"user manual"
Contents
1. AMBRIDGE versuSMARANIZ VErsuSOPPC versusYAMAHA CAMBRIDGE 91BD Company Cambridge Model 751BD Type Universal Player Size LXHxW 430x85x312 mm P R CE Weight 5 0 kg Main characteristics declared compatible discs 1 2 5 0 00 Blu ray 2D and 3D DVD Video DVD Audio SACD CD CD R RW DVD R RW DVD R DL BD R RE WHAT WE LIKED Compatible video formats MPEG 2 MPEG 2 HD MPEG 4 High audio and video quality MPEG 4 AVC VC 1 XviD VCD AVCHD MPEG ISO AVI VOB MKV 4 1 JPEG Wireless connection and eSATA interface JPEG HD THD N 0 001 1 kHz lt 0 003 20 Hz 20 kHz Compatibility with all optical discs intermodulation distortion lt 0 0002 19 20 kHz S N Ratio 108 dB A WHAT WE DID NOT LIKE Crosstalk gt 100 dB 1 kHz Total jitter lt 50 pS Remote control Distributed by Hi Fi United S r l Via Manfredi 98 29100 Piacenza Tel 0523 716178 VERSUS di Franco Guida MARANTZ UD7006 Company Marantz Model UD7006 Type Universal Player Size LKHxW 440x109x330 mm P R CE Weight 4 8 kg Main characteristics declared compatible discs 9 90 00 BD video DVD Video DVD Audio SACD CD Frequency WHATWELIKED response BD Linear PCM and DVD Linear PCM 2 Hz 22 High audio quality kHz sf 48 kHz 2 Hz 44 kHz sf 96 kHz 2 Hz 88 kHz E ee al als st 192 kHz sampling SACD 2 Hz 40 kHz CD 2 Hz 20 kHz Papen l e THD N 0 0008 BD s2. digital filters in the D A audio conversion However like the Cambridge images can be enlarged in a different way for each of the two HDMI outputs since video processors are different The remote control is backlit and well structured and is therefore easy to use both in the light andinthe dark d No 142 March 2012 T a E kie i Bii FEAF EFE TEE ary E ity ti AF u ug Lael i hi 4 a ait ff at ee tae Ws od F a E E he ev g arated pE Sake oo ae wee Ey fis tt IELE fa 4 0 a a Ms a E iy 4 lt a m Fri afi TEE info iiy tt eee His EE do we a eee La F A pt 7 ao i T Pi i Fre ee pry tis H iigh Til tae _ ity me bid k k T ms 4 lt n bi Tr ae ipa tartay amp a hd y rg tig tt M thee fy E 8 wri g ta bil With the USB pen drive supplied wireless connection can be activated a E e ae E Lh on oe 7 a ee in i 1 gl sha FIV IFEN Eee Bye T ee Cle ht iis FI fi E aye Er 4 p eri Asie Sh a fgets Meet y T E a Fi a Inside the BDP 95EU we first of all notice the wide card that occupies more than half of the device s surface Itis the card housing the audio section components performing the D A conversion and processing the analogue signals up to the outputs Such components are not visible since the card is turned inside out
3. expecting it to rotate It is actually just Cambridge s logo made up of a circle that contains another circle smaller and decentralized Available connections include first of all 2 HDMI 1 4 outputs that can prove useful when the decoding section is unable to sort video 3D signals and you therefore want to use one HDMI to directly connect the player to the 3D TV or the 3D video projector and the other HDMI connection to send digital audio signals of the Blu ray discs HD audio encoding to the decoder The two HDMI connections can also be used if you want to send audio dv and 3D video signals at the same time to the TV and video projector Other available connections include a component output a video composite output two digital audio outputs one on optical connector the other on coaxial a 7 1 analogue multichannel output an analogue stereo output and the pc terminals namely an Ethernet terminal two USB ports one of which on the front panel an E sata terminal for hard disk and a RS 232C serial port To connect it to the home network the product is equipped with a pen drive that allows wireless connection Such a possibility is really useful because unless you are lucky enough to have the router located next to the HT system you do not necessarily need to connect the network cable to the 751BD The characteristics related to audio and video playback without optical discs are described in No 142 March 2012 the
4. values The digital filter is without question good too performing a 8x oversampling and capable of 98 dB stop band attenuation and keeping the pass band ripple within 0 0002 dB The converter also offers the chance to choose between two different slopes of the digital filter even though this possibility has not been transferred to the D7006 user After the converters as for outputs we find analogue stages where a large use of 4565D dual operational amplifiers has been made Of course for price reasons this model could not use in the analogue output stages the excellent HDAM modules Hyper Dynamic Amplifier Module that Marantz has been using for almost 20 years in its top products and that stand out for their high speed and extended bandwidth Power supply as it generally is these days on optical discs players is switching type d On the rear panel analogue multichannel and stereo outputs are on the lower right In the lower central part we find the Ethernet port HDMI output digital audio output on coaxial connector and video analogue outputs in component and video composite formats No 142 March 2012 dv OPPO A s we have little room we ought to focus on the characteristics of the audio and power sections to describe BDP 95EU design given that for the video section the same positive considerations made for the Cambridge apply to this product too Starting from the audio section we can first of all say t
