(2024-05) S & V - Review of Magnetar Disc Player

[mandrix]

I'm in the same boat of averages giving me 25+ years. By then my speakers will be almost 50 years old, though they may be the least of my problems (no electrolytics in the crossovers). I can't be bothered with ripping discs, but I don't rate the chances of keeping Oppos running that long as they'll be over 30 years old by then. Hell even HDMI may have bitten the dust in 25 years.

Well I would be 99, so....lol. I have always ripped my discs as a hedge on among other things, suitable electronics going bye-bye. If all my disc players fail, I'll still be in good shape. I actually seldom use them.

 

[Ranasakawa]

Made in Vietnam seems to be happening.

I have worked and lived in China for over 25 years. I did a project working for the Vietnam government in 2017 helping the university teachers with their engineering programs. Vietnam is still 20 + years behind China in technology and education.

 

[stoopid]

Could you provide some real world examples to support your hypothesis that [high end premium audio] electronics have become cheaper over time due to economies of scale? High end premium products in general don't sell enough "units" to support "more for less". Sorry but Sony has not been "high end" since Akio Morita's death.

Bear in mind that I'm not referring to cheap, throw away, made in Chyna electronic toys you buy at Wally's world. And waiting around for five years to determine what is a company's rep before purchase would render the product under consideration obsolete by five years.

Economies of scale for state of the art products?

High end Apple iPhone/iPad/etc...? - Nope!
High end personal computers? - Nope!
High end 4K TVs? - Nope
High end drones? - Nope!
High end cars? - Nope!
High end home appliances? - Nope!
High end HVAC systems? - Nope! [New AC system prices will rise 30% next year.]
High end building materials? - Nope!

If you're satisfied with a $200 Sony BR player then go for one.
There is a reason why a decade old discontinued Oppo 205 still commands a premium price.

No, I specifically said boutique / high end was not in the convo here. High end stuff has never been cheap, the price tag is really the first and obvious differentiator to what earns them the 'high end' badge. Whether some or many of them earn it as another discussion. Maybe define high end if you want to start a new conversation about that. Is it price, features, perceived quality, all the above? $1000 buys you a lot of TV, I'd consider that 'high end' by today's standards. Yeah you can spend more, but objectively a $1000 TV is what a same size $5000 TV was just a few years ago.

There's a lot of bang for not a lot of buck in what remains in the general market. High end makers ($$$$) only count on a handful of well healed buyers to profit. Most companies can't and won't operate on that model. Oppo really wasn't *that* high end, compared to what even existed when their universal players were still being made. I could have afforded one, though I made do with multiple players like I do now. And we know Oppo made/sold a lot based on how many are in the aftermarket and owned by members on audio forums. Oppo was fairly mainstream as they dominated the space with the sheer quality of their products. The vacuum left by their departure is all the evidence one needs of how widespread use of their players were, by people of varying economic classes.

 

[scottm18]

My problem with the Magnetar players isn't that they're made in China (that moniker "being bad" ship has long sailed with companies like Cayin & Cen.Grand creating products as good or better as anything on the market). No, it's that they neglected to add Oppo's best feature (on either player!) and absolutely crucial for me: HDMI in.

I'm still 100% analog so that's the only way I can get a digital device like an Apple TV or PS5 into my system with full resolution.

So its my ISO-modded 205 until it completely breaks down for me...

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

No, it's that they neglected to add Oppo's best feature (on either player!) and absolutely crucial for me: HDMI in.

I'm still 100% analog so that's the only way I can get a digital device like an Apple TV or PS5 into my system with full resolution.

I completely agree. Plus the OPPO UDP-20x players offer HDMI ARC, so you can send stereo or multi-channel audio from your TV to your OPPO...

 

[Owen Smith]

I use HDMI in on my 203 to connect my Apple TV 4K. That's not because of audio, my amp supports HDMI audio in and doesn't have analogue multi channel inputs. The issue is my TV is 1080p, and given my viewing distance to a 32" TV (I can't fit anything bigger in the room) I wouldn't benefit from 4K. But, the video and audio quality on 1080p streams are appalling because the streaming services don't care about 1080p and use lousy bit rates for 1080p. So I'm streaming 4K SDR and find it gives much better picture and audio quality. I just need my Oppo 203 to downscale the 4K video to 1080p, and since it can do that to 4:4:4 chroma subsampling I'm not actually throwing any chroma resolution away since the 4K streams use 4:2:0 chroma. It's only luma details being discarded.

 

[Tribby2001]

I completely agree. Plus the OPPO UDP-20x players offer HDMI ARC, so you can send stereo or multi-channel audio from your TV to your OPPO...

Er, what's does the Oppo do with the TV audio?

 

[scottm18]

A big deal actually. For any apps on my TV (for instance I can only get Tidal to run Atmos versions through my 2016 Android TV app for some strange reason... No Roku, no Apple TV--only stereo there). To get that surround signal to my main system the only solution is HDMI ARC through the Oppo. Also works great for any TV programs to send 5.1 audio.

 

[jefe1]

I have an early Sony 4K TV does great 3D but the ARC function is for shit. Can't get it to work with my oppo
But it has a headphone out jack so I can route sound out into my system for synthesized surround.

 

[scottm18]

Yeah I didn't say it worked great . Most of the time it'll work for a while and then suddenly crash and have to reboot the Oppo, TV...or both. I know the 2016 Sony 3D Android TV is also why I can't get the Tidal Atmos off the Apple TV because it's not compatible in that way with the older tech.