Magnetar


Two Universal Players out there.  One is going for $1500 U.S., the other for 3K. I watched the YouTube review of the UDP 900 and the settings menu looks identical to the settings menu for my Oppo 105 and 203.

  Does anyone have any experience with them?

mahler123

I will be interested in the feedback.

@mijostyn can you comment on SACD, DVD-A, or Blu Ray Audio on this player?  What DAC are you using?

@mahler123 

It will output DVD A and Blu Ray audio via the digital output and they sound great. It will only output SACD through it's analog output and I have not listened extensively to that yet. I only have about twenty SACDs and I avoid them now because of this problem. 

I use a digital signal processing preamp which includes sub crossovers and the necessary four DAC channels. Currently I am using a very inexpensive MiniDSP SHD which has DACs that are substandard for my system and are a bit grainy. My old TacT processor died and I needed a cheap substitute. I have a new DEQX Pre 8 coming any day now which has a full 4 way crossover and 8 DAC channels. It is also a $13,000 unit of the highest quality and should be wonderful. 

So in my 2 channel system I program my Oppo 105 to output DSD from SACD.  Since the Magnetar OS looked identical to Oppo, I am assuming this is the same.  I then output the DSD over HDMI into the HDMI input of my Bryston DAC3.  In a different system I output DSD from SACD using an Oppo 203 into the HDMI of an Anthem AVR

^The later Oppos such as the 205 don’t output DSD from SACD the way the earlier Oppos like the 105 did. As the Magnetar appears to be more like the more recent 205, I doubt the Magnetar can output SACD DSD other than through the analog outputs. With customers so frequently using outboard DACs, archiving systems like Roon etc., and DSP room correction and headphone processing, I think Sony is way overdue in releasing SACD from the constrictions that deny their customers from getting the most from their systems.

I just got one last week. In short comparison with SACD stereo, the sound quality is more transparent, high frequency cymbals harmonics are more real than oppo 105D.

The SACD multichannel analog output also sounds better than oppo 105D 

Its HDMI output both SACD stereo and multi channel layer to marantz AV7706.

The remote can control oppo player and vice versa.