Magnetar UDP800 multi-zones

Name: UDP800 multi-zones
Brand: Magnetar
Rating: 5.0 (1 reviews)

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Specifications and features

Awards

EISA Awards: Award-Winning Product

Each year, dozens of European journalists gather to select the best electronic products of the year. Awarded by a diverse and impartial jury, the EISA (Expert Imaging and Sound Association) awards recognize exceptional products for their performance, design, or ergonomics.

Home Cinema Choice: Best Buy

The British magazine Home Cinema Choice awards its "Best Buy" distinction to products that deliver exceptional performance or unbeatable value for the price.

Magnetar UDP800: the multi-region audiophile 4K UHD Blu-ray player

The Magnetar UDP800 is a multi-region, multi-zone 4K UHD Blu-ray player that stands as the worthy successor to the legendary OPPO players. Featuring a robust metal chassis with a distinctive dual-tone brushed aluminum design, this high-end player delivers exceptional audiovisual performance. Equipped with the professional Media Tek MT8581 quad-core chip, it ensures advanced decoding and image processing, supporting 4K Ultra HD and HDR formats, including Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Its audiophile-grade audio section with independent Burr-Brown PCM 1795 DACs and a MUSES8920 operational amplifier guarantees faithful sound reproduction for the most demanding audiophiles.

Rectangular black and anthracite gray UHD Blu-ray player in brushed metal, front view, with central LED display showing “UHD BD”, disc tray below, and a row of control buttons on the right

Exceptional build quality

The Magnetar UDP800 immediately impresses with its ultra-rigid construction, essential for optimal audiovisual performance. Its solid metal chassis with a dual-tone brushed aluminum front panel provides an aesthetic that is both elegant and technical. The double-layer chassis structure, with a thickness of 1.6 mm and a 3 mm steel plate under its base, effectively reduces vibrations and parasitic noise during playback.

This particular attention to structural rigidity results in a substantial weight of 8 kg, a testament to the quality of the materials used. Magnetar’s engineers have also taken care to independently isolate internal components, such as the optical block and the power supply, to minimize electromagnetic interference that could affect audio and video quality.

The specially selected and custom-designed high-power 60 W transformer is another distinctive element of this player. Combined with a two-stage filter and Japanese Rubycon electrolytic capacitors, it ensures a high transient response, particularly important for surround sound systems and high-resolution audio.

Top view of an open gray metal chassis containing two black rectangular plastic modules, a large black printed circuit board with electronic components, a black grid-patterned heat sink, and several bundles of multicolored cables

Video excellence and HDR compatibility

The Magnetar UDP800 excels in video reproduction thanks to its Media Tek MT8581 quad-core chip, which ensures sophisticated decoding and image processing. It supports 4K Ultra HD resolution with frame rates up to 60 Hz (3840 x 2160), offering four times the resolution of Full HD 1080p.

The HDR (High Dynamic Range) technology implemented in the UDP800 delivers remarkable brightness, contrast, and color. The player is compatible with HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision formats, ensuring faithful reproduction of the latest HDR content. This extensive compatibility ensures that every nuance of color and brightness is rendered with precision, even in low-light or backlit scenes.

4K upscaling is another notable feature, allowing lower-resolution video sources to be converted up to 4K 50/60 Hz. This capability significantly enhances the home viewing experience, breathing new life into the DVDs and standard Blu-rays in your collection.

Audiophile sound quality

The Magnetar UDP800 doesn’t just excel in video; it also offers a high-fidelity audio experience that will delight audiophiles. Its audio design is based on a 4-layer printed circuit board where each channel benefits from independent wiring.

The player uses two independent Burr-Brown PCM 1795 DAC processors for two-channel digital-to-analog decoding, handling the left and right channels respectively. This configuration, combined with the high-quality MUSES8920 operational amplifier, ensures remarkably precise sound reproduction.

The audio outputs are particularly refined, with gold-plated balanced XLR terminals and gold-plated unbalanced RCA outputs for stereo. These connectivity options enable optimal integration into high-end audio systems.

The player supports a wide range of high-resolution audio formats, including DSD64/128, multichannel DSD64, and PCM 192 kHz/24-bit in AIFF, ALAC, APE, FLAC, and WAV formats. It is also compatible with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as Dolby Atmos and DTS-X technologies, delivering a captivating three-dimensional sound experience.

Black epoxy electronic board, top view, featuring numerous blue and black cylindrical capacitors, flat SMD chips, black plastic connectors, as well as a red insert and a white insert

Versatility and extensive compatibility

The UDP800 stands out for its exceptional versatility in supported formats. It can play virtually all current optical disc types: UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, AVCHD, SACD, CD, Kodak Picture CD, as well as recordable formats CD-R/RW, DVD±R/RW, DVD±R DL, and BD-R/RE.

This extended compatibility also applies to media files, with support for h.265 and h.264 video codecs, making it easy to play content stored on USB devices or accessed over the network.

The player’s user interface is designed to provide smooth, intuitive navigation, making it easy to access various settings and connected devices. This software ergonomics perfectly complements the player’s hardware qualities.

