{"id":115534,"date":"2023-11-03T05:23:23","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T05:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techweekmag.com\/?p=115534"},"modified":"2025-05-07T08:03:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-07T08:03:33","slug":"pioneer-udp-lx800-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/home-cinema\/pioneer-udp-lx800-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Pioneer UDP-LX800: Perfect UHD 4K Blu-Ray Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

Searching for the best UHD Blu-ray player on the market the research ends here.\u00a0On the Pioneer UDP-LX800, a device that took a few years to appear, but now exists.\u00a0It is as if Pioneer was stoically waiting for Oppo to “pull” the plug.<\/p>\n

With Oppo announcing that it is stopping the production of players, within a few months Pioneer announced not one, but two such devices.\u00a0The UDP-LX500 and the larger UDP-LX800 we are testing here.\u00a0Panasonic did the same with the excellent DP-UB9000 we tested in an advanced issue.<\/p>\n

The Pioneer with the UDP-LX800 is now the king of the class, not because it is the most expensive out there but because it is the best.\u00a0Of course one would say – and rightly so – that the market for UHD Blu-ray discs is very small and that the friends of the image have turned to Netflix.\u00a0That’s true, but when it comes to high-end imagery, it’s definitely not on Netflix.<\/p>\n

Something that of course we confirmed in this test.\u00a0But it’s not just the picture, the new Pioneer plays just as well on both CD and SACD audio.\u00a0It is a universal device built of independently shielded parts (blocks), so as not to interfere with each other.\u00a0A lot of data has been used from the PD-70AE, Pioneer’s top CD \/ SACD player, which we tested in the previous issue.<\/p>\n

Pioneer has built the LX800 so that there are no vibrations and interference between its circuits.\u00a0The disc guide uses special paint on the drawer, while the upper metal surface of the mechanism has a honeycomb relief to suppress tuning and temperatures.\u00a0It should be remembered that the rotation speed of Blu-ray Discs and SACDs is much faster than that of CDs, which means increased vibrations that can “contaminate” the sound.<\/p>\n

Here the disc driver does not transmit these vibrations to the front of the device, as is the case with other players.\u00a0In the adapter of the power supply, there are independent windings for the audio and video circuits, while the shielding surfaces of the blocks are not flat, for example they have “musical” reliefs such as the “fa key” symbol.<\/p>\n

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It is not just a “decorative” movement, it mainly has to do with regulating the air flow inside the device.\u00a0The LX800 has impeccable construction and a worthy descendant of Pioneer’s top -historical- players.\u00a0The DAC chip is ESS ES9026 PRO, in dual performance.\u00a0This alone shows the sound superiority of the LX800 over the competition.\u00a0There is a “Direct \/ Transport” button on the front, which also shows\u2026 sound.<\/p>\n

When this is enabled the digital output of audio and video (HDMI) is interrupted so that the player becomes a purebred audio device, while when it is “off” then we have analog audio interruption at the output of the device.<\/p>\n

This way, depending on the mission, we have more “quiet” and clearer signals from the player.\u00a0In other words, the player turns on and off circuits, depending on the functions we assign to it.\u00a0Circuits do not work when not in use.<\/p>\n

The size of the device is large, looks like an amplifier and has nothing to do with low profile designs.\u00a0It weighs about 13.5 kg, weight due to a metal plate on the bottom of the device, on the anti-vibration legs and mainly on its bulky components.<\/p>\n

The device does not have a built-in decoder, such as the Panasonic DP-UB9000, but only provides stereo analog output to RCA and XLR.\u00a0For multi-channel digital audio there is a second HDMI, for both Blu-ray and SACD discs.\u00a0There we will connect our multi-channel audio system.\u00a0We also have digital audio stereo output (optical and coaxial), but also contact (RCA) for “reference” ground.<\/p>\n

With an RCA cable we can ground the player to a free RCA of our amplifier, which improves the signal-to-noise ratio as it reduces ground loops.\u00a0For the image we have the same processing and infrastructure that we have seen in other Pioneer UHD players, but this device supports HDR 10 (and HDR10 +), as well as Dolby Vision.<\/p>\n

Many “weapons” are provided here for the user, such as stating the type of television (or projector) technology he uses, but also “playing” with the metadata of the discs and \/ or modifying the color space.\u00a0There is a serious possibility of switching from HDR to SDR, for those who do not have HDR TV, with 15 steps of adjusting (bringing) the image from 100nits to 700nits.<\/p>\n

This way we can fine-tune the HDR ratings for an incompatible (SDR) TV or projector.\u00a0Here the LX800 performs tone mapping, selecting the maximum brightness value of the connected SDR TV as the top.<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that the player provides the basic image adjustment, such as brightness, contrast, sharpness or hue.\u00a0Of course the best combination is with UHD HDR TV, there you can see the richness, the 3D display and the size of the image information that the LX800 is capable of delivering to its outputs.<\/p>\n

HIGH-END TESTS<\/h3>\n

The quality of the image and sound of the player was confirmed in the studio.\u00a0Depending on the UHD Blu-ray movie or disc we have, one gets a high quality image texture and amount of information that we only found at Panasonic.\u00a0For the tests we used the LG E8 TV and the Philips OLED903 as HDR, but also the Sony X9000B as SDR.<\/p>\n

All TVs at 65 inches.\u00a0Immediately, one notices on the screen that the textures and the subtle expressions of the protagonists’ faces are described in an exceptional way, while in other shots we were impressed by the way the outside daylight “wrote” on the screen when it invaded a dark room. .<\/p>\n

The brightness of the objects, the reflections, the contrasts and the small shades composed a top image.\u00a0One of the ones we love here at the magazine.<\/p>\n

The image is fluid, with sharpness, depth, contrast and dynamics.\u00a0To enjoy it we must have a top TV or projector.<\/p>\n

The sound is dominated by purity, a sense of serenity, solid or fragile vocals and naturalness.\u00a0Even at low frequencies we have so much control and expressiveness that this player can be called an audio only device.<\/p>\n

It is one of the few times that under the same hood, the image competes with the sound which is of better quality.\u00a0In fact, when listening to analog outputs, there is power (due to the DAC), a distinct stereo image, melodicity and a special penetration towards the middle.\u00a0The speed;\u00a0Especially the movements of the double bass or the cello in a flash.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/strong>: Optoma ML1050ST Review \u2022 Pocket-size Projector<\/p>\n

In general, the audio signature of the device is high levels of finesse -especially in the voices and stringed instruments-, tight bass and sound scene with a wide range and a lot of depth.\u00a0Above all, however, it is an all-quiet player.<\/p>\n

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The LX800 does not have a DLNA network infrastructure, although it connects via Ethernet (not) Wi-Fi to the Internet to extract data required by Blu-ray and DVD drives.\u00a0There are no applications or streaming services.\u00a0There is still no USB DAC port, though it could since the LX800 has a great DAC.<\/p>\n

But we have PQLS circuits, which fight jitter in case the AV amplifier is from Pioneer.\u00a0There is also a USB port on the front and one on the back for reading hard drives or sticks.\u00a0These ports act as media players playing from mp3 to dsf files or UHD videos.\u00a0The way of navigation is the one known as the envelopes.<\/p>\n

The menus on the TV screen are mainly presented in high definition characters (not graphics).\u00a0The remote control is full of functions.\u00a0There are special hotkeys that work on video, audio and other parameters.\u00a0There are three digital filters in the sound such as Sharp, Short and Slow.<\/p>\n

Pioneer UDP-LX800 Specifications:<\/h3>\n