[Phil A]

Definitely a 103 + $800 dac. Plenty of other people do SS mods to the oppo 105 - one I heard from ex CJ guy  Bill Thalmann at Music Technology smoked the Modwright one - but costs $1800. First thing he did was remove the big multichannel analog board that constitutes one of the biggest differences between the 103 and 105. Then put a better clock in it, then a discrete analog output stage, then improve the power supply, etc.

I'd definitely not use the internal volume control either for critical listening, especially for low level listening, unless you enjoy digital truncation.

The 105 does a lot of things well in one box for a decent price. But I'd put the internal dac part at $500 equivalent and mostly because of the linear power supply.

That's pretty much the same thing I said here - http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=139401.0

"If I had to go with an all in one solution (e.g. Disc spinner, DAC), the 105D is great at its price point. In the main system, my 103D is just used for video and if I have a get together of the Space Coast Audio Society at my place once or twice a year someone might bring a CD which goes from the 103D to my Meitner DAC.

The 103D in a secondary system has files on a hard drive but doesn't get used tons for music. When Oppo does a 4K player, it will likely go in that system and the 103D will likely be rotated to the bedroom system. The bedroom system feeds the outdoor speakers and I can use the Oppo media control App to play files outside from my phone.

DAC technology is changing. I still have a BDP-93 and a modded BDP-83 which still look great for video. The 93 is in the bedroom system and I'll eventually rotate it to a guest room. For me for the price difference between the 103D and 105D I can buy a DAC (e.g. iFi) and a small PC for around the same price point. I realize that will be 3 boxes vs. just the 105D."

[RDavidson]

Thanks a bunch for the replies. My concern is that for the 800.00 difference between the 2 am I better off with an 800.00 DAC and the 103 over the 105. The video is not that important to me and if I understand correctly I would have more options with a stand alone DAC.

If Blu Ray audio isn't high on the importance list, the 103 will work just fine with a DAC. From what I understand the analog outs are quite decent too. Definitely not as good as the 105, but $700 is a decent chunk of change to spend on features (like the analog out and better DAC and power supply) you won't really take advantage of.

[Freo-1]

Definitely a 103 + $800 dac. Plenty of other people do SS mods to the oppo 105 - one I heard from ex CJ guy  Bill Thalmann at Music Technology smoked the Modwright one - but costs $1800. First thing he did was remove the big multichannel analog board that constitutes one of the biggest differences between the 103 and 105. Then put a better clock in it, then a discrete analog output stage, then improve the power supply, etc.

I'd definitely not use the internal volume control either for critical listening, especially for low level listening, unless you enjoy digital truncation.

The 105 does a lot of things well in one box for a decent price. But I'd put the internal dac part at $500 equivalent and mostly because of the linear power supply. 

I have a different take.  I think the DAC in the Oppo is as good or better than most any of the 800.00 DAC's out there.  As stated earlier, the fact that Modwright did not even bother to offer a SS upgrade for the 105 is a testament to just how good the analog output stage actually is.  BTW, more often than not, the largest sonic deltas between DAC's IS the analog stage.

Regarding the volume control, if you have it set at low to mid volume, that is one thing.  However, if you just adjust the volume between 85 and 100, it's not really noticeable in terms of audio quality. 

I've been through a LOT of DAC's, and trust me, there is a lot of hype associated with them, compared to actual audio performance deltas.  So' take all our "opinions" with a gran of salt.  If possible, try to audition the units before you purchase.