Panasonic DP-UB9000 UHD Player Review

[Zedly]

Nice. What is your production date?

I don't know the production date, but I bought it in November 2018.

 

[GXAlan]

I am surprised that blue-ray players still really exist... especially at this price!

For movies with a 2K DI played back in 4K HDR, a UHD BD will have less noise. It's like ISO 100 vs ISO 1600 on a camera. Even with Sony's high-end noise reduction, it's noticeable at sitting distance. This is separate from actual resolution but can show up in the skies of movies. UHD BD video is as high as 90 MBps HEVC even on a 2K DI film.

For movies with a 4K DI, it's a bigger difference between streaming and UHD Blu-Ray. Again, not in pure resolution (since people sit far enough back from a TV) but in grain/noise.

Stereo analog RCA outs, not multich.
I don't know what DAC Sony uses in that unit.

Oh. My mistake!

 

[North_Sky]

No sweat.

* I think the Sony X1100ES uses this DAC ... 99% certain.
• https://www.akm.com/global/en/products/audio/audio-dac/ak4452vn/

Why? Because it is the DAC used in the Sony UHP-H1 universal Blu-ray player (same player but without 4K playback).

 

[amirm]

As opposed to what else bossman? Most don't have this?

They are in addition to standard front and right connectors. They are duplicating functionality with higher performance DAC. And adding XLR.

 

[mgood]

I've got one of these feeding a Denon X4500 via HDMI and coaxial (for CD playback), so not using the fine internal 2ch DAC. Might have to test the balanced outputs at some point.

It's reasonably quiet, and I haven't found it bothersome during film playback. I'm very picky about noise. Picture performance is very good into my LG B9 OLED. HDR films look a little better than ATV 4K, due to the tone mapping feature. I haven't investigated this in-depth though.

 

[Jimster480]

For movies with a 2K DI played back in 4K HDR, a UHD BD will have less noise. It's like ISO 100 vs ISO 1600 on a camera. Even with Sony's high-end noise reduction, it's noticeable at sitting distance. This is separate from actual resolution but can show up in the skies of movies. UHD BD video is as high as 90 MBps HEVC even on a 2K DI film.

For movies with a 4K DI, it's a bigger difference between streaming and UHD Blu-Ray. Again, not in pure resolution (since people sit far enough back from a TV) but in grain/noise.


Oh. My mistake!

I just rip movies online. Easier to download.
I have seen a UHD BD clean rip at 90GB. Just too much of a time waste. The quality is nice though for some movies.

 

[Laserjock]

My 83, 103D and 205 all still play my SACD, DVD-A discs.
Glad I got in on the 205 last batch.

 

[audioBliss]

Panasonic and Oppo have the best players..well now it's only Panasonic left I guess but the good thing is that these measure really well. Not only in terms of sound but also video they have superior chroma upsampling and HDR tone mapping. One of the best features is that you can move and dim the subtitles which is very useful when watching on a 2.35:1 screen and HDR. Like yeah I don't need 10 000 nit subtitles ^^ Don't know why Panasonic seem to be the only one that has thought about this.

 

[Archsam]

SACD was created by Panasonic's enemies: Sony and Philips. They want to have nothing to do with that format.

DVD-A though was their making so strange to see that left behind. Then again the reality is that DVD-A has been dead for years and years.

Multi-format drives are slower by the way. There is no ID mechanism to tell the drive which disc is in the drawer. So they go through a trial and error process to read every format and see which one does not fail!

Sony introduced SCD-1 in 1999 and was granted a patent a few year later, so the patent on SACD should expire soon, if not already?

Wonder if this will be an incentive for manufacturers to introduce SACD functionality to all universal players in the near future. I for one will be happy to see that happen.

I own a small collection of SACD discs, but have quite a big collection of DSD / DSF files. So a SACD disc player is still relevant to me.

 

[Sagnet]

One of the best features is that you can move and dim the subtitles which is very useful when watching on a 2.35:1 screen and HDR. Like yeah I don't need 10 000 nit subtitles ^^ Don't know why Panasonic seem to be the only one that has thought about this.

This is so true! This is a feature you can't be without if you're watching HDR movies with subtitles. Improves the viewing experience more than any other setting you can tweak.

