New Magnetar Blu Ray player has analog outs. $2500

[doctors11]

Here's some feedback on these models. These threads have been active for awhile now.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/br...etar-upd-800-massive-and-solid-build.3253694/
https://www.avforums.com/threads/new-magnetar-flagship-4k-blu-ray-player-now-out.2436706/

 

[Owen Smith]

An Oppo 205 would fit my needs better. Problems with the Magnetar:

* Too heavy for my wall mounted shelves
* Doesn't have HDMI audio ins (my AV amp does not do HDMI audio)
* Doesn't list Video CD playback support (I have a handful of those)

 

[marpow]

My current combination:
I am actually using as I write listening to Blu Ray #2 of the new Hawkwind box set is the Panasonic DP-UB9000, has just worked 100% of time, but as I actually rip all my discs and when I watch movies always stream I actually don't use it that much. $1200.00.
DVD-SACD-Blu Ray player Sony UBP-X800M2 always works, rarely use it, $300.00.

So lets say $1500.00 for my two players that I rarely use and they play all discs. The reason I purchased the added Blu Ray player, Panasonic, was because it was rated best 3 years ago when I purchased it.

So even though I entertain the idea of buying this new Magnetar UDP 900, it would have to have stellar reviews, for me to replace two units, just to have one.

 

[marpow]

Here's some feedback on these models. These threads have been active for awhile now.

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/br...etar-upd-800-massive-and-solid-build.3253694/
https://www.avforums.com/threads/new-magnetar-flagship-4k-blu-ray-player-now-out.2436706/

These reviews are for the now older 800 without the 7.1 RCA outs. The new 900 has the analog outs at US $2700.00.
@4-earredwonder Hey Ralphie at least on these reviews you can see a picture of remote from the older 800. Looks normal.

 

[panamac]

WOW....a gorgeous player, indeed and at 34 lbs. a beast for sure and it does play SACD and DVD~A and does have Dolby Vision and HDR10+. And with the coveted analogue outputs as well as HDMI a serious contender in the UHD4K/SACD/DVD~A market.

Would LOVE to demo it and the price isn't outrageous compared to a used OPPO 205. And there are dealers in the US, Europe and Canada!

(Image credit: Magnetar)

I coveted the analogue outputs of my UDP Oppo until I learned that using them removes the Audyssey correction....

 

[Owen Smith]

I coveted the analogue outputs of my UDP Oppo until I learned that using them removes the Audyssey correction....

Even if I ever get an HDMI audio capable amp I have no interest in room correction. My room has pretty good audio properties to start with.

 

[doctors11]

These reviews are for the now older 800 without the 7.1 RCA outs. The new 900 has the analog outs at US $2700.00.
@4-earredwonder Hey Ralphie at least on these reviews you can see a picture of remote from the older 800. Looks normal.

Most of them yes, but there are some newer comments from owners of the new 900 model.

 

[Sonik Wiz]

Even if I ever get an HDMI audio capable amp I have no interest in room correction. My room has pretty good audio properties to start with.

Yes sir, I totally agree with your attitude. See my post #14.
A set up should sound good with out the need for auto tweaking. Or at least get everything as good as possible in the first place & then do auto room correction.

 

[cbmmm3]

Room Correction

 

[4-earredwonder]

These reviews are for the now older 800 without the 7.1 RCA outs. The new 900 has the analog outs at US $2700.00.
@4-earredwonder Hey Ralphie at least on these reviews you can see a picture of remote from the older 800. Looks normal.

I read all the posts [mostly regarding the less expensive UDP800] and watched the videos and came away more confused but wonder if the more costly UDP900 is a REAL upgrade of all the omissions lodged against the 800! While the 800 seems to excel in the audio department it seemed to fall short in the video ... which would be a real bummer for me since I would potentially utilize it to view films via a SONY 3D Laser projector projected onto a 120" screen.

And yes, Magnetar IS a Chinese company but then weren't ALL OPPOs manufactured in China as well?

But both units do include WiFi which would inevitably be capable of firmware updates.

