Hello Everyone,
This is a review and measurements of the Sony UBP-X700/K, Blu-ray, DVD, SACD, and CD Transport.
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Sony UBP-X700/K - Presentation
This is a universal Transport meaning that it does not have internal DACs. I got it for around $300, which is a reasonable price considering all the formats it can play.
Note, though, that it will not play DVD Audio, for those of you who still have some.
As you can see, this unit is very simple. It is not a desktop product and the foot print is 320 x 45 x 217 mm (12 3/5 x 1 4/5 x 8 1/2 in.) for 1.4kg (3Lbs 9 / 10 Oz). Please refer to Sony's website to know more about
all specs.
The front is very simple, and when powered on, it displays nothing, meaning a TV is mandatory to setup but also use it.
As a transport, the back is equally simple:
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We get 2 HDMI outputs (one dedicated audio for backward compatibility, if I understood) and one Coax output (SPDIF).
User Experience
This one is fast at skipping one (CD/SACD) track but relatively slow at multiple and impossible to know where you are unless the TV is turned on to display the actual track... FFW/REW are available but skipping 16sec at once, and the audio output is disabled in that, so there’s no audible feedback of the progress (annoying) again forcing to rely on an external display.
The drive is totally silent when playing a CD which I think is really nice for a universal transport. It does not spin stupidly fast and if it does, well it is super silent!
It will not “circle” from last track to first one and displays “This operation is currently prohibited for this disc”. Pressing Stop button will not resume to track 1 but exactly where it was. Since there's no pad on the remote to go direct to a track, it can be painful to go from the last to the first track.
You know me, I love my CD Players/Transports, and I'll be focusing a lot on that feature. I leave the video ones to those of you who know much more than me.
Never a Sony Player disappointed me, and it won't start with this one. And I know you want to know asap,
it is gapless playback!
It also
applies de-emphasis on Audio CDs that require it, in digital domain (more about that later). This is
a proper CD Transport, thank you Sony!
Sony UBP-X700/K - Measurements (CD Transport)
Yeah, that's the primary reason for my review, to know if it can play the CDA as we want to, replying to the question: Is it "bit perfect". We have reasons to doubt that because as a video player with HDMI output, it is mandatory to output max 16bits/48kHz from the coax output (because it does not offer copy protection security). And some brands go the easy route of processing that output via an ARSC, without bypass even when the signal is originally 16bits PCM. That could cause distortion.
All measurements performed with a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital output.
First things first, it outputs 16bits/44.1kHz when playing a CDA, this is a good start.
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Let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS, without dither:
View attachment 560821
The above is exactly the WAV that I used to create the CD, so I can’t see any modification here.
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Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an
undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
View attachment 560827
No surprises that I can't see any trace of digital modification here. This is the expected perfect 3DC test.
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My ultimate proof of "perfect" digital output is when I reuse the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the
TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent (by an ASRC for instance), it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distorsion. So here we go:
View attachment 560831
We get the over, as expected, no distortion, no added noise, and so meaning perfect digital output on my perspective.
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And for the fun, but also as a reference, let me share a little more than usual, so you get to see what the CDA is capable of.
The below is our beloved Multitone test:
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This is more than 19bits distortion-free range, because there's no distorsion in digital domain, besides the quantization noise.
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The Jitter test is nailed:
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There's absolutely no trace of jitter, again this is the same as the original file, we can very clearly see the stressor, that 1 negative LSB square wave (for more info on that, I encourage you to read the
SMSL PO100 Pro review).
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Bandwidth is almost flat, as I got an interesting little attenuation of -0.04dB at 20Hz. I suspect this is a software limitation or the way the file was created. I'll keep that in mind for future testings:
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The two channels are shown and perfectly overlay, of course.
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I like to show the THD (only) vs Frequency at -12dBFS:
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This is what REW can report at best, from that test file it created. Again the two channels are overlaid, and we see only one trace.
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Other measurements (not shown), to use as a reference of what the CDA can achieve (and REW too):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -126.5dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -126.5dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -120.3dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -110.9dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -126.1dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -111.4dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -132.4dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -135.7dB
- Dynamic Range : 98.9dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
- Crosstalk: not measurable (below 139dBr limited by quantization noise and FFT gain)
- Pitch Error : 19'997.00Hz (19'997.00Hz requested) ie below 0.5ppm (I should say not measurable)
- Gapless playback : Yes!!!
