There’s a new 4K UHD Blu-ray Player in town!
There's still a lot of love left for physical media, particularly for the quality that can be achieved from Blu-ray discs, which, compared to streaming services, is no contest.
At the same time, the demand for Blu-ray players has seen a downturn, resulting in fewer hardware choices available to the market. While Oppo was certainly the benchmark and player of choice for many, its shock exit from the market back in 2018 left a hole that other manufacturers have been scrambling to fill.
Thankfully, this choice has become easier with the appointment of Melbourne-based Fundamental Audio as the exclusive Australian distributor of the relatively new, but already lauded Magnetar brand and its UDP800 4K UHD Reference Blu-ray Player.
The Hong Kong-based company's first product, the UDP800, is designed for audiophiles and home cinema enthusiasts. The player features a high-performance quad-core MediaTek MT8581 processor, 4K Ultra HD, HDR support (Dolby Vision & HDR10+), and compatibility with all major optical media formats, including UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, DVD-Audio, SACD, CD, as well as H.265 & H.264 video codecs.
Music lovers can enjoy high fidelity lossless music playback through the two independent premium Burr-Brown PCM1795 DAC processors, decoding various formats including DSD64/128, multi-channel DSD64, and 192kHz/24-bit PCM. The player supports various audio formats such as AIFF, ALAC, APE, FLAC, and WAV, and the latest surround formats, including Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Atmos, and DTS-X.
The UDP800 offers dedicated independent HDMI outputs for audio and video, along with stereo XLR balanced terminals and gold-plated stereo RCA unbalanced outputs for high-quality audio.
Exceptional design and build quality are evident, with multi-layer PCB boards to shorten paths and minimise distortion, LDO regulators, and audiophile-grade capacitors utilised. The power supply includes a custom 60W high-power low-noise transformer, a two-stage filter design, and Japanese Rubycon electrolytic capacitors for clean, stable power.
Weighing 8kg, the player showcases a brushed aluminium front panel, a unique double-layer chassis structure to minimise vibration and noise, and independently shielded internal components to minimise the impact of external magnetic fields.
StereoNET is putting the UDP800 through its paces now, so expect a full review shortly. In the meantime, it is expected to sell in Australia for $2,599 RRP and will be available in mid-June 2023. Pre-orders are available now from authorised dealers.
For more information visit Magnetar
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Marc Rushton
StereoNET’s Founder and Publisher was born in England and raised on British Hi-Fi before moving to Australia. He developed an early love of music and playing bass guitar before discovering the studio and the other side of the mixing desk. After writing for print magazines, Marc saw the future in digital publishing and founded the first version of StereoNET in 1999.
Posted in: Home Theatre | Industry
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