5. Among the best values measured so far FINAL SCORE Blu ray player Yamaha BD A1010 PCM MODE 96 kHz 24 bit for all tests Output level Left 2 08V right 2 08V 1 kHz 0dB Output 642 ohm impedance Practically perfect level and balancing of channels Weight 1 moderate output impedance Dynamic range Left 106 9 dB right 106 3 dB Actual resolution Left gt 16 3 bit right gt 16 3 bit Good dynamic range and fairly good actual Weight 1 resolution Frequency response at 3 dB Extended response 0 4 dB at 40 kHz and limited ripple Harmonic distortion at low levels signal 1 kHz 70 3 dB Leftovers in pass band and stop band spectrum of a 16 tone signal between 40500 and 47531 25 Hz peak 3 dB Signal in blue Weight 2 Jitter test spectrum of a p u re to n e 24 noise floor Hi Mod kHz 6d B l noise oe Mod analisi su 524288 cam mt Reduced jitter even though very much composite Jitter periodico osservabile 49 ps Jitter stocastico lt 302 ps FINAL SCORE VERSUS 42 he title of this section may appear a little on the long side but I was not able to find a shorter version t
6. analogue output It is a very interesting device that can deliver high quality audio and video performance at a reasonable price Following Marantz s tradition particular care has been dedicated to the audio Section hat the black finish is not in the opinion of many myself included the most nice looking has been said more than once When speaking about this player however saying it once again seems natural having seen the picture of the light version with the centre of the front panel nicely differentiated from the sides After this concession to beauty let s start talking about what interests us more in this section that is to say the characteristics of the player As far as digital outputs are concerned we do not find more than is necessary namely a HDMI 1 4 output and a digital audio output only on coaxial connector This however is not a limitation when playing Blu ray discs in the hypothetical situation we described in the beginning good level HT system with outdated decoding section in such a situation in fact the digital audio section would not be used since it would not allow to use the HD audio encoding Moreover even when playing audio signals that the decoding section of the system can process and using such section which is not totally obvious given the reasons we will explain later on it is almost impossible that a free digital coaxial input is not available on the system that integrates the audio deco
7. analogue video outputs composite and component Ethernet port USB port HDMI output and a RS 232C serial port Moreover on the front panel another USB port is available which makes the use of storage drives even more simple Considering the reduced price the absence of a wireless connection is obvious however having the chance to buy a USB pen drive would have been a good thing Unfortunately in the user manual such an extra is not mentioned so just as the Marantz the only option available to make use of the networking functions is to connect the player to the Ethernet cable from the router For networking functions and those referring to playback of multimedia content not stored on optical discs please refer to the specific box On Yamaha s website as well as in the catalogue an I phone compatibility is mentioned together with a future compatibility with Android devices yet the user manual makes no reference to such a possibility In the case of HT sinto amplifiers applications which can be installed on iPhone or Android devices are often made available allowing to control the system using a mobile phone as a remote control equipped with a touch screen As regards the remote control supplied we can say that as you may expect on a very cheap product it is not backlit nor equipped with glowing keys Usage in the dark is however possible thanks to the logical collocation and shape of the most frequently used keys that make th
8. closed up in a metal case it is the BD412VLY manufactured by AAI The power section is switching type and on the card hosting it there is also a fan discharging hot air through the rear panel In the card that the analogue video and audio connectors are located on there are a lot of separate components mostly electrolytic or which of course is not one of Wolfson s polyester capacitors dy t c 3 E 2 3 CONTROL INTERFACE A wT E Dac pUNEVOURL MCLK ACIK pi DIGITAL LROLK NTERPACE FILTERS DACDAT RIGHT pac SD UNEVOUTR CHARGE PUMP AVDO O VMIDO AGND lt CPCA YAMAHA No 142 March 2012 A os Scheme of the 3 88 Wolfson WM8524 g 55 D A Converter dv 39 O lt LU an LLI Lid a LLI I PERFORMANCE MEASURED IN OUR LABORATORY Blu ray player Cambridge Audio Azur 7518D Blu ray player Marantz U7006 PCM MODE 96 kHz 24 bit for all tests filter no 1 PCM MODE 96 kHz 24 bit for all tests Output level Left 2 08V right 2 08V 1 kHz OdB Output impedance Weight 1 639 ohm Practically perfect level and balancing of channels limited output impedance Left 107 1 dB right 108 5 dB Left gt 17 2 bit right gt 17 1 bit Actual resolution is high and not far off the value obtainable by the dynamic range proof that the device creates very weak modulation spurious emissions Dynamic range Actual resolution Weight 1 Frequency response
9. outstanding YAMAHA BD A1010 COMMENT Outstanding considering its reduced price SCORE Operating Universal player analogue multichannel 8 5 options output playback from USB and network Satisfactory le considering the l 9 Price quality Not easy to find a universal player with this zma price Measures Performance Measures Ne good overall performance