The above can serve as a reference for any CD Players with integrated DAC to see if they can replicate the above .
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I always add a "
max DAC resolution" measurement test, when I review a CD Player. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Of course the Sony replicates the max digitally possible, because its SPDIF output is unaltered, so it is at the top of my ranking chart:
Appreciate again the good old Oppo that achieved the best too here, a while ago, and from analog outputs!
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Sony UBP-X700/K - Testing the drive
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
Here are the results:
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | 3mm |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Pass |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | Pass |
Almost best in class! It will read CDs with holes into them
It's not a first that I see from universal drives, but it is to appreciate. The Sony will read very heavily scratched CDs.
Sony UBP-X700/K - USB drive input (24bits PCM)
I briefly tested the USB input with 24bits PCM files I created. I did not keep many just because I saw the same at the output of the Coax as the WAV files I put on the USB drive.
The below is the 1kHz sine @0dBFS with dither, WAV directly analyzed vs the same played by the Sony and captured at the Coax output:
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The difference between the two is run to run differences due to the dither noise I added, which varies over time (because random).
I kept also the jitter test at 24bits/48kHz:
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Again, this is the original WAV file, it does not add jitter when processing it. Note the scale that goes down to -190dBr
Basically, you can trust this Sony to replay perfectly all files you put on a USB stick.
Sony UBP-X700/K - SACD measurements
Well, I kind of teased you, but I can't test that. Only the HDMI will output DSD from a SACD disc. The coax is restricted to 16bits/44.1kHz PCM, unfortunately, as per the rules of Sony.
That said let me give it a try, using the Denon test SACD. It has a 1kHz sine @-16dBSACD, yes not dBFS, but dBSACD. The booklet of the Denon disc says that this -16dBSACD test tone is aligned with -16dBFS, but when I play it via the Sony, it outputs a -19dBFS sine, meaning Sony adds a little headroom. I think this is a very good idea since the SACD can go over 0dBSACD, but not the CDA (well not without generating lots of distorsion). So, here we go:
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I kept the scale in dBFS, not dBr, as to show the -19dBFS level. Are you afraid of the mess at low level? Don't be, this is an effect of the quantization noise, rounding errors. This is a not well chosen 1kHz test tone that generates only a few unique subframe codes. These generate recurring rounding errors showing that way of grass. The lower the signal, the more the rouding errors are high compared to the fundamental, increasing the digital distortion. With a 997Hz test tone, it would have been much better. I suspect Sony did not add dither for that conversion from DSD to PCM and they should have, else there's another reason that escapes me.
To better illustrate what I said about quantization errors, let me overlay to the above a 1kHz @-19dBFS without dither, from a PCM 16bits/44.1kHz:
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As you can see, the rounding errors accumulate a little more with the file I created directly at -19dBFS. I'm surprised Sony did not use dither, but hey, not a big deal. Again, that 1kHz test tone is not reflecting well reality as it artificially accumulates rounding errors. So, let me use my standard 999.91Hz test tone, again @-19dBFS, no dither:
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As you can see, the rounding errors are less because there are much more unique PCM subcodes. So, maybe Sony was right not using dither?
Sony UBP-X700/K - CDA De-emphasis Final note
I kept the best for the end (my perspective).
Since this is a Sony, and Sony being co-inventors of the Audio CD, they could not do anything else but respect their red-book. I already mentioned it is gapless playback (of course it is!!!), but it also applies de-emphasis in digital domain, so that when you'll connect it to a modern DAC that does not know what de-emphasis is (such as the latest ESS DACs, shame!), it will still be properly decoded. Nice.
The below is a sweep with and without pre-emphasis which allows me to verify the potential deviation of the decoding (via a DAC that has no clue of what is de-emphasis):
View attachment 560918
The Sony applies the exact desired correction, no surprise, but still happy
yeah!
Conclusion
From this long review, you can tell I had fun with the Sony UBP-X700/K.
This is a Sony, and as such it is
text-book CD Transport. I am so happy to witness and report that. Some say Sony stopped doing CD players... really?
This little and non expensive universal transport can play much more than just CDA, and it does it very well too. I could not find any flaws, on measurements perspective.
As usual, and it's been the same for 40+ years, well done Sony. Never you had one wrong. I'm impressed.
I hope you enjoyed this review and I wish you a nice weekend!
Flo
www.rvolution.com
