OPPO – End of an Era: OPPO Digital to cease development of new products.

The last HiFi show I attended, there had been an epic but inevitable death some time before.

It was the disc player.

It was back in the Spring of 2017, a full year and a bit ago and the Big Punter Nag from the show visitors to the exhibitors had changed. Instead of the “Hey mate may I hear it on THIS track?” as Joe Public whipped out a CD, in a desire to hear their best audition-for-their-ears or else just cop a pleasure-freebie, it was now a phone.

Not a player, not a stick, not even an SD card. For the processors on the phone and top quality streaming protocols on top end Bluetooth features, mean it is over. You can stream astonishing high resolution files these days and everything can receive them.

How well they sound and the public needing to know, is still why the whole rest of the industry is cooking and the Bristol Show (which fell as the big site-changeover was happening for me) is doing better than ever. Ironically, record players are on the rise for fun and archive reasons, let alone analogue warmth issues but the sad consequences for the hardcore audiophile disc machine sellers was always as inevitable a death as CD players in cars. They, too, are going the way of the cassette. (OH dear, what a contrary world! For Guardians of the Galaxy and its featured Walkman and cassette have made these things so trendy again, that a working Walkman original is worth £300 and Kylie Minogue just released her latest album on Cassette as well!

But none of that will put Oppo back together again. They were the Sage Nod, the De Facto, the BIZZ disc spinner for Blu Ray, DVD and CD… and now, well, the are a Chinese owned outfit, and for sheer KAO and respect for what they did and have, they are winding down rather than shutting.

But while I waited to publish, I felt it was still a thing of note. The disc era is over.. it is official. what follows, is the press release:

It has been 14 years since OPPO Digital was established in the United States, and with the support of customers, technical partners, and movie/music studios, OPPO produced many award-winning Hi-Fi audio products and universal disc players, spanning three generations from DVD, Blu-ray, to 4K UHD.

As OPPO’s latest 4K UHD players reach the pinnacle of their performance, it is time to say goodbye. OPPO are proud to have made such well-regarded products and to have served the enthusiast community. Without its customers’ suggestions, encouragement, and support, OPPO could not have accomplished these achievements.

Though OPPO Digital will gradually stop manufacturing new products, existing products will continue to be supported, warranties will still be valid, and both in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services will continue to be available. Firmware will continue to be maintained and updates released from time to time. Customers can rest assured that they will continue to receive the high quality service and support that they have come to expect from OPPO Digital.

OPPO Digital UK will continue to trade while stocks last. However it expects to close its doors in the Summer. Technical support, warranty claims, servicing and spares will in future be handled by a third party, with details to follow. All commitments made by OPPO Digital UK will be met.

Nigel Rich, Managing Director of OPPO Digital UK had this to say: “We can be very proud of our achievements over the past few years. Along with market leading products, we have provided first rate customer service and support from our offices here in Norwich. I am very proud of our staff and very sad that we will now be closing our doors for good. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our European distributors, retailers and, of course most importantly, the people that have purchased OPPO products in Europe. We will continue to support products in and out of warranty and we have made provisions to continue this high level of service.”

This is the URL of the ‘Farewell Page’. https://www.oppodigital.com/farewell.aspx It made sad reading for me. I bloody loved discs, still adore Blu ray.. sigh….