10. second HDMI output on the rear panel as well as an e Sata port which can be used to connect a hard disk equipped with the same interface Thanks to this possibility considering the huge capacity of today s hard disks it is clear that the player can access vast archives of multimedia content The most part of the remaining connections on the other hand can be considered standard there is a multichannel analogue audio output compulsory for all the players participating in this VERSUS an unbalanced analogue stereo output two digital audio outputs on coaxial and optical connector component and video composite analogue video outputs Ethernet port USB port and RS 232C serial port Non standard is the presence of a balanced dv stereo analogue audio output On the front panel as usual there is another USB port to make the connection of portable devices easier As regards connection to the home network the resemblance to the Cambridge player becomes apparent again with the possibility of activating a wireless connection using the USB pen drive supplied with the player Like the Cambridge player moreover the pen drive slot can be chosen freely thanks to the USB extension cable supplied with the player As for the functions for playing contents not recorded on discs reference should be made to the specific box Among the other available functions there is not unlike with Cambrigde the possibility of choosing different types of
11. specific box Here we can just add that the great care in the creation of the audio section is also confirmed by the possibility for the user to select the digital filter to be used in the D A conversion More precisely two linear phase filters are present one of which with a high slope over the upper end of the audio band leading to a 2 dB attenuation on that extreme 20 kHz These two filters have a brief ringing before and after the input The third filter which Wi A locorigy Aude spe rie j pi Ia bii Cambridge Audo Pian b Inside the device mechanics and power section are masked by black glossy covers You can easily find it being installed on the upper part the sound card including 5 Wolfson D A converters and the DSP performing oversampling at 192kHz 24 bit No 142 March 2012 is not linear does not have the pre ringing but the ringing following the impulse has a longer duration compared to that of linear phase filters The remote control keys are not backlit so it is not really comfortable to use considering the poor differentiation and small size of the keys themselves The crown serving as arrow keys which is placed around the central circular key used to make selections is not particularly easy to use either d dv 29 VERSUS MARANTZ From the catalogue of one of the long standing hi fi brands we chose this universal player the most reasonable of those equipped with multichannel
12. CE THAT CAN deliver very interesting audio and video performance in its category Charsampling Cigtal Fiker __ MDO Function Contral VF System fEROL Gock ZEROA Manager ts alata eee a SER tela rela Sh ee LW ee L3 gt ra a a m Pee a ai ang Function Goninol ee rere EEA oe Oe Be ee oe ee MARANTZ eading the video processor s name was R not possible as it is covered by a wide metal plate that functions as heat sink aided by a finned element pressure fitted onto the plate Instead the D A conversion section and the analogue output stages can be easily examined so we can provide some information on the main components used Marantz s choice as far as D A converters are concerned fell on Burr Brown one of the most appreciated brands in the industry The choice did not fall as normally happens in cheaper devices on just one integrated multichannel converter but on five two channel devices designed to I and Filter Power Supply l Scheme of the D A Burr Brown r 285825 BAG z 3 3 2 5 Se 2 k PCM1795 lt 4 converter be used on stereo systems They are PCM1795 that can also process 32 bit audio signals adopting the well known Advanced Segment conversion technology developed by Burr Brown Nominal performance of such converters is excellent as shown by dynamic range 123 dB THD N 0 0005 S N ratio 123 dB and separation 119 dB
13. and 47531 25 Hz peak 3 dB Signal in blue Weight 2 Jitter test spectrum of a pure tone 24 kHz 6dB Left 2 03V right 2 06V 209 ohm Correct level almost perfect balancing low output impedance Left 109 3 dB right 109 1 dB Left gt 17 6 bit right gt 17 6 bit State of the art values are even higher than these are however there are not many integrated players like this one Response unusually rising at the acute end but by a small dB fraction insignificant ripple Excellent linearity at low levels moderate noise and Spurious emissions Ill tint I IM HH i A Ni Em Me Irreprehensible images rapidly bending weak back reflections and none in audio band Jitter periodico osservabile 226 ps Jitter stocastico lt 305 ps componenti periodiche noise floor Hi Mod noise floor Low Mod analisi su 524288 campioni Comparable periodic and random jitter limited in absolute terms FINAL SCORE PERFORMANCE MEASURED IN OUR LABORATORY Blu ray player Oppo BDP 95 EU PCM MODE 96 kHz 24 bit for all tests balanced outputs tested Output level 1 kHz OdB Output impedance Left 4 25V right 4 27V 201 ohm Practically perf
