Sony UBP-X700/K Review (Blu-ray/DVD/SACD/CD Transport) (NTTY)

[geol]

I have a 1700 ($55), a Panasonic DVD-A110 ($400) & a spare ($20) in case it fails!

None of the Panasonic I've owned have lasted.

 

[formdissolve]

Ironically, I just sold the 800 a few days ago. It had promise as a great player, but it kept freezing on 4K discs to the point it became too annoying to work through (hard power cycle to clear the error.) I replaced it with a Panasonic and no problems since. I'm sure the 800 would have been just fine if not for my affinity to 4K UHD media.

I have the first gen X800 that is now a dedicated region free 1080P blu-ray/CD player. I also had issues with some 4K discs since it hasn't had a firmware update in many years, plus it is HDR only. For 4K I stick with my Panasonic DP-UB820-K that I got for $350 back in 2018 (which now sells for $625!).

 

[trevor_bartram]

None of the Panasonic I've owned have lasted.

The A110 was initially used with regular DVDs but started skipping after 10+ years hard use, others in the series failed in as little as 2 years.
When my NAD C520 CD player started skipping after 10 years hard use I compared all the players I had & the A110 sounded the best.
I believe it was John Atkinson's reference player at one time. The A110 only plays regular CDs, the 1700 plays everything else.

 

[geol]

It’s the same for me; they all died after the warranty expired, whether they’d seen heavy use or none at all (I’m including a camcorder and a portable cassette recorder for good measure).
None of them lasted ten years; like you, I’d say it was more in the two-to-three-year range. The latest one was a DMR-EX769.

 

[JeffS7444]

It is not silent at all with 4K blu rays, very noisy. Regular blu rays are ok. I have two of these units.

The higher-line X800 added a couple of pieces of sound-dampening material, and I've been meaning to do the same for my X700, which uses the same transport. There are service manuals for both models floating around the 'net.

 

[Roland68]

Stunning work as always.

Would be cool if you could also measure this (most likely BS) tweaked version:
View attachment 560956

R_volution Chassis DIY-X700 – Kit for Sony UBP-X700 4K Blu-ray Player

DIY kit: Transform your Sony UBP‑X700 into a true high‑end 4K Ultra HD Blu‑ray™ player with a linear power supply and a toroidal transformer for enhanced audio and video performance.

www.rvolution.com

Oh no
Twice the price, and 2 hours of swapping components for nothing. Shame.
BS as you said, what can be improved when the digital output is perfect?

This conversion kit is a total joke and nothing but a gimmick.

To be clear right off the bat: creating a conversion kit like this obviously involves a fair amount of effort.
The chassis kit alone is complex and expensive to produce. Then there are the costs for the remote control, transformer, circuit boards, components, wiring, assembly, and soldering. On top of that, production runs are relatively small, meaning all those costs have to be spread across a limited number of units.
Viewed in that light, the kit isn't actually expensive—not at all.

But ultimately, it’s just a larger case with a built-in power supply—that’s really all there is to it.
The manufacturer is clearly targeting the audiophile community, specifically by including a transformer and a linear regulator board.
Yet, it remains a relatively simple power supply that merely feeds a single 12V voltage into the Sony board via an external adapter.

On the Sony board itself, the required voltages are generated using DC/DC switching regulators. Anyone with some technical knowledge knows that pairing a transformer with a linear regulator upstream is absolute nonsense and offers no benefit—hence the "gimmick" label.
A "wall-wart filter" (like the one from the DIY Audio Forum) placed before the original switching power supply would likely yield better results at a fraction of the cost.

Perhaps in the future, the company will offer a more "honest" version: a large case featuring a Mu-metal shielded section for the original power supply (or a high-quality Mean Well unit) combined with an effective wall-wart filter.
That should significantly lower the price while actually providing a superior solution.

But at the end of the day, it would still just be a conversion to a larger, more premium metal chassis with an internal power supply.

 

[AdrianusG]

"The kit's price of €499 is quite reasonable for the expected results, especially considering the Sony player, which costs €249."

I must have slipped into the audiophool parallel universe if €499 for this kit is deemed "quite reasonable"!

The only "reasonable" tweak for this would be to make it a multi region player (for Blu-Ray's and DVD's) as i had done for my Blu Ray player long ago

 

[Kremmen]

The only "reasonable" tweak for this would be to make it a multi region player (for Blu-Ray's and DVD's) as i had done for my Blu Ray player long ago

I think a display would be another great tweak, but that would be for Sony to incorporate into the player. It's a real pity it doesn't have one by default. Less of a tweak and more of a fundamental change I suppose.

