Isn’t the Sony X800M2 still knocking around here and there, circa £300 or so?
ATB, J
The DP 9000 doesn’t play DVD-Audio
I don’t know what a DVD-Audio actually is, for a moment thought it was music DVDs like Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii, but my copy is DVD-Video so must be okay.
What defines a DVD-Audio?
Probably - I’d rather replace with better if I can, rather than like-for-like. My X800M2 has been fine, but I’d like to see how much better a player at, say, double the price could be.
Tangentially, anyone have any thoughts on best method/kit to convert hdmi out on bluray to s/pdif coaxial in on dac? (DAC has no hdmi input).
A HDMI De-Embedder will extract the audio signal from HDMI to Coaxial or Optical - Blustream make them as do others. I use one from Blustream HD11AU (Coaxial output only not optical) and it is excellent., providing full Hi-Res Audio - I play up to 24/192 tracks via it and it works perfectly.
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DVD-Audio provides Hi-Res audio on a DVD disc, however, it needs a disc player that will play the discs (regular DVD and Blu-Ray Players don’t play them). It was a format that came out to compete against SACD for Hi-Res Audio, again for SACD you need a specific player that will play them.
Hi-Res Audio is a niche market and never really took off in the mainstream due to high costs of the discs and the special players to play the discs (except Blu-ray discs which will play on any Blu-ray Player), although some people got into the various formats like me with Blu-ray discs and have DVD-Audio and SACD discs that they still need to play.
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OK, thanks. And can we expect one of the cheapish little black boxes on Amazon to work as well as any do you know? E.G. would one of the pricier boxes at Futureshop do a better job?
Futureshop sell the Blustream HD11AU for GBP 121.00, in my experience its all you need, but I have not made any direct sound quality comparisons, with more expensive devices. The De-Embedding is pretty straightforward technology as far as I know, so no need for super expensive boxes.
DVD-A or DVD Audio is an audio disc that may have a menu but generally no video content. It usually provides lossless 24/192 or 24/96 Hi Resolution Audio in stereo &/or Multichannel format. They will also usually have lossy audio too so they can play on regular DVD players, but the lossless hi res content can only be replayed on a DVD-A capable player.
I bought quite a few of them when I had a Naim DVD5. These days, while my Oppo can play them, I mostly just listen to the Hi res stereo tracks as wav files.
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Okay, having spent 5 years with various 4K players I can say a few things about the 9000, my unit has a different clock, different linear power supplies. Heavily revised grounding, sheilding and most of the capacitors upgraded where helpful.
A few points I found it better in stock form for picture and analogue audio out than all the others available at the time (Oppo 205, 203) I have not tried the Magnetar but have compared remotely to the Reavon.
It responds well to linear power supply and clocks and particularly GND improvements.
The 820 is a similar architecture it is NOT the same performance as the 9000 anywhere for audio or video.
The 2 channels XLR and RCA use the same circuits and the 2 channel higher grade DAC, the multichannel uses an 8 channel DAC. Both circuits use the same power supply but unhelpfully for multichannel the power supply route is extended to facilitate this being turned off for the benefit of 2 channel.
The 9000 have a good SMPS a big improvement on the 820 and the chassis for shielding and damping is a big step up. Anyone making the loose claims that the players are the same for things would make the same suggestion about bottom and top end naim pre-amps !
The 9000 software and GUI is dated and it can be slow in operation. Panasonic have had for me a zero regarding support and help. I never received an answer to the simple question what frequency is chosen for the crossover when choosing ‘small’ for speakers for example. (I tried the UK, Europe, US and dealers, experts and distributors as well as direct !)
After the fire a few years back Panasonic moved from AKM to ESS DACs
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It certainly is a fine machine for the Bluray/4 k enthusiast but unfortunately it showed up the deficiencies in my elderly(ish) A V receiver. So I have bought it a shelf mate.
Hopefully fitting & room correction stuff next week.
It’s only the baby of the range but should get the Neat speakers and REL sub working well.
Anthem mrx 540
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Very good serial movie 
Congrats on the purchase!
How have you connected it for audio; which cables, and which sockets to what component?
Im using linn rca out to analogue linn amp input .
I’ll be moving to balanced out into quad platina in January.
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The balanced output of the 9000 is a significant sound quality improvement over the unbalanced rca output in my experience, you should be further impressed.