14. at 3 dB 100 Frequency response with 96 kHz sampling is extended 0 6 dB at 40 kHz with very limited ripple Harmonic distortion at low levels signal 1 kHz 70 3 dB Some distortion atthe minimum levels exists but rather limited in absolute terms Leftovers in pass band and stop band spectrum of a 16 tone signal between 40500 and 47531 25 Hz peak 3 dB Signal in blue he i t y a k e a SS Hi SS le Powerful filtering few and weak images and no Weight 2 reflection in audio band Jitter test spectrum of a pure tone 24 kHz 6dB Jitter periodico osservabile 11 ps Jitter stocastico lt 560 ps componenti periodiche noise floor Hi Mod noise floor Low Mod Very low periodic jitter even though distributed on many micro components random jitter is a lot higher but still limited in absolute terms FINAL SCORE Output level 1 kHz 0dB Output impedance Weight 1 Dynamic range Actual resolution Weight 1 Frequency response at 3 dB Harmonic distortion at low levels signal 1 kHz 70 3 dB Leftovers in pass band and stop band spectrum of a 16 tone signal between 40500
15. b e 0 I i T I Inside we appreciate the noteworthy accuracy of the assembly that makes it possible to easily recognize the main sections of the device At the centre we find the mechanics and next to the rear panel the graphics card for the most part covered by the processor heat sink On the left there is the sound card on which the five D A Burr Brown PCM1795 converters are located On the opposite side there is the card housing the power section components No 142 March 2012 dv 31 32 OPPO This is one of today s most appreciated digital players E lt 4 thanks to the use of particularly valuable components both in the video and the audio sections despite its still reasonable price Besides the excellent performance that the player can deliver as far as video and sound quality are concerned an extraordinary number of functions and a remarkable care in the assembly clearly stand out In many ways this player is the audiophile version of the BDP 93EU but with some radical changes in the D A conversion section analogue output stages and power section DP 95EU looks soberly elegant and does not stand out for any flashy or out of the ordinary characteristic As far as connections are concerned the situation is the same as Cambridge because their architecture except for the audio and power sections is basically identical Therefore also on this product we find the unusual presence of a
16. but from the weldings we can distinguish separate components assembled with a low density which explains the large size of the card itself The only visible things are the toroidal transformer manufactured by Rotel a part of the mechanics in its metal case and various electrolytic capacitors used for power voltage filtering No 142 March 2012 dv 33 N m T a LLI gt YAMAHA Finding a 3D universal player equipped with multichannel analogue output for less than 500 may not seem easy yet if you read Yamaha s catalogue you will find it Even though it is sold at a sensibly lower price compared to competitor players this device is not very different from them as far as performance and functions are concerned thus having a very interesting price quality ratio Moreover in Yamaha s catalogue the BD A1010 is the best 3D multimedia player since the BDS 1067 which is around 600 is not 3D compatible despite being declared 3D ready and presumably updatable he player s look has been chosen so as to match the Aventage series In the black version the upper part of the front panel is glossy while the lower has a satin finish A bicolour version is available too with the lower part of the panel light and the upper part dark Despite the very reasonable price the device is absolutely satisfying as far as connections are concerned On the rear panel in fact we find apart from the multichannel analogue audio output
17. coded in mpeg1 audio player 3 mp3 file 32 48 kHz sampling frequency and 64 320 kbps bitrate in mpeg4 aac m4a file 32 48 kHz 16 320 kbps in wma wma file 32 48 kHz 48 192 kbps and in Ipcm wav file 44 1 and 48 kHz 16 bit can be played As regards Oppo the user manual does not say anything about the type of files and sampling frequencies so it was the test that provided us with the information The situation as it could be guessed given the resemblance between the two machines was the same as that of Cambridge To conclude for the Yamaha it is declared that it can play mp3 files 32 48 kHz 8 320 kbps wma 32 48 kHz 32 192 kbps and wav 44 1 kHz 16 bit As regards moving images on all machines every file containing the encoding specified for the video DVD and Blu ray standards can be played that is to say MPEG 2 and MPEG 4 AVC H 264 as well as the versions derived from the latter DivX and AVHCD As regards fixed images obviously all the players can read jpeg files What has been said so far regarding USB also applies when files to be played are on DLNA server of the local network or on the Internet In the latter case specific services free or not can be associated accessible through a browser and plug ins in the case of a pc or through software contained in the firmware of the machines in the case of these players Thanks to these applications you can enjoy Picasa on Cambridge Youtube on Marantz and Yamaha b