 

[Mocs123]

The big advantage of the Panasonic players like the UB9000, UB820, and UB420 is for projector users as they have superior tone mapping to other 4K players. The UB9000, 820, and 420 all have the same HDR Optimizer, with the 9000 having one additional setting allowing down to 350nits while the lowest setting on the 820 and 420 is 500 nits.

These are the best 4K players for projectors

 

[kokishin]

No floppy drive either.

And no MiniDisc support either! <smh>
I believe Mrs K still has some MiniDiscs in her Mom's home in Tokyo.

 

[DonH56]

I still have a box of floppy disks with old programs and games on them, including a synthesizer program I wrote for my old Commodore Elf-based (RCA 1502) processor and a custom synth built from scratch on wire-wrap boards. It was a mess but it worked and wowed my prof so I got out of college, what else matters?

The first hard drive I encountered was a great big (12" platter? maybe bigger...) disc in a DEC PDP-8 or 11. Held a whopping 5 MB of data. It crashed and as one of the EE lab techs I had to replace it. Amazing how far we've come, at least in some ways.

I remember when I demo'd all the fancy features and multiple voices (a big thing at the time) that my little synth had some felt it was too "electronic" and needed a computer; no real musician would touch a computer and such things would never replace analog synths with all of their patch cables.

 

[North_Sky]

Panasonic and Oppo have the best players..well now it's only Panasonic left I guess but the good thing is that these measure really well. Not only in terms of sound but also video they have superior chroma upsampling and HDR tone mapping. One of the best features is that you can move and dim the subtitles which is very useful when watching on a 2.35:1 screen and HDR. Like yeah I don't need 10 000 nit subtitles ^^ Don't know why Panasonic seem to be the only one that has thought about this.

You forgot Pioneer Elite LX500 universal 4K BR player (approx. $999).

 

[Inner Space]

You forgot Pioneer Elite LX500 universal 4K BR player (approx. $999).

Agreed. I have one. Haven't measured it, but it looks and sounds at least as good as my Oppo. Terrific unit, IMO.

 

[jhaider]

Lol this player was built for home theater enthusiasts; front projectors and OLED Panasonic TVs. Plus audiophile stereo sound, from CDs, and Blu-ray High Fidelity Pure Audio.

Here's what I see at the top of this page.

Recommending a multichannel audio disk player that cannot play two of the three multichannel audio disk formats on an "Audio, Audio, Audio!" forum is an insult.

A forum for video nits-pickers may have other priorities than an "Audio, Audio, Audio!" forum, and that's fine. Let that forum recommend an expensive disk spinner that might do fancy video tricks but will be humbled in an ABX test by a $200 Sony player on most available disk-based multichannel audio program material. Or even in a sighted test: one doesn't need sophisticated protocols to distinguish playing a disk from not playing a disk!

I also question whether your hypothetical customer actually exists in meaningful numbers: someone who spends a bunch of money on a multichannel speaker system and then turns most of them off for "audiophile stereo sound" (whatever that is) instead of seeking out at least some program material that makes use of all those speakers.

If you want universal disc spinners look @ Sony X800M2, Pioneer LX500, or eBay for Oppo 203 and 205.

I'm not personally in the market. My Sony X800 (not M2) still works fine. Sony offering all the audio playback broke Oppo’s long-time monopoly on real disk players. Sony doing so for less than half the price of Oppo 203 probably broke Oppo’s back as a disk player vender too, combined with declining disk player sales generally due to streaming. I just think an expensive multichannel disk player that can’t play most multichannel audio disks should be derided, not complimented, on an audio forum.

 

[A.West]

I though about buying this to play 4kBlurays, but instead bought the dramatically cheaper UB420, which works fine for my needs. I have an old Oppo BDP-93 with which to play my few old SACD and DVD-A discs. I enjoyed playing the multichannel remixes of King Crimson albums. But honestly 99% of my use is movie soundtracks on my disc players.

 

[Sancus]

I just think an expensive multichannel disk player that can’t play most multichannel audio disks should be derided, not complimented, on an audio forum.

I sort of agree with you(I don't understand the market for this device) but it's a fact that reviews on this forum tend to focus on measurements and functionality typically takes a backseat to those.

 

[North_Sky]

Agreed. I have one. Haven't measured it, but it looks and sounds at least as good as my Oppo. Terrific unit, IMO.

You have some audio measuring gear?

 

[Inner Space]

You have some audio measuring gear?

Plenty, but no video measuring in house.