Pioneer pulls out all the stops with the UDPLX800.
Sometimes nothing but the best will do. If you’re in the market for a new universal disc player for your home cinema setup Pioneer is hoping it has the product for you. Hoping to squeeze every ounce of performance from your discs and give you that true cinema experience. Join us as we sit down with the new UDPLX800 to find out…
With the UDPLX800, Pioneer has aimed to create a universal disc player for the audiophile home cinema market. Everything about this device is designed from the ground up to perform. From the copper coated power supply (for reduced electromagnetic interference), to the honeycomb design mechanical tray for that luxury car door feel, Pioneer hasn’t compromised on any part of the build of this device.
Under the hood is the same story. The internals are laid out in three blocks. One for the power supply, one for the digital processing and the last for the analogue audio. By dividing the sections up as such they’ve focussed on minimising the signal-to-noise ratio which can affect digital music. The design of the LX800 is based on Pioneer’s high-end PD70AE SACD player. This device retains the top-quality dual DAC system with each channel of analogue audio being decoded in parallel to maintain the best possible timing. The DAC chips themselves are ESS Sabre ES9026 Pro’s which offer incredible performance and insight. Of course, this is no simple SACD player and the digital circuitry isn’t ignored here either. The internal circuit board is spread over six layers to prevent digital noise.
The balanced XLR outputs are particularly striking on a universal disc player, allowing for studio quality audio in your home thanks to the improved grounding. Simply connect these up to a compatible AV receiver and you can enjoy your music all over again.
With all this in mind we couldn’t wait to plug the LX800 into our demo system and find out what a choice source can do for your home cinema experience. The LX800 comes well packaged as you’d imagine with no room to shift in the box. Once we finally get our hands on it, the first thing we notice is the sheer weight of it. You can certainly feel that steel and aluminium construction. Once this is in place it’s not going anywhere in a hurry.
We plug the LX800 into our Yamaha RXA3080 Atmos AV Receiver, mainly so we can hear those balanced XLRs in action, and pop on a CD to start with. We chose Foals new album Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost. The opening track “Moonlight” demonstrates the insight this player provides. With the rolling vocals and backing singers tumbling over slowly. On leading single “Exits”, we hear the nuance in Yannis Philippakis’ voice as it soars. The LX800 certainly doesn’t disappoint here.
Next, we switch to a copy of Bohemian Rhapsody on UHD Blu Ray with its Dolby Atmos soundtrack and settle back. The picture is perfect with a nice improvement on our usual player while the LX800 really excels on the audio side of things. Watching back the full extra of Queen’s Live Aid performance reveals plenty. This must be one of the best demonstrations of this track we’ve heard.
The Pioneer UDPLX800 may be aimed at the audiophile home cinema market but that’s doesn’t stop us from enjoying its capabilities all the same. While it may seem outside of what most people are willing to pay for a universal disc player, if you love you music and movies and want to get the very best from your existing equipment then we say look no further than the UDPLX800. To see for yourself everything this receiver can do, contact your local Richer Sounds store today for a demonstration.
Click here to learn more about the Pioneer UDPLX800
Author: Robert, Brighton store