18. der The reason why this would probably not be the case is that such a situation seems to assume a better quality of the D A conversion section of the external decoder If it was the case some doubts may arise regarding the better results that could be obtained with a better encoding HD and a worse D A section compared to the results attainable with a non HD encoding and a better D A section As far as analogue outputs are concerned besides the multichannel one which qualified the player to participate in this VERSUS there is a dedicated stereo output There are three pc terminals an Ethernet port and a RS 232C port on the rear panel and a USB on the front panel whose characteristics are listed in the specific box However in this section we can point out that a USB pen drive is not supplied with the device and is not available as an extra to allow a wireless connection to the home network As a consequence in order to make use of the networking features an Ethernet cable must be connected to the player The remote control is not backlit but the keys are made of glowing material that is visible in the dark even though what s written on them is not easily legible However the difference in shape of some frequently used keys makes them instantly recognizable d 30 dv No 142 March 2012 N _ UV a LLI gt LJ CEs SoBe Ee a IL 5 mig 5 Tr fi TT Be pir b p Iie l E a a l mom m g m J D 0p D0 b
19. ect level and balancing of channels low output impedance Levels and impedance of unbalanced outputs are reduced by half Dynamic range Left 121 9 dB right 121 9 dB Actual resolution Left gt 17 8 bit right gt 17 8 bit Weight 1 Sometimes it s a pity not to be able to give more Weight 1 than ten Frequency response at 3 dB 0 4 dB at 41 kHz with 96 kHz sampling and almost no ripple Not bad at all Harmonic distortion at low levels signal 1 kHz 70 3 dB Great Please note that the base of the graph has been extended to 160 dB otherwise noise would have been below the base Leftovers in pass band and stop band spectrum of a 16 tone signal between 40500 and 47531 25 Hz peak 3 dB Signal in blue E Great performance also as regards elimination of Weight 2 spurious emissions Jitter test spectrum of a pure tone 24 kHz 6dB Jitter periodico osservabile 1 2 ps Jitter stocastico lt 78 ps componenti periodiche noise floor Hi Mod noise floor Low Mod analisi su 524288 campioni HM oa o E Periodic jitter around a picosecond light covers 0 3 mm in that time random jitter around 78 picoseconds
20. em easily recognizable to the touch d dv No 142 March 2012 34 OTT TPL r I LEI I LE ETTETEE TETATTETE HEM Inside we can see in the central part between the mechanics and the rear panel the card for analogue audio and video IN outputs on the left hand side the power card and on the opposite side the main card which houses the digital audio and video components and the control section On the latter section the finned heat sink is visible installed with metal supports directly welded to the printed circuit board masking the video processor No 142 March 2012 dv 3 5 N _ UV Oo LLI gt CAMBRIDGE ppo players have been shown to be excellent devices by testing in this VERSUS the BDP 95EU With the same underlying architecture Oppo s catalogue also has a previous version BDP 93EU that basically differs for the lower quality of the D A conversion section This product for the outstanding performances of its video section and the wide range of operational possibilities is an ideal basis for developing high quality audio sections By way of example we recently came across the great Primare BD 32 a device that costs more than 3 000 and has been designed to deliver excellent performances in stereo mode The two main front channels have been privileged both by using a stereo D A converter specific for such channels and by carefully creating the analogue output stages equipped with ba
21. eople and not devices of the magazine AudioREVIEW know perfectly well having seen a lot of tests involving the so called USB DACs D A converters equipped with USB port the use of this type of interface can imply some limitations regarding sampling frequency and sample size of the digital audio signal as well as the encoding type used for the signal which then influences the type of compatible files such as mp3 flac Similar sometimes not identical limitations can arise when reading from network interfaces both Ethernet and wireless Going back to USB interface from the point of view of the performance the type et ore Lie No 142 March 2012 of solution adopted to reduce jitter can make the difference for example the synchronous data transmission on this type of interface instead of asynchronous but we do not have enough space or data to engage in such a comparison Therefore let s just say that regarding audio playback from USB interface in Cambridge s user manual no limitations in sampling frequency and size of samples are mentioned As regards the type of files that can be played the manual says they are mp3 and wma only Actually from the tests emerged a positive surprise in that the device can also play high definition audio flac files without any limitations on sampling frequency that can then reach a maximum of 192 kHz 24 bit sample size Moving on to Marantz it is declared that audio content en
