IS THE PIONEER UDP-LX500 THE FIRST TO FILL THE OPPO GAP?
Introducing the Pioneer UDP-LX500, the latest universal disc player that will play all your Blu-ray discs, including UHD Blu-ray, as well as CDs and SACDs. It is set to land in the UK in September and will cost just shy of £1,000.
Spotted in June by our Australian sister publication, the UDP-LX500 is Pioneer's much anticipated universal disc spinner. Boasting UHD Blu-ray playback as well as exceptional two-channel hi-fi chops, could this plug the gap left by OPPO following its shock departure from the market?
The UDP-LX500 features a low resonance design, tweaked especially for high-speed UHD Blu-ray playback. An Acoustic Damper tray sits within a rigid double-layered chassis with a 3mm steel top plate. The deck tips the scales at 10.3kg. The player's remarkably rigid construction, as well as a lower centre of gravity, suppresses vibration transmission occurring inside the player, and so minimising any potential resonances generated and so improving disc playback.
Digital noise has been further reduced on the main circuit board and utilises a six-layer IVH (interstitial via hole) construction technique to fully optimise the routing of digital signal wiring and minimise ground impedance.
As well as delivering excellent movie sound, the UDP-LX500 has also been engineered to be a superb audio-only player. It uses the AKM AK4490EQ DAC chip for stereo DAC duties with three digital filtering modes (Sharp Roll-Off, Short Delay, Slow Roll-Off). Pioneer does state that they have mitigated the spurious noise around the power supply and GND as much as possible and that "the circuit [has been] tuned to give a rich, fulsome tone of sound".
There’s a Direct function for analogue audio playback, which turns off the digital audio and video circuits, and Pioneer's PQLS (Precision Quartz Lock System) for HDMI connection to compatible Pioneer receivers (SC-LX701, SC-LX801, SC-LX901).
The UDP-LX500 is compatible with both SACD and DVD-Audio discs and is High-Res able.
The UDP-LX500 has three HDMI output modes: The Separate mode separates sound and vision via the main/sub HDMI outputs; a Single mode routes both video and audio output via the primary HDMI output, while a Pure Audio mode delivers an audio-only output from the sub HDMI terminal.
There is also an SDR/HDR Preset to optimise the video output according to display, adjustable between LCD TV, OLED and Projector.
Price and availability
The Pioneer UDP-LX500 will become available in September and cost £999.99.
For more information go to Pioneer.
Jay Garrett
StereoNET’s resident rock star, bass player, and gadget junkie. Jay heads up StereoNET as Editor for the United Kingdom and Europe regions. His passion for gadgets and Hi-Fi is second only to being a touring musician.
Posted in: Home Theatre | Visual
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