News

Marantz announces UD8004 high definition universal player (18/1/2010)

Marantz’s new High Def universal player brings together the best of Blu-ray and reference quality CD replay

Everyone would probably love to own Marantz’s flagship universal Blu-ray player, but its £5000 price tag, colossal dimensions and 20kg weight somewhat preclude it from the average consumer’s home.

Well help is on hand in the form of Marantz’s new UD8004 universal High Definition player. Incorporating a whole host of technology from the company’s awesome reference universal player, the new UD8004 Blu-ray/CD/Super Audio/DVD-Audio player manages to squeeze it all into a smaller, less expensive package.

And while not as much of a beast as its bigger brother, it certainly packs an equally impressive performance punch. It is a true universal that offers reference standard CD and Blu-ray playback.

The remote controlled, Profile 2.0 design delivers everything you would expect from a high-end Blu-ray player. Its absolute video integrity ensures class-leading Blu-ray images and it even improves the quality of your DVDs thanks to a state-of-the-art Anchor Bay ABT2015 processor.

A newly developed, proprietary, high precision mechanism offers extraordinarily accurate disc reading. The tray is constructed from a polymeric alloy whose robust characteristics achieve an ultra-rigid platform that removes all vibration that degrades the picture signal. This mechanism is just as important in achieving the UD8004’s impressive sound quality. Audio replay is handled by three separate audio circuit boards, featuring Current Feedback technology and all powered by their very own transformer. These feature 192kHz/24-bit Burr-Brown DACs, symmetrical circuit topology with short mirror imaged signal paths for precise stereo imaging, Marantz’s proprietary HDAM-SA2 compact signal amplifiers, customised and individually selected components, before reaching their final destination, the gold-plated outputs.

Further improving performance is an audio ‘pure direct’ mode that turns off all non-critical electronics for the very best sound possible and well as the M1 chassis. The latter features a new aluminium/reinforced resin front panel – a perfect match for the rest of the Marantz receiver and amplifier line up – allied to a dual layer top cover and bottom plate for superb rigidity. This helps minimize vibration for a highly stable image and undisturbed audio reproduction.

The fully specified design incorporates HDMI 1.3a connectivity for 36-bit Deep Color support, Profile 2.0 for BD-Live capability, built in decoders for Dolby True HD and DTS HD High Definition audio format replay, and 24FPS capability,

The player also sports a SD-Card slot ready for SD-HC (high capacity) cards, offering the playback of WMA, MP3, AVCHD and JPEG. And as if that wasn’t enough Marantz has even extended disc compatibility by adding SACD and DVD-Audio to the list besides Blu-ray, DVD, and CD. The UD8004 is available now.

www.marantz.com