Initial thoughts on the Marantz UD5005 Universal Disc Player

[pete321]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Unwrapped my pressie this morning, a Marantz UD5005. Very pleased with it so far. Nice solid case, although a bit more weight to it would have been nice, however it looks very classy. Since I sold my Oppo a few months ago, I've been using a Sony 370 downstairs, these are my initial thoughts on what the £370 paid for the UD5005 gets you compared to the £99 I paid for the Sony. In terms of what I've seen picture wise so far, same sharpness that the Sony brings with 1080p, but much better black levels, plus the colour seems more natural whereas the Sony could appear slightly over saturated at times. I can confirm it plays MKV files as does the Sony. So far I've tried some 576i DVD's which I converted to 576i MKV for storage on a hard drive. The SD picture was similar to the Sony, but with a more natural clolour tone and deeper blacks. The internal upscaling is good, but not a match for the Anchor Bay chip in my Z7, so it'll be used in Source Direct mode. Sound is a big leap forward over the Sony. Whilst the 370 is articulate, the UD5005 brings much greater depth and body to the party as well as keeping the articulate top end. This is not just with movies, SACD's have much greater depth to them, making the Sony sound thin by comparison. Just goes to show that it's not all about 1's & 0's via HDMI, the improvement in sound isn't subtle! Tried a couple of DVD-A's as well, they sound just as impressive.

Looking forward to some more viewing & listening over the holiday & it getting better still with burn in time.

 

[jase fox]

pete321:
Merry Christmas everyone!

Unwrapped my pressie this morning, a Marantz UD5005. Very pleased with it so far. Nice solid case, although a bit more weight to it would have been nice, however it looks very classy. Since I sold my Oppo a few months ago, I've been using a Sony 370 downstairs, these are my initial thoughts on what the £370 paid for the UD5005 gets you compared to the £99 I paid for the Sony. In terms of what I've seen picture wise so far, same sharpness that the Sony brings with 1080p, but much better black levels, plus the colour seems more natural whereas the Sony could appear slightly over saturated at times. I can confirm it plays MKV files as does the Sony. So far I've tried some 576i DVD's which I converted to 576i MKV for storage on a hard drive. The SD picture was similar to the Sony, but with a more natural clolour tone and deeper blacks. The internal upscaling is good, but not a match for the Anchor Bay chip in my Z7, so it'll be used in Source Direct mode. Sound is a big leap forward over the Sony. Whilst the 370 is articulate, the UD5005 brings much greater depth and body to the party as well as keeping the articulate top end. This is not just with movies, SACD's have much greater depth to them, making the Sony sound thin by comparison. Just goes to show that it's not all about 1's & 0's via HDMI, the improvement in sound isn't subtle! Tried a couple of DVD-A's as well, they sound just as impressive.

Looking forward to some more viewing & listening over the holiday & it getting better still with burn in time.
Merry Christmas Pete,

And blimey what a christmas present to have ! I must say i like the LOOK of the Marantz, happy your pleased with it so far but i look forward to your more in-depth view.

Jase

 

[Tom Moreno]

Hi Pete,

Glad you're enjoying your new pressie. Out of curiosity- how do disc load times compare to the old OPPO? The marantz and denon spinners have always been great performers but quite slow, is this new generation finally the best of both worlds?

 

[pete321]

I haven't actually timed it, but load times are fast, probably similar to the Oppo 83, you certainly won't have time to make a cup of tea after popping the disc in!

I think this player will be a good base to modify from which was my aim. I wanted a well built & modern base model player with which I can improve playback in video and sound by upgrading the clock. I'll also have some improvements (opamps, capacitors, etc) to the 2 channel analogue output for stereo SACD output direct to my Cyrus amp. I reckon if I spend about £250-£275 at Fidelity Audio I'll end up with video and sound equivalent to £1000+ player, for a total cost of around £650.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Pete

I am lucky enough to have got one of these as well and have been pleasantly surprised at how good it is as a CD player. Just one problem though. I cannot get it to output Dolby TruHD to a Marantz SR7005 receiver. Have you had any trouble with this ? I have changed the setting to output HD Audio and DTS-HD discs seem to work fine, but TruHD discs just get output as Dolby Digital. Any ideas of what else I might have to do ? Cheers

Ryland

 

[richardw42]

I have a Marantz BD5004 & a Sony S570, so comparisons would be similar to yours.

I have to agree wth you all the way. Whilst all the extra litle bits on the Sony are great, for outright PQ & SQ the Marantz has it beaten, and loading times range from almost instant to maybe as long as 30 seconds.

If I had to keep just one of them it would be the Marantz. Mindyou it cost more than twice as much !!!

 

[georgecostanza]

I have had mine on order since mid december, latest date for arrival is 23 rd january. Serves me right for ordering the silver finish I suppose. Anyone else waiting too ?

