Universal Blu-Ray Suggestions

Hi all, I am in the market for one of these but don’t know what to get. I want to replace my current Blu-ray that is hooked up to my home theatre with one that can play SACD’s. I know, Oppo is out of that business but I’m hoping for something compatible. Seems they are hard to find now. Only thing I can come up with is a Sony UBP-X800M2. Now that I have some SACD’s with 5.1 surround I need a player. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!!

here’s the link on Audiogon for the guy that does a GREAT mod for the Panasonic model I own and had modded by the company in the link:
GREAT Blu Ray Player and with his mod it’s number uno !!

Tom - NJ

I have the Panasonic UB-9000 player. It is a great player but does not play SACD’s.

How would you connect the player into your stereo, and what would handle the digital to audio conversion?

I don’t love my two Oppo’s. I am considering the Panasonic. It seems to be the finest available at half the price of a similar Oppo.

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I really like the Panasonic. It does have a great-sounding DAC, which sounds better than my slightly older Pioneer, plays 4k, has balanced outputs, and although it does not play SACD, it does play DSD 256. It also has phenominal picture quality in 4k. Some non-4k content has also looked quite good with the Panasonic mated to an LG 4K OLED.

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It would be connected via HDMI to my A/V receiver (ONKYO RX-RZ710). This is for my home theater so I can get the 5.1 off the SACD’s. I don’t have an SACD player yet for a 2 channel stereo.

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The Panasonic UB-9000 sounds great. I wonder with everything on it why they would pass on the SACD.

$$$$$$ licensing fee for SACD is high.

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Plus if you say SACD to 100 people, 95 won’t know what you are talking about. Here in good old 2022.

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Anyone see these new guys? Out of my price range…

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the x200 does look really nice…

Any idea of pricing ?

$1799

The x110 is $999 and the x100 (does not play SACD) is $899. I’ve never heard of this company before.

Decent review.

I have a Sony UBP-X800M2 and I am very happy with it. It does not have internal DAC’s, so an external DAC, Receiver, or A/V Processor is needed.

I have mine hooked up to a Geerfab D.BOB which then outputs a digital stream to my DSJr. The D.BOB has HDMI as its input, so it can process 196/24 PCM or DSD as a DOP stream (for SACD).

The Sony does have some quirks though:

  1. It does not have a display, so the track number and other information is not displayed unless a TV or monitor is used. The only way to tell that the Sony is powered up is a very tiny LED in the upper right hand corner.
  2. There is a gap of about 5 - 10 seconds between tracks for most DVD Audio disks or when jumping to the next track. This is not a issue with CD’s or SACD’s.
  3. There are no numbers on the remote, so unless a TV is used, going to a specific track number is not possible.

And finally, although I am not a videophile, the picture quality looks very good to me.

Check the AVS forum. Reviews for these players are mixed. Also, it appears that physical quality isn’t that great. This is no oppo (or panasonic, which I have – wish it played SACD)

Glad I picked up an Oppo 203 when I could.
Heavily modded it over stock, its an awesome thing.
https://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?56087-Hey-guess-what-I�m-about-to-do-Major-Oppo-mods

Use it as a Roon endpoint too, until Airlens is released.

I hear the higher end Panasonics are the current ones to get.
Not 100% sure about SACD playback though.

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