Marantz UD7007 Blu Ray Player

Marantz UD7007 networking universal disc player

Marantz is one of the world's most famous hifi brands and was started in 1948 by New Yorker, Saul Marantz, an amateur musician and audio enthusiast who was dissatisfied with the amplifier products available at that time. He decided to build phono pre-amps which could handle all manner of recording equalisations popular in the day, and his friends persuaded him to build them one too. This quickly took all of Saul's time, as he was overwhelmed with orders - the Marantz company we know today was born.

The UD7007 is Marantz's top class universal disc player, and offers the ability to hear high resolution discs such as DVD Audio and SACD with legendary Marantz audio quality, whilst also movies from Blu-ray and DVD offer spectacular audio and video quality. The UD7007 replaces the UD7006, adding new levels of refinement in performance, and additional connectivity, and is available in two finishes, black or silver/ gold.

Common features shared with it's little brother the UD5007 are:-

• Universal playability - all disc types can be played, including standard blu-ray and 3D blu-ray, DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio, CD (containing audio, video or photo files)
• Network streaming of audio and video files from DLNA devices such as NAS drives, and also USB stick - even high resolution files such as FLAC HD or WAV HD can be streamed in this way
• Video on demand services You Tube and subscription video service Netflix are integrated
• Improved ease of use -  the UD7007 can be controlled with the advanced app for iPhone and Android via this year model Marantz receiver, with the two products connected via HDMI (CEC enabled and receiver must be connected to your home network).
• Disc loading speed is faster
• You Tube user interface is improved and much faster
• Eco -friendly - low standby power and auto power off circuitry
• HDMI cable included in the box for ease of setup

 Besides the well known HDMI and optical/ coaxial digital outputs you can expect on all blu-ray players, the UD7007 is also equipped with high quality stereo analogue audio outputs. This gives you the possibility to hear your stereo music content at the best possible quality level. The analogue output of the UD7007 is best in class - the laser reads the digital content of the disc, and this bitstream signal is now passed to the DAC which converts the digital signal to an analogue signal. Finally there is a buffer amplifier that amplifies the analogue signal to line level, suitable for passing to your amplifier or AV receiver. The UD7007 uses the well known Marantz HDAM module in the buffer amplifier, rather than standard operational amplifiers (chips) which are much more commonly specified. The HDAM advantages over op-amps include:-

• significantly faster response to input signals, and can deliver higher power in an instant
• lower noise level, so no noise is added to the music signal, keeping it's fidelity as pure as possible
• low noise op-amps exist, but they are significantly slower in response than the HDAM, so no op-amps combine both of these desirable features
• HDAM is custom designed by Marantz engineers, who have the freedom to design in the best sounding electronic components in the market - chip designs already have many components inside the chip, decided by the chip designers, which may not be the best choice for critical audio applications

The UD7007 is perfectly combined with the top class SR7008 AV receiver or AV7701 or AV8801 AV pre-amplifiers - there are three specific reasons why they compliment so well:-

• they offer a matching visual and electronic design, which has great looks too
• to ensure the best audio quality from CD and SACD, both units contain the dedicated audio circuit board equipped with HDAM modules, which in combination with the 'pure direct' feature of the AV receiver or pre-amplifier guarantees the best audio sound quality from these media
• using the Marantz remote app, any smartphone can control both player and receiver, simplifying ease of use

The Marantz UD7007 is equipped with two types of stereo analogue outputs - a standard RCA output, and also a balanced XLR output. Both outputs make use of the high quality HDAM output buffer. The matching AV8801 AV pre-amplifier is equipped with balanced XLR audio inputs, to which the UD7007 should ideally be connected using XLR interconnects. Balanced audio is very popular in professional audio applications since balanced connections are significantly less susceptible to electromagnetic radiation interference from outside than unbalanced (RCA) connections.

Dual HDMI outputs are found on the rear panel of UD7007, for separation of audio and video signals. This gives you the opportunity to transport the audio and video signals via separate HDMI cables to your receiver ant TV respectively - the HDMI audio cable is connected to the receiver, whist the HDMI video cable is connected to your display device, either TV or projector - this option is enabled by choosing the AV Pure Direct setting which enables the best possible audio performance, since the audio signal is not disturbed by the adjacent high frequency (noisy) video signal.

Finally the UD7007 has a precision build quality - this high build quality is important for two reasons:-

• to suppress vibrations from outside which can disturb the correct reading of the digital information on the disc
• to suppress any internal noise from the player mechanism - unlike many other players on the market, the UD7007 has no cooling fan inside, usually a major source of unwanted noise
• an additional metal bottom plate has been added to the chassis creating a very rigid enclosure, adding extra strength to eliminate vibration
• the player contains a fully shielded disc mechanism - it has an aluminium top cover, a steel chassis and the drawer has an extra layer of rubber applied to the disc support area - this is all done to prevent vibration affecting the mechanism, and also to keep any transport noise inside