22. hat suited it perfectly As a matter of fact if with multimedia content we mean as usual recordings of sounds fixed and moving images at least in the HT context the one we are interested in it would certainly be confusing for multimedia reader to be understood by a player capable of playing not different types of content but from different types of archives optical discs or external memories directly connected to the device or to servers on local or remote networks connected to the Internet actually to this we must add streaming playback of non recorded audio and video content that is to say live from digital radios and TVs available online So I was inclined to give up on a simple title such as multimedia reading compared resolving to use the more complex one that you see above One last note before proceeding with the comparison let s add that not even the often used expression network functionalities would have dv D F s MULTIMEDIA READING WITHOUT DISC COMPARED made a good title in fact it would have excluded playback from external drives pen drives and hard disks directly Connected to the device typically through USB or e SATA interfaces So let s start from this very functionality by saying that the four players are all equipped with USB interface while just two of them namely Cambridge and Oppo have e Sata interface as well As the readers and this time I am speaking about p
23. hat this player integrates two pieces of one of today s most famous converters ESS s most valued model It is the ESS ES9018S which is at the top of Sabre32 Reference series and makes use of the most sophisticated solutions patented by ESS such as the 32 bit Hyperstream technology and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator The ES9018S functions both in multichannel 8 channels available and stereo mode Even in stereo mode however all the converters for the 8 channels are used connecting their outputs in parallel in groups of four so as to obtain the two stereo channels This explains the reason why two pieces of ES9018S are used one for the 7 1 ch multichannel output the other for the balanced and unbalanced stereo outputs Parallelization of D A converters outputs when the ES9018S is used in stereo mode markedly improves performance especially dynamic range compared to the use of just one converter per channel For example in the case of the ES9018S dynamic range goes from 129 dB in 8 channel mode to 133 dB in stereo mode As regards the other characteristics of this excellent player we can mention the use of the 6 bit D F s Hyperstream modulator which the name of the conversion architecture comes from presenting various original aspects if compared to the widely diffused delta sigma modulations available on the market Each one of the 8 channels uses a couple of 6 bit converters that operate anti phase so there are 16 conve
24. ic range gt 105 dB BD DVD gt 100 dB CD Very low price THD N lt 0 0028 BD DVD lt 0 003 CD S N Ratio gt 115 dB BD DVD CD Level of analogue outputs 2 0 3 V 1 kHz 0 dB BD DVD CD Distributed by Yamaha Music Europe GmbH Branch Italy Viale Italia 88 20020 O WHAT WE DID NOT LIKE Lainate MI Tel 02 935771 Fax 39 02 9370956 AVCHD files playback No 142 March 2012 dv Compatibility with all optical discs 27 VERSUS DESCRIPTION AND FUNCTIONS Lg ad a G LL J O1 UJ w A k SA From the renowned British manufacturer this is one of ee act j et A the two universal players now on catalogue It is the most OOs a 0 valuable one standing out for the superior quality of its r i D A conversion section and the analogue output stages Audio signals oversampling the availability of an e Sata interface for connecting a hard disk compatibility with wireless networks without having to buy extras and the presence of two HDMI 1 4 outputs are also very attractive features The high quality of this player is proven by the fact that it has been chosen by EISA as best product in the universal players category he 751BD has a pretty simple and traditional design except for a rather evident detail on the upper part It looks like a jog knob for forwarding or rewinding playback frame by frame The resemblance is so close that you are tempted to turn the knob
25. lanced outputs With the 751BD Cambridge decided to engage in a similar undertaking but choosing a different setting to Primare In this case indeed all the channels have been treated in the same way improving their quality level compared to BDP 93EU It is therefore a setting that favours the use of the device for playing multichannel content unlike the BD 32 that openly sells itself as a possible replacement for a good two channel CD or SACD player Clearly the fact that this Cambridge is half the price of the Primare has entailed a degree of sacrifice In the power section as a matter of fact no enhancements have been made and less care has been devoted to the analogue output stages compared to the Swedish product as highlighted by the absence of balanced outputs too But let s go back to the D A conversion section by adding that in lieu of the still good integrated multichannel a PEE Auch Cirrus Logic CS4382A converter which equips Oppo BDP 93EU Cambridge designers used 5 excellent Wolfson WM8740S suitable for stereo usage Moreover they chose to oversample the signal to be converted at 192 kz 24 bit using an Analog Devices ADSP 21261 processor which processes the technology for oversampling and jitter reduction named Q5 developed by Anagram Technologies Unfortunately Cambridge decided to keep oversampling always on without offering the user the option of choosing whether to use it or not We gave