Whilst I don't refer to the displays on my two main CD players (Marantz CD63SE MkII KI Signature and Marantz CD5005) all that often when playing CDs, they still get used, and the players would never have been bought without them.

 

[RetroStereo]

I think a display would be another great tweak, but that would be for Sony to incorporate into the player. It's a real pity it doesn't have one by default. Less of a tweak and more of a fundamental change I suppose.

I have a small 10" diagonal 1080p monitor I purchased as a laptop accessory some years ago. It has an HDMI input. I have it connected to the X800M2 HDMI-1 output. Convenient when I need to change settings.

 

[fordiebianco]

Makes me very happy. Thanks Flo!

 

[JeffS7444]

The only "reasonable" tweak for this would be to make it a multi region player (for Blu-Ray's and DVD's) as i had done for my Blu Ray player long ago

Here you go:
https://www.rattlebyte.com/Shop.php?lang=en

 

[vkvedam]

Wow! I will hang on to my unit then

 

[tmtomh]

Great review - thank you @NTTY !

I have an X800m2 and I really like it - glad to know that, based on this review, it is likely a stellar performer as a bit-perfect disc transport. Also good to know about the included pre-emphasis decoding capability.

I also like the 800 because is it the quietest disc transport/player I've ever used. For all I know the 700 is just as quiet, but I went for the 800 because its heaver build with more metal was reported by some folks online to result in a slightly quieter physical/mechanical playback experience (and the 800 was not expensive for what it is).

As for SACD ripping, that is important to me because I have a small number of SACDs including a few single-layer discs and a couple hybrids where the redbook layer does not use the same mastering as the SACD layer. But I don't want to mess with an HDMI de-embedder or any other special methods just for a small number of SACDs, so I just rip them, convert them to 24/88.2 PCM, and play the content through my music server/local streamer.

I can't rip with the 800m2 of course - but before I ever owned it I'd already picked up one of those 2012(?) Sony Blu-Ray players that are known to be able to rip SACDs. I got it used off eBay for like $20 and it works nicely - I can even rip them over my home network with no monitor attached. Very convenient on the rare occasions I've needed to do it.

 

[RetroStereo]

Here you go:
https://www.rattlebyte.com/Shop.php?lang=en

That's very useful. And, apparently, it restores ripping SACDs to the X800M2 model (possibly others - I didn't look). Very reasonable price (assuming one is technically adept) compared to the near $1k commercially modified units.

 

[SteveC]

I've owned a 700 for years and use it almost daily for video (my audio player is an Oppo-105). I've thought a few times about buying a second one just in case my curren 700 breaks down and can't be fixed. I doubt at this point that Sony or anyone else will produce a better player now that streaming rules the medium.

 

[aagstn]

I doubt at this point that Sony or anyone else will produce a better player now that streaming rules the medium.

This is likely to be Sony's last UHD player and who knows how much longer they make blu-ray players at all. They seem to have all but abandoned the home theater market. TCL is making their TVs now. I would not expect a better UHD player coming from any major Japanese manufacturer. Maybe Chinese companies try to fill the gap if the demand is there down the road. There are still a ton of new releases on blu-ray each month so hopefully the market for these players survives.

 

[trevor_bartram]

This is likely to be Sony's last UHD player and who knows how much longer they make blu-ray players at all. They seem to have all but abandoned the home theater market. TCL is making their TVs now. I would not expect a better UHD player coming from any major Japanese manufacturer. Maybe Chinese companies try to fill the gap if the demand is there down the road. There are still a ton of new releases on blu-ray each month so hopefully the market for these players survives.

It'll be a pity if Sony exits the Blu-ray player market. I hope they give plenty of warning, I would buy a 6700 as a spare.

 

[JeffS7444]

Recently, Sony announced that future Playstation game consoles would ditch physical media in favor of download-only game distribution, but this caused an uproar, and rumor has it that they may be reconsidering.

 

[Linnie]

Thanks a lot for the review. I own this and it's nice to see that it performs so well .
As mentioned earlier, at least a small display would have been nice to replace my aging CD player. And a built-in power supply. I owned a 30 euro DVD player which sported both.

 

[DeadBeatAnon]

From the review: "The front is very simple, and when powered on, it displays nothing, meaning a TV is mandatory to setup but also use it"

So can someone ELI5 the use case for HDMI--Audio Only? Let's say I wanted to play a music CD. If this player had external control buttons (Play/Pause/Stop) along with an external input select, then I could switch to HDMI Audio Only from the panel, insert a CD, and press the play button. I wouldn't need to turn on my TV. But that's not how this player is designed. Per the reviewer, TV is mandatory for use. So you're going to need HDMI Video/Audio every time, unless I'm totally lost here. Thanks.