Hopefully when reviews of the Magnetar UDP900 come out the 'sins and omissions' of the 800 WILL BE RECTIFIED.

Thanks Mark for posting this and my advice....hold onto our cash until we can find a unit to equal or replace my current OPPO 205 and your Panasonic 900!

And of course as other posters have pointed out, does Magnetar have a reputable service center because as we ALL know OPPO had the BEST customer service of almost ALL manufacturers on the planet! Knock on wood, ALL my OPPOs [I have 5 of them] perform flawlessly to this day ...... well, except my Nuforce model which OPPO will not repair as it was modified .... and they will not repair units modified from their original designs including those with multi region chips installed!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Room Correction

View attachment 90505

Someone borrowed MINE and NEVER returned it! Good one RICKO!

 

[Sal1950]

Magnetar's Official website:

What's the real benefit of using a player with analog outputs vs a cheap HDMI-based player with an AVR?

Not a thing if their DAC's aren't any better than what you use otherwise.
Audible differences between DAC's are minor in the extreme but that was the Oppo's
claim to fame offering one of the best available back in the day.

 

[Sal1950]

Even if I ever get an HDMI audio capable amp I have no interest in room correction. My room has pretty good audio properties to start with.

You might change your mind if you ever heard a good DRC system in your own room.
It's hard to ignore the improvements in the bass range when configured correctly

 

[4-earredwonder]

Not a thing if their DAC's aren't any better than what you use otherwise.
Audible differences between DAC's are minor in the extreme but that was the Oppo's
claim to fame offering one of the best available back in the day.

From the review I saw, the Magnetar's sonics were not at fault....it was the video portion that was somewhat 'suspect.' In fact loading times were faster than the OPPO and in some cases the reviewer preferred the Magnetar's sonics over the OPPO ....... it was in the metadata department that the Magnetar 800 fell short ....which will hopefully be rectified with future firmware updates and the introduction of its flagship model...the UDP900!

 

[Sal1950]

In fact loading times were faster than the OPPO and in some cases the reviewer preferred the Magnetar's sonics over the OPPO .......

In most cases they didn't hear anything but make things up as they go along to impress.
For playing discs my ole Samsung UBD-K8500 connected via HDMI to my Denon AVR sounds just fine and exactly like it does when later ripped to my computer and played the same way.

 

[Sal1950]

Some triple layer discs seem to have problems freezing at what appears to be the second layer change- again some players seem to have this problem more often.

Never had a single problem with a UHD disc using my above mentioned el-cheapo Samsung.
I have a used Sony BDP-S5100 for playing or ripping SACD's that I paid $40 for on Ebay.
IMHO $2500 is a ridiculous amount of money to pay for a disc player, one that I have zero confidence in that it would sound any better than what I use now.

 

[texeast]

I bought my OPPO 205 new and for years now have not had any problems. I use HDMI for blu-ray, SACD, & DVD audio and then I use the dedicated audio XLR outputs for regular cd’s that use the dedicated DAC (ESS Pro 9038 32 bit) & power source for the dedicated audio outputs which make my regular cd’s sound fantastic! Further I stream ROON high resolution music from my MAC in another room along with high res files and it does a very good job in 24/192.

 

[pv.talisman]

What's the real benefit of using a player with analog outputs vs a cheap HDMI-based player with an AVR?

Besides being able to send pure DSD/SACD, using analog outs allows one to bypass the lousy audio of most AVRs. Just connect the analog out of the unit to your preamp or integrated amp and you have great analog audio.

 

[Petr Kropotkin]

I only know what I've read online. I remember reading that UHD players were very complex and that was part of why Oppo got out of the business- but that could have been speculation, not fact.

As for the players being problematic, I read a lot of threads in places like AVS and Blu-ray.com and there's is tons of evidence that many folks experience movies freezing- and the players locking up, requiring a reboot (ie unplugging) to work again. This is all anecdotal evidence of course. Some players seem more prone to it than others, but even top of the line players like Panasonic's UB9000 have some issues reported.