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The 9000 uses a operate 2 channel DAC and redirected power supply with improved local caps for both RCA and XLR, the multichannel uses an 8 channel DAC, AKM 4458 and 4493 in the earlier machines before moving to ESS after the AKM fire.
Panasonic DP-UB9004 EG1 vs. Pioneer UDP-LX 800
I also bought the new version of the Panasonic with the ESS DSP processors. In Europe, this is the EG1 version. There isn’t another one (as @IWCDoppel reported).
The player I bought has been upgraded by Sweetspotaudio (Germany) with modifications to the power supply, mainboard, and drive.
The fantastically well-built Pioneer hasn’t been available for years. Unfortunately, my Pioneer also developed problems with the disk drive. It still works, but the disc tray doesn’t eject properly, some UHD discs aren’t read correctly (the picture stutters). Now for my listening and viewing impressions of the two players.
SOUND:
HDMI – Pur Audio Blu-ray Rodriguez Jr. Feather & Bones (in Dolby Atmos)
The Pioneer exhibits more airiness and dynamics in the sound and also sounds smoother in direct comparison to the Panasonic. Listening to the Panasonic without having heard the Pioneer, the performance is perfectly fine.
When everything is switched back to the Pioneer, the difference is immediately noticeable. It’s similar to switching from a HighCap to a SuperCap.
The same impression applies to CDs. It was important for me to experience the differences with the HDMI connection! I didn’t test the analog connection.
Everything was played back via HDMI into the Primare SP25 preamplifier. I used a Chord Clearway optical HDMI cable.
My conclusion: in my setup, the HDMI signals show noticeable differences in sound, ranging from good to truly excellent. However, even the Pioneer could still improve its dynamic range.
Picture and Movie Sound
For comparison, I chose the films Oblivion and Tron Legacy on Blu-ray, Top Gun: Maverick on UHD, and Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens on Blu-ray 3D.
With Oblivion (Track 2), the Pioneer produces an incredibly vivid, low-noise, vibrant, and stable picture. Jack climbs into his flying machine and plunges into the abyss, then flies to the baseball stadium, circles the receiver once, and lands with infernal, sofa-shaking force right back in the middle of the screen. The feeling is incredible!
The Panasonic 9004 also does this very well, except that it lacks a tiny bit of punch in the colors. This isn’t a matter of player settings. The Pioneer does it a touch better.
What the Panasonic does better, however, is the detail resolution, such as Vica’s red hair, which you can see from the side. I compared it several times, and here you can see more resolution (just a touch).
In terms of movie sound, the Panasonic is just as good as the Pioneer. I couldn’t hear any difference in this scene.
With Tron, the same difference between the two players is noticeable. A touch more punch in the picture and less noise (image stability).
The Maverick UHD shows essentially the same behavior as the two Blu-rays. Regarding the sound, in the scene where Maverick fires up the jet’s engines, I noticed a bit more bass power from the Panasonic. Really good!
Finally, I compared 3D Blu-rays. With Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens: Blu-ray 3D, I could see an advantage for the Panasonic player. The picture was cleaner. I can’t describe the effect any other way. It reminded me of the 3D picture from my old JVC projector, the DLA X7900 (an incredibly great 2K projector), where the Pioneer LX800 performed fantastically in 3D.
With the JVC NP5 4K projector and the Pioneer UHD player LX800, I wasn’t quite satisfied.
The combination of the Panasonic 9004 and the JVC NP5 for 3D is truly excellent.
Conclusion: There’s basically a lot of good to say about the Panasonic. For its price range (€1550), the modified version does a very good job. It doesn’t quite reach the sound quality of the Pioneer, BUT
it reads all UHD discs flawlessly without any problems, has a usable HDMI output, and is quiet in operation.
I’m delighted to have this great new Panasonic player in my listening room. A new member of the family!
I’d be interested to know how good a Magnetar UBD 900 really is. That might be another alternative, because it and the older Pioneer LX 800 still have truly high-quality power supplies and an uncompromising design.
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Interesting to see what the power supply mods were. My 9000 has been a bit of a labour of love over the last 5 years with LPS, more sheilding, better GND and a lot of more exotic caps invarious places plus new main clock and reg board. Not sure naim condone ‘modifications’ of other manufacturers equipment so I won’t post a picture
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