26. ost expensive products are Oppo and Cambridge at around 1 200 followed by Marantz which is 200 less Yamaha has a price range of its own costing even less than 500 N _ T na LLI gt OPPO BDP 95EU Company Oppo Model BDP 95 EU Type Universal Player Size LKHxW 430x98x311 mm P R I CE Weight 7 3 kg Main characteristics declared compatible discs 1 T4 1 9 9 00 BD Video Blu ray 3 D DVD Video DVD Audio SACD CD CD R RW DVD R RW DVD R DL BD R RE Frequency WHATWELIKED response RCA 20 Hz 20 kHz 0 2 dB 20 Hz 96 kHz 1 0 dB XLR High audio and video quality 20 Hz 20 kHz 0 3 dB 20 Hz 96 kHz 2 5 dB Dynamic range gt 110 dB Technical performance THD N lt 0 0003 1 kHz 48 kHz 24 bit 0 dBFS 20 kHz LPF lt 0 0017 1 mute on gt 115 dB A weighted auto mute off Separation gt 100 dB Level WHAT WE DID NOT LIKE impedance of analogue outputs 2 1 Vrms RCA OdBFS 4 2 Vrms XLR OdBFS Distributed by Labtek Viale del Lavoro 46 Z I Paludi 32010 Pieve d Alpago BL Tel 0437 370176 Fax 0437 370177 YAMAHA BD A1010 Company Yamaha Model RX A810 Type Universal Player Size LKHxW 435x96x316 mm P R CE Weight 4 1 kg Main characteristics declared compatible discs 4 2 9 00 BD Video Blu ray 3 D DVD Video DVD Audio SACD CD Frequency response BD DVD 2 Hz 22 kHz sf 48 kHz BD DVD 2 Hz 44 kHz sf 96 kHz CD 2 Hz 20 kHz WHATWELIKED Dynam
27. oth Picasa and Youtube on Oppo It must be said however that in the versions of such players intended for markets such as the US one various other services can be enjoyed such as buying or renting movies online For example the US version of Oppo allows use of Netflix Blockbuster Vudu Film Fresh We can even observe that unlike what normally happens for sinto amplifiers in those four players the possibility of listening to digital radios on the internet has not been provided for dy No 142 March 2012 dv 43 O gt lt 0 L Jan VERSUS Q LUJ aa a O O O lt a Z lt O LLJ 2 gt 44 VIDEO AND AUDIO a COMPARED ry he first phase of the testing focused on evaluating the video quality delivered by the four players To begin with various Blu ray discs were played some of which in 3D version In this situation all the devices performed at least well and brilliantly in the case of Cambridge and Oppo These two players indeed stood out for their ability to improve the details of the images making them even more contrasted and neat that is to say less affected by video noise These characteristics are nearly always perceived as an improvement yet sometimes can give a slight impression of artifice Then various DVDs were played this time delivering much heterogeneous results In fact while with Marantz and especially with Yamaha the image resolution appea
28. priority to audio since it has been treated with particular care in this device but as mentioned before the video section is excellent as well As a matter of fact on the primary HDMI output the valuable Marvell DE2750 video processor using Qdeo technology has been used Such a technology apart from performing scaling and interlacing operations with efficient algorithms can even improve images as far as video noise contrast and colour are concerned As regards the second HDMI output Oppo s OP8531 video processor is used less advanced than Marvel s As video decoder Mediatek MTK8530 is used which was the first to allow playback of DivX Plus HD format based on the H 264 standard To conclude just a reference to the glossy black plastic sheets covering mechanics and power section on which it is declared that those two sections have been designed by Cambridge Since apparently they are identical to Oppo BDP 93EU s we can assume without any evidence of mergers or acquisitions between the two brands that Cambridge designers introduced some changes not noticeable with a simple overall visual inspection d AN EXCELLENT PLAYER which can combine a great basic project with a particularly accurate audio section On the lower part of the rear panel we find pc digital and analogue video terminals On the upper right there are the 7 1 multichannel analogue audio and stereo terminals No 142 March 2012 A DEVI
29. rs very far from that of Blu ray with Cambridge and Oppo the gap even though there still is one tends to be reduced a little With Cambridge and Oppo moreover moving images appear to be better with fewer artifacts As regards artifacts we must point out that in a specific situation playback of AVCHD file recorded with a HD camera and transferred on a USB pen drive Yamaha generated an intolerable number of them Lets now move on to audio performance which has been tested almost exclusively using the multichannel CAMBRIDGE 751BD COMMENT SCORE output wireless connection eSATA port flac 9 5 files playback double HDMI output good video processor good overall level 8 5 5 Price quality Very high ratio J Performance High audio and video quality Universal player analogue multichannel Measures Reasonably high level as MARANTZ UD7006 COMMENT Performance Good video performance high audio quality 8 Universal player analogue multichannel 8 5 output playback from USB and network SCORE Operating options Manufacturing Good overall e 8 5 8 7 Price quality Not comparable to Oppo and ales ratio which however cost 20 more Measures Overall performance of a very high level analogue output and by playing Blu ray discs With the ee more expensive players results proved that they can be a valid or even better alternative to a good medium end sinto amplifier Wi
