Panasonics flagship DP UB9000 player offers HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision

Panasonics Flagship DP UB9000 4K UHD Audiophile Player

Panasonic’s 2018 UHD Blu-ray line-up comprises five models ranging from flagship to affordable. Two of them will support Dolby Vision, three will support HDR10+, and four of them will support Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, enabling you to control video playback using your voice.

In addition to the more affordable DP-UB820/824, DP-UB420/424 and DP-UB330/320, Panasonic announced a flagship model that will carry the model name DP-UB9000. This new audiophile flagship player will support both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision via future software upgrades together with THX Certification.

The company has announced that the UB9000 will launch in the second half of 2018. Pricing details are not yet available. Damn! I will now have to hold off buying the Oppo 205!

Looks like Oppo has a possible competitor to their 205 audiophile model. The DP UB9000 has a lot a similar features to the 205 plus all the ones that were missing. Oppo also have yet to announce if the 205 can be upgraded via software to support HDR10+.

UHD Blu-Ray for Audiophiles

Designed from the ground up to provide exceptional audio, at audiophile standards, the UB9000 supports 2 channel balanced XLR and RCA outputs and 7.1 RCA outputs using separate high performance AKM audio DAC’s with individual channel power supplies. The audio circuits are built on glass-epoxy circuit boards using high grade audio electrolytics and low noise op-amps. The two channel outputs are driven by fully balanced differential circuits from the DAC’s outputs to the XLR terminals.

Despite the specification indicating that the player supports DSD files, the player does not be support SACD or DVDA disc playback. That is a real show stopper for me for an audiophile player.

The only other audio standard that I would have liked to have seen supported is MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). Maybe that will become available via a future software upgrade. Update: apparently this format like SACD and DVDA cannot be supported by this player.

The UB9000 is to be THX certified and provides two HDMI outputs, one for video and one for audio. Additionally it will support streaming applications with support for 4K resolution.

Analogue Audio DAC’s

NOTE: The original players DAC’s were the AKM AK4493EQ however, after the AKM factory fire in October 2020 the DAC’s were updated to one ESS SABER ES9038Q2M and one ESS SABER ES9026PRO.

Power Supplies

Separate and isolated power supplies are provided for both the digital and analog processing hardware and audio DAC’s. The new supplies use audio grade electrolytics and a newly developed oxygen free copper switching transformer that is said to reduce the power supplies impedance and improve noise and voltage fluctuations.

The analog channels voltage supplies are separated into 2 channels and 7.1 channels, each channel getting its own individually regulated power supply thereby helping to minimize cross talk between channels.

Specifications:

Audio

• 7.1ch Analogue Audio Output (RCA)
• 2ch Analog Audio Output (XLR/RCA)
• High-quality Audio Parts
• TWIN HDMI PURE AV (Twin Isolated Output）
• High Clarity Sound Premium
• HDMI Low Clock Jitter Process
• Digital Tube Sound with Up-sampling
• High-resolution Audio Playback (DSD (11.2MHz/5.6MHz/2.8MHz), ALAC, FLAC, WAV, AIFF)
• 192kHz/96kHz Surround Re-master
• High Rigid Chassis with Exclusive Design

Video

• Ultra HD Blu-ray Playback (4K/HDR)
• HCX (Hollywood Cinema Experience) Processor for Ultra HD Blu-ray
• Supports HDR10+/ Dolby Vision dynamic metadata technology – via firmware update
• 4K High-Precision Chroma Processing
• 4K Direct Chroma Up-scaling
• 4K 60p/50p/4:4:4 Output
• HDR Optimiser
• FULL HD 3D Blu-ray Disc Playback
• THX Certified

Featureset

• Voice control
• 4K VOD
• 4K Networking (4K Video/ 4K Jpeg Playback)
• Internet Apps
• Network Contents Playback
• Network Drive Access
• External HDD Playback
• Mirroring with Smartphone / Tablet
• Wireless LAN Built-in
• Home Screen Wallpaper
• Control over HDMI

See the UB 9000 on UTube. Its even better if you speak German!

Update:

Current Player model(s) with ESS DAC’s DP-UB9000P1K or DP-UB9000PC

MSRP:

• DP-UB9000P1K: $1099.99
• DP-UB9000PC: $1,449.99

For more information visit the Panasonic web site.

Related posts:

• Magnetar UDP800/UDP900 players First Look
• Reavon UBR-X200, UBR-X100 and UBR-X110
• Pioneer UDP-LX500 & UDP-LX800
• Oppo UDP-205 4K UHD Player Review
• Shenzhen Jieke Electronic Commerce Co., Ltd. (GIEC) – web site: BDP-G5800