Rear view of a black metal rectangular 4K Blu-ray player, featuring RJ45 ports, two HDMI, USB 3.0, coaxial and optical audio outputs, XLR and RCA connectors, and an IEC power socket

Multi-region and multi-zone features

A particularly appreciated feature of the Magnetar UDP800 is its multi-region and multi-zone capability. This functionality allows you to play discs from different parts of the world, thus eliminating the geographical restrictions imposed by publishers.

For collectors and cinephiles who import discs from abroad, this capability is invaluable, offering complete freedom in building and using their movie library. Whether you own Region 1 (North America), Region 2 (Europe), or other region DVDs, the UDP800 will play them without difficulty.

Likewise, the multi-zone functionality for Blu-rays allows you to bypass the zone limitations (A, B, or C) imposed by the film industry. This versatility makes the Magnetar UDP800 a truly universal player, suited to an international film collection.

The OPPO legacy

The Magnetar UDP800 is often presented as the spiritual successor to the legendary OPPO players, notably the UDP203. OPPO, which ceased Blu-ray player production in 2018, had set a benchmark in the high-end player market, leaving a gap that few manufacturers have managed to fill.

Users familiar with OPPO players will find similar qualities in the UDP800: robust construction, exceptional audiovisual performance, and remarkable versatility. A user owning the OPPO UDP-205 noted that the Magnetar’s picture, upscaling, and sound (digital and analog) are “indeed satisfactory,” confirming the spiritual kinship between these two devices.

The disc loading speed, including UHD Blu-rays, has been particularly highlighted as impressive, potentially surpassing that of OPPO players. This speed contributes to a smoother, more enjoyable user experience.

Black brushed aluminum disc player, top three-quarter front view with cover removed revealing two internal metal shields and the electronic board, front panel featuring a “UHD BD” digital display

Documentation

User manual
French

Technical Specifications

Main Features

Blu-ray / UHD 4K Player
Multi-region and multi-zone
HDR10+ and Dolby Vision formats
Dual HDMI output

Compatible Disc Formats

UHD Blu-ray
Blu-ray
Blu-ray 3D
DVD-Video
DVD-Audio
AVCHD-SACD
CD
Kodak Picture CD
CD-R/RW
DVD±R/RW
DVD±R DL
BD-R/RE

Connectivity

Analog stereo audio
Independent analog stereo audio: balanced XLR output, RCA output
Optical / coaxial audio: up to 2 channels / 192 kHz PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS
HDMI audio: up to 7.1 channels / 192 kHz PCM, up to 5.1 channels DSD, Bitstream
HDMI video: UHD / p24 1080p / 1080i / 720p / 576p / 576i / 480p / 480i
Ethernet port (RJ45)
USB 3.0 port (USB-A)
RS232C jack

Audio Specifications

Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz (-3 dB ~ +0.05 dB)
Signal-to-noise ratio: > 120 dBr
Total harmonic distortion + noise: < 0.00018%
Output level: (RCA) 2.1 ± 0.2 Vrms, (XLR) 4.2 ± 0.4 Vrms
Dynamic range: > 120 dB
Channel separation: > 120 dB

General Features

Power supply: AC 100-240 V ~, 50/60 Hz
Power consumption: 30 W (standby: 0.5 W in energy-saving mode)
Dimensions (W × H × D): 430 × 90 × 300 mm
Weight: 8 kg

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the Magnetar UDP800 compare to OPPO UDP203 and UDP205 players?

The Magnetar UDP800 is often considered the spiritual successor to OPPO players, offering comparable audiovisual performance. It shares a robust build, excellent picture quality, and high-fidelity sound. Some OPPO UDP-205 users have confirmed that the Magnetar’s picture, upscaling, and sound are satisfactory. The UDP800 stands out for its disc loading speed, which is particularly fast, even with UHD Blu-rays.

What do the “multi-region” and “multi-zone” features mean?

The multi-region feature allows playback of DVDs from all regions (1 to 6), while multi-zone applies to Blu-rays and enables playback of discs from all zones (A, B, C). These features are particularly useful for collectors who purchase discs internationally or travel frequently, as they eliminate the geographical restrictions imposed by publishers.

How good is the player’s 4K upscaling?

The Magnetar UDP800’s 4K upscaling is of very high quality, effectively converting lower-resolution sources (DVDs, standard Blu-rays) to 4K 50/60 Hz. The Media Tek MT8581 quad-core processor ensures sophisticated image processing that preserves detail while reducing artifacts, providing an improved viewing experience even with older content.

Does the player receive regular firmware updates?

Magnetar appears to take a collaborative approach with its customers, taking user feedback into account to provide regular updates. This approach is encouraging for the product’s evolution, allowing potential bugs to be fixed and features to be improved over time.

How good is the reproduction of SACD and DVD-Audio?

Thanks to its independent Burr-Brown PCM 1795 DACs and high-quality MUSES8920 operational amplifier, the Magnetar UDP800 excels in reproducing high-resolution audio formats such as SACD and DVD-Audio. The 120 dB channel separation and signal-to-noise ratio above 120 dB ensure faithful and detailed reproduction of these audiophile formats.

Is the player compatible with home cinema projection systems?

Absolutely. With its HDMI output supporting 4K at 60 Hz and compatibility with all HDR formats (HDR10, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision), the Magnetar UDP800 integrates perfectly with modern home cinema projection systems. Its 4K upscaling capability is particularly appreciated on large screens, where the flaws of lower-resolution sources would normally be more visible.