New Magnetar Blu Ray player has analog outs. $2500

[Owen Smith]

My next receiver will have HDMI in, at which point almost any BD player will do.

 

[mandrix]

About all I use my Oppo for is copying SACD's. Very occasionally I will use it for DVDA for those few that have interesting menu's/slides. It's "jailbroke" so I can play about any music .iso file over the network.
EDIT: Or if I author a DVDA, of course I'll run it through the Oppo for "quality" purposes. IOW to make sure I didn't screw up! lol.

 

[4-earredwonder]

There's been (to my knowledge) two attempts now (Reavon, Magnetar) at "trying" (?) to fill the audio chasm left by the erstwhile Oppo 205. Both have clearly failed to match or improve on it, and with the apparent trend towards replacing discs with streaming for surround sound, it will be rather tragic if nobody else is willing to do so.

NOT to mention OPPO's superior Customer Service Department, attentiveness to firmware upgrades either via physcial disc or WiFi which, IMO, no hardware manufacturer has matched....and probably NEVER will!

Doubtful, any future hardware manufacturer will match the 205's performance....and the somewhat outrageous prices on ebay for the 205 [some as high as $9K] reflect this.

 

[Sal1950]

Doubtful, any future hardware manufacturer will match the 205's performance....and the somewhat outrageous prices on ebay for the 205 [some as high as $9K] reflect this.

Hate to say it but sonicly the only thing about the 205 that may might it superior to any other disc players was it's excellent ES9038Pro DAC chip when using the 7.1 analog outs.
But if after the fact, any digital processing is done in an AVR or whatever like room correction,
bass management, whatever, then any advantage of the Oppo's DAC are mute. You'd be better off using the HDMI bitstream out and only doing a digital to analog conversion once.

 

[tarkusnj]

Ya know, this discussion reminds me of an Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull tune.. My God...

 

[Ranasakawa]

I am not going to buy this player but I'm curious does it play DVD Audio?

 

[kmacleod]

Yes it does Play DVDA.

 

[svengaleekie]

Yes it does Play DVDA.

The real question is: will it play 'burned' DVDA? My Sony won't, my Oppo will.

 

[Owen Smith]

The real question is: will it play 'burned' DVDA? My Sony won't, my Oppo will.

Lack of burned DVDA is a showstopper for me.

 

[JediJoker]

Lack of burned DVDA is a showstopper for me.

Why? Why bother burning discs these days? And if you have burned discs, why not rip them to portable file formats?

 

[Owen Smith]

Why? Why bother burning discs these days? And if you have burned discs, why not rip them to portable file formats?

Because I'm not well set up for playing back from portable file formats. I play discs mostly. I can play FLACs on my Oppo 95 but that doesn't do gapless so it's only a good experience if it's one file for the entire album.

 

[barfle]

if I author a DVDA, of course I'll run it through the Oppo for "quality" purposes. IOW to make sure I didn't screw up! lol.

What software do you use to author DVD-As?

 

[mandrix]

What software do you use to author DVD-As?

discWelder Chrome v2.0.30

 

[Tribby2001]

Why USB? HDMI has much high speed/bandwidth.

Without multich analog output, what makes it worth any more than the Sony 800?
He talks about the Oppo's value being HDMI IN, that is a side-track.
The Oppo's real value was in its 7.1 analog outputs and it's Dual Sabre Pro Dacs which
Amir at ASR measured as the best DAC's he had ever measured at the time. Without this
the HDMI IN holds little value.
In the current world of Atmos, most of these considerations are basically obsolete.
Yes, it looks to have top shelf build quality.

Then you'll be interested in the Magnetar UDP-900 (Sabre ES9038PRO & ESS9028PRO DACs)

https://magnetar-audio.com/bluray-player-udp900/
Start saving your pfennig.

https://www.magnetar-audio-us.store/product-page/magnetar-udp900
Taiwan

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Random thought here...Magnetar really sounds like a new villain in the Marvel U Verse. Think about it...

 

[Jeffrey Michael]

A new review.

 

[4-earredwonder]

A new review.

IMO, a GREAT review. No WiFi/No HDCD/MQA/Region FREE playback of BD~V/DVD discs a major PLUS/Cheaper than a USED OPPO 205. Only wish reviewer had SACD/DVD~Audio discs on hand for playback assessment. He apparently had none!

Does include 3D playback and incorporates HDR10+ and Dolby Vision!

But nothing about worldwide customer service should the unit require repair!

I'm sure it's available at discount. Build quality looks to be superb and it does mimic the OPPO's 205 menus.

A serious contender in the CURRENT Universal Disc Player Market ....... if Magnetar's service Department is anywhere near on par with that of OPPO!

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

A new review.

I added these remarks under the YT review:

"Reading through the comments, it’s apparent that many do not understand what market the Magnetar UDP-900 is trying to capture. It’s trying (like the Reavon UBR-X200) to fill the audiophile vacuum left by the Oppo UDP-205 and to come the closest to the Oppo’s audio capabilities in a single universal disc player. It’s for audiophiles who want SACD and DVD-A playback with stereo XLR and multi-channel analog outputs, along with all the other 4K video stuff that other brands have. Price comparisons to Panasonic 9000 models are irrelevant if you don’t play those discs, or want hi-fi music quality.

This is a niche product for those audiophiles who missed out on buying an Oppo-205, but who don’t want to pay the (now crazy) prices for a used one. All that being said, as a “niche” person myself who paid AUS$2,468 for a region-free Oppo-205 back in 2017 (which has turned out to be a bargain), I agree with the general sentiment that the Magnetar UDP-900 is indeed overpriced."

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

$3000.00!!!

And why no HDMI-ARC and an HDMI input like the OPPO's?

 

[Tribby2001]

$3000.00!!!

And why no HDMI-ARC and an HDMI input like the OPPO's?

Did they raise the price? I swear I saw it listed at $2500 3 or 4 weeks ago at their U.S. store.
Now $3098 w/ All Region firmware upgrade (must be ordered concurrently).

Sheit! Now I gotta find a third job. I'll be on this around Black Friday - Cyber Monday.