THX certification (which is probably a scam as well).

>>> "The Audioholics dudes acted like Lexicon broke the 10 commandments on what is a fairly common practice in audio." <<<

OEM resourcing may be common practice, but given the growing outrage over this faux pas a better analogy might be the fabled money-changers being beaten from the high-end temple. ;O)

Cheers,
AuPh