Disc Player Du Jour
WHEN PANASONIC introduced its flagship DP-UB9000 Ultra HD Blu-ray player in early 2018, serious videophiles in the U.S. were set to drooling. Although a less expensive player, the DP-UDP820, had been widely available for some time and was reviewed by Kris Deering in our October/November 2018 issue (available on soundandvision.com), this new model clearly offered more. In late 2018, the New York A/V dealer Value Electronics ended up becoming the exclusive U.S. source for the DP-UB9000. That launch proved so successful that Panasonic’s flagship player is now widely available, replacing the discontinued Oppo UDP-205 and UDP-203 players as the premium disc spinner du jour.
FEATURES
The THX-certified DP-UB9000’s appearance isn’t Tiffany-like, but its finish and construction quality (it weighs in at over 17 pounds!) are clearly uncompromising. It’s compatible with a wide assortment of disc formats, including Blu-ray 3D. That said, some users may be put off to learn that format support doesn’t extend to Super Audio CD (SACD) and DVD-Audio.
In addition to its two HDMI outputs (there’s no HDMI input) and two USB ports (2.0 on the front, 3.0 on the back), the player sports 7.1 analog audio, balanced and unbalanced stereo analog audio, and optical and coaxial digital audio outputs.
The DP-UB9000 includes a number