My Sony UBP 800X M2 had been very reliable, but recently it froze on the new Matrix UHD. A disc cleaning solved the problem- which is funny because the disc played through fine the first time. But upon inspection, it was filthy. My only previous problem had been one disc freezing momentarily, then skipping ahead a minute or so and continuing to play- which I chalked up to a manufacturing defect after a cleaning didn't help. Many of the problems seem to be disc related. There seems to be some QC problems at the disc plants. There's also a thread about the cases themselves off-gassing and causing dirty discs. Some folks report cleaning every disc before they play it.

Some triple layer discs seem to have problems freezing at what appears to be the second layer change- again some players seem to have this problem more often. There's a lot of speculation as to what causes these problems, but the fact remains that a sizable amount of users have experienced some problems. It's been said that the data is packed so tightly on UHD discs that there's little margin for error. Some players reportedly have problems consistently, while others with the same model report little to no problems. Speculation abounds about possible QC at the factories or possibly just a slight misalignment of the laser making some players problematic.

So- as to the first statement, I can't verify that, but to the second, there is ample evidence that UHD players- and the discs themselves- have many functional problems- though again, some users report problem-free playback. I was one until recently. I refer you to the 4K section of the blu-ray.com forum if you'd like to see for yourself.

Thanks for replying. The reason I queried your claim is the tendency to extrapolate from a few examples of a player being "problematic" to a generalisation about a particular brand/model. Except for holidays away, I have had an Oppo 205 running 8 hours every day since Sept. 2017, and never had a single issue of any description. Yet I would not take my personal experience of my own player and make a no-exception claim like "The Oppo 205 player has no problems". I imagine there has never been a model of any disc player sold whereby there wasn't at least some issue.

As you noted, the problems people have posted about are anecdotal, they do not seem to exhibit an underlying problem with the brand or model itself (and appear easily fixed), so it seems unfair in your original post to single Oppo out on such an issue when the same could be said about every other brand/model. Perhaps the claim would have some merit if, say, 10% of Oppo players had the same problem, or 10% of them had a lot of problems, compared to 5% of all the alternative brands/models (e.g. the Panasonic one you mentioned) in both instances. But I haven't seen any evidence to support such a position. Indeed, I think the best evidence to the contrary is how very few Oppo owners wish to sell their 203 and 205 models (at least judging by the extremely high resell prices for the now quite rare players).

 

[ProgRules]

Thanks for replying. The reason I queried your claim is the tendency to extrapolate from a few examples of a player being "problematic" to a generalisation about a particular brand/model. Except for holidays away, I have had an Oppo 205 running 8 hours every day since Sept. 2017, and never had a single issue of any description. Yet I would not take my personal experience of my own player and make a no-exception claim like "The Oppo 205 player has no problems". I imagine there has never been a model of any disc player sold whereby there wasn't at least some issue.

As you noted, the problems people have posted about are anecdotal, they do not seem to exhibit an underlying problem with the brand or model itself (and appear easily fixed), so it seems unfair in your original post to single Oppo out on such an issue when the same could be said about every other brand/model. Perhaps the claim would have some merit if, say, 10% of Oppo players had the same problem, or 10% of them had a lot of problems, compared to 5% of all the alternative brands/models (e.g. the Panasonic one you mentioned) in both instances. But I haven't seen any evidence to support such a position. Indeed, I think the best evidence to the contrary is how very few Oppo owners wish to sell their 203 and 205 models (at least judging by the extremely high resell prices for the now quite rare players).

I never singled out Oppos. I merely stated what I read that one reason that they got out of the manufacture of disc players is because UHD is so complex. The problematic nature of UHD I referred to is in regards to all players. Oppo owners have reported some isolated problems, but seem to be less affected than most other brands- though again it's all anecdotal. But when the anecdotes are very numerous- and seem to affect all brands to some degree, as is the case with UHD, it appears there is an underlying problem with the technology.

I'm happy for those who haven't experienced any problems. I feel fortunate that I have experienced so few. But there is evidence out there that a lot of folks are having a significant amount of problems.