The new Sony UHP-H1 plays everything - Blu-ray, SACD, CD, even DVD-Audio

Now down to £299 , but waiting for the X800, my Sony STR5400ES AVR displays DSD 3/2, Incredibly Sony UK Technical says at the last stage it coverts to PCM, Unfortunately Sony are a absolute hopeless Co. to communicate with.

 

Gee, I wonder!

 

Just found out using XA5400ES with my DA5400ES AVR for 6 years that it will out put DSD after being told by Sony UK technical that at the final stage it converts to PCM, I have a slight preference for DSD over PCM both are excellent from the Sony system, have yet hear better mch sound and that includes very over priced systems.

 

Sure, I do it all the time from manufacturers like Denon, Pioneer, Marantz, OPPO, etc.

Right now, I have 3 systems at the house feeding DSD over HDMI, each with disparate player/AVR combos.

 

I have two Oppo players and Oppo does not make any receivers or prepros. I have played DSD over HDMI to a number of different AVRs and prepros (perhaps a dozen) successfully and, of course, none were made by Oppo. I have also done this with the Sony XA5400-ES and the UHP-H1 and I've never used a Sony AVR.

 

Because people will buy them and an expensive transport is very profitable.

 