30. rters for each ES90188S As far as Time Domain Jitter Eliminator is concerned we can say that by means of sophisticated techniques based on operations performed in the time domain for example the use of digital delay lines traditional techniques of clock recovery can be avoided reducing jitter extremely well Having said that about the two Sabre we can also add that analogue output stages are made of separate components using a wide surface for the assembly as proven by the size of the card on which they are located As already mentioned the other section that has been noticeably modified compared to the BDP 93EU is the power section In particular in the audio section a specific power section has been added that makes use among other components of a really good toroidal transformer by Rotel d VERY VALUABLE COMPONENTS excellent performance at a reasonable price it is clearly a device that must be held in high esteem One of the two ESS Sabre ES9018S converters used in the BDP 95EU On the rear panel analogue multichannel and stereo outputs are on the lower right In the lower central part we find the Ethernet port HDMI output digital audio output on coaxial connector and video analogue outputs in component and video composite formats dv No 142 March 2012 It does not deliver the same performance as the other three rivals yet for a little more than 400 euros demanding more would be
31. tereo output Dynamic range 110 dB BD S N Ratio 125 dB Level impedance of analogue outputs 2 Vrms 10 kohm Price within 1 000 A WHAT WE DID NOT LIKE l Distributed by Marantz Italy S r l Via Manfredi 98 29122 Piacenza Flac files not compatible Tel 0523 716899 Fax 0523 716593 26 dv No 142 March 2012 In choosing the rival parties for this VERSUS of 3D compatible universal players we decided to satisfy a need which is very common among those who own a home theatre equipped with a good multichannel amplification but lacking an updated decoding section Actually many of those enthusiasts in order to enjoy hi fi audio content would prefer not to have to buy a new HT sinto amplifier or in the top quality systems an HT amplifier or pre decoder which by the way is generally aesthetically matched to the multichannel final amplifier The universal players tested in this VERSUS all equipped with analogue multichannel outputs are the most logical solution for updating a system such as the one described above continuing to use the still good amplification section and therefore saving money Moreover these players can integrate the characteristics of an outdated decoding section playing multimedia content not stored on optical disc To better highlight such functionalities in this VERSUS you will find a specific section describing what each product has to offer in this regard As far as prices are concerned the m
32. th Yamaha the quality of the performance was not the same yet still good if we consider its low price To better verify the sonic quality with high definition audio in the last part of the session excellent quality stereo recordings were played both on CD SACD and USB pen drive in the latter case high definition flac files were played on Cambridge and Oppo capable of reading them In this situation as far as audio definition is concerned Oppo seems to prevail a little on Cambridge Cambridge seems slightly better than Marantz while Yamaha still follows behind In some cases however Cambridge and Marantz seemed to have a touch of spontaneity that Oppo lacks As regards sonic image focusing Oppo performed better even though sometimes Marantz and Cambridge seemed to be able to better recreate its amplitude Yamaha is the less convincing in this case too but the gap is not so big To conclude in flac files playback both Cambridge and Oppo deliver very good performance confirming the same slight differences between the two measured with regard to optical disc playing dy hy Wy 7 BDP 95 EU COMMENT SCORE Performance High audio and video quality 9 Universal player analogue multichannel output wireless connection eSATA port flac files playback double HDMI output balanced stereo output Very good video processor excellent audio converters accurate power section 10 KA 9 5 9 6 Unlikely to be equaled Simply
33. unjustified On the rear panel analogue video and audio connections and digital audio connections are grouped together in the central part Ethernet port USB port and HDMI output are separate and located on the left k e were not able to determine what video processor had been used for the BD A1010 either since it is covered by a heat sink that is not easy to remove The system covered by the sink besides performing deinterlacing and scaling operations probably performs most of the remaining functions video and audio decoding D A conversion of video and audio signals mechanics control etc unless other components are hidden under the sink Therefore on the card the only significant device visible is the one performing the audio D A conversion of two channels only probably those related to stereo output It is a converter manufactured by Wolfson the British manufacturer particularly regarded for this type of components More precisely it is the WM8524 converter top products yet delivers a rather good performance The dynamic range is 104 dB and signal to noise ratio has the same value not weighted and is 106 dB weighted Total harmonic distortion is 89 dB attenuated and channel separation equals 100 dB at 1 kHz and 95 dB for the entire audio range As regards digital filter performance the pass band ripple is 0 1 dB and stop band attenuation reaches 50 dB The reading mechanics is not
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