 

[Anonymous]

is there a possibility to make the UD5005 easily region free?

If not then there is an issue here.....

 

[kaledi]

georgecostanza:I have had mine on order since mid december, latest date for arrival is 23 rd january. Serves me right for ordering the silver finish I suppose. Anyone else waiting too ?

I too have had one of these (black) on order since just before Christmas. I phoned yesterday and was told that the next batch (presumably black) were in on the 27th. Seems the delays and spec have made this a popular machine.

Must say I'm now looking forward to receiving my one to go with my SR7005, which I got just before new year and I have to say is the best receiver and piece of AV gear I've ever bought.

 

[georgecostanza]

Mine is coming saturday !

 

[kaledi]

I should have reported back to say that last Saturday I happened to be passing my local dealer (for me to be in town on a Saturday, actually any day, really is unusual) and peered through the door to see a very familiar looking box on the floor. Yes it was my UD5005. I was obviously very thrilled by what I saw and so set it up over lunch and have had a chance to have a good old play.

So far, I'm impressed. Loading a Blu-Ray does not seem to take any longer than a normal DVD, switching on takes about 20 seconds. Responsiveness is good.

Network features appear to be very good, but I do have some more experimenting to do, particularly with video files. For instance, I've found that a HD audio is playable from an MPEG file, but it stutters, and I'm not sure whether that is because the streaming rate is too much for the player itself, or there is some other reason?

Also I encoded a file into DIVX HDplus, and half way through the clip, the video developed a 'shadow', which seems to be in the original file rather than a decoding problem. DIVX seems to be the way to do since you can exploit the features available with the HD plus standard such as chapter points, multiple audio streams and subtitles.

It has also played perfectly files from my HD camcorder, via the network, so all in all, this seems to me like I can replace my computer in the living room.

Features that I'd like to see improved include the navigation to files on a DLNA server, which has to go through too many steps currently. It would also be great to have iPlayer in built. Of note, it appears 3D is enabled (though not tested), Youtube is not, but I managed to access youtube files via my DLNA server, and it successfully played 720p files from youtube - however, it seemed to get stuck once the file got to the end

 

[georgecostanza]

georgecostanza:Mine is coming saturday !

They sent a black one instead of the silver, have asked for a refund and will get one from someone else more deserving of my money !

 

[pete321]

Here's the upgrade spec at Fidelity Audio.

 

[michael hoy]

pete321:Here's the upgrade spec at Fidelity Audio.

Pete321,

Is the price for the unit with the mods or just for the mods.

 

[pete321]

Just the mods I'm afraid, a premium clock + power supply doesn't come cheap, but it elevates the performance way above that of the crystal chips used in this price range of players.

It brings the player up to the price of the next Marantz up, the UD7006, obviously the better choice if you need internal 7.1 decoding and video upscaling. I just wanted better internal decoding for stereo SACD, hence the better opamp and capacitors on the 2 channel output. Plus the Premium Clock + PSU will increase performance in every aspect of the player, both in terms of audio and video, hopefully beyond that of the UD7006.

 

[Anonymous]

Dear Pete,

Understand that you have experiences with OPPO BlueRay Player as well.

In term of PQ & AQ (especially CD), how does the UD5005 compare to OPPO ?

 

[pete321]

I've only had use of the Marantz for about 1 month in it's factory spec, plus stereo disc playback is now going through a Cyrus Pre & 8 Power combo so I don't think I can fairly comment on the differences. Whilst I was happy with SACD & DVD-A 5.1 playback via HDMI from the Oppo, I did find CD playback very disappointing, far too refined for my taste.

In terms of picture quality, there's no doubt that the Oppo is a far more accomplished upscaler of SD material, the UD5005 being quite poor in this area. The HD picture quality on the UD5005 is superb as was the Oppo, I think it would be hard to notice any major differences at normal viewing distances. I can compare the UD5005 picture to the Sony 370 which I also own, and there is a marked improvement, less noise, better black levels and more natural colours.

I chose to sell my Oppo last year as I made a decision to get a more modern player with a good build so that I could mod the parts that I wanted improving. I was not quite convinced with the Oppo build as it was starting to have a few problems with discs getting stuck in the drawer mechanism. If I was going to get a player for both audio and video and not consider upgrades, I'd probably look at the new Cambridge Audio player.

 

[michael hoy]

pete321:
Just the mods I'm afraid, a premium clock + power supply doesn't come cheap, but it elevates the performance way above that of the crystal chips used in this price range of players.

It brings the player up to the price of the next Marantz up, the UD7006, obviously the better choice if you need internal 7.1 decoding and video upscaling. I just wanted better internal decoding for stereo SACD, hence the better opamp and capacitors on the 2 channel output. Plus the Premium Clock + PSU will increase performance in every aspect of the player, both in terms of audio and video, hopefully beyond that of the UD7006.

Thanks for the reply, I thought it would be mods only, I will keep an eye open for your thoughts on the mod.

 

[Anonymous]

kaledi:
I should have reported back to say that last Saturday I happened to be passing my local dealer (for me to be in town on a Saturday, actually any day, really is unusual) and peered through the door to see a very familiar looking box on the floor. Yes it was my UD5005. I was obviously very thrilled by what I saw and so set it up over lunch and have had a chance to have a good old play.

So far, I'm impressed. Loading a Blu-Ray does not seem to take any longer than a normal DVD, switching on takes about 20 seconds. Responsiveness is good.

Network features appear to be very good, but I do have some more experimenting to do, particularly with video files. For instance, I've found that a HD audio is playable from an MPEG file, but it stutters, and I'm not sure whether that is because the streaming rate is too much for the player itself, or there is some other reason?

Also I encoded a file into DIVX HDplus, and half way through the clip, the video developed a 'shadow', which seems to be in the original file rather than a decoding problem. DIVX seems to be the way to do since you can exploit the features available with the HD plus standard such as chapter points, multiple audio streams and subtitles.

It has also played perfectly files from my HD camcorder, via the network, so all in all, this seems to me like I can replace my computer in the living room.

Features that I'd like to see improved include the navigation to files on a DLNA server, which has to go through too many steps currently. It would also be great to have iPlayer in built. Of note, it appears 3D is enabled (though not tested), Youtube is not, but I managed to access youtube files via my DLNA server, and it successfully played 720p files from youtube - however, it seemed to get stuck once the file got to the end

Hi Kaledi,

Could you tell me how exacly you are using YouTube using your DLNA server? I have problems with sound. Video is fine but there is no sound from YouTube..... Any chance for contacting you directly?

Thanks,

stone28

 

[Anonymous]

pete321:

I've only had use of the Marantz for about 1 month in it's factory spec, plus stereo disc playback is now going through a Cyrus Pre & 8 Power combo so I don't think I can fairly comment on the differences. Whilst I was happy with SACD & DVD-A 5.1 playback via HDMI from the Oppo, I did find CD playback very disappointing, far too refined for my taste.

.........

I chose to sell my Oppo last year as I made a decision to get a more modern player with a good build so that I could mod the parts that I wanted improving. I was not quite convinced with the Oppo build as it was starting to have a few problems with discs getting stuck in the drawer mechanism. If I was going to get a player for both audio and video and not consider upgrades, I'd probably look at the new Cambridge Audio player.

Far too refined = too much detail ? Isn't that good ??

Had check out CA player, not HDMI 1.4 ...... unforunately.

Had check also the UD7006, seem that it has a better audio DAC. Why not this model instead ?

 

[pete321]

tane0019:Far too refined = too much detail ? Isn't that good ??

Too refined is bad for me, by that I mean too smooth and flat sounding. Detail is good (see Cyrus in my kit list), as long as it's not overly clinical, I didn't say that the Oppo had detail on stereo CD playback, that was what was lacking along with timing and excitement.

Isn't there a new CA player due out soon, I'd be surpised if that isn't 1.4 compliant.

 

[DandyCobalt]

pete321:

tane0019:Far too refined = too much detail ? Isn't that good ??

Too refined is bad for me, by that I mean too smooth and flat sounding. Detail is good (see Cyrus in my kit list), as long as it's not overly clinical, I didn't say that the Oppo had detail on stereo CD playback, that was what was lacking along with timing and excitement.

Isn't there a new CA player due out soon, I'd be surpised if that isn't 1.4 compliant.

The CA751 is due out end-Feb apparently - see CES video review on this site. It is 1.4 3d etc (approx £799). Looking forward to upgrading from my 650 if any audio difference - hopefully will be able to buy online, do a 7 day head-to-head then return for refund if not worth the extra.

 

[pete321]

I'd still go with a modded cheaper player, I doubt you'd get a player on the lower side of a grand with as good a quality clock as the one on offer by Fidelity Audio.

 

[Anonymous]

Talk to the Marantz retailer today. According to him, the UD5005 analog out is as good as their CD6003.

Spoken also to local OPPO guy, BDP93 analog out is better tha Marantz CD6003, but below their SA series.

Locally, UD5005 is about US$300 cheaper than BDP93.

Now I'm in a fix .................

 

[Anonymous]

Just get myself OPPO 93. Analogue output for Music is very good indeed (female vocal sound more sexy & detail). Now have to look for another sub cause low mid & bass too hollow.

Did tried to listen to the cheaper UD5005, but no one in locally were willing to hook up one to let me test & compare to OPPO. Maybe they are afraid ?? In the end, go with the friendly + better service (but more expensive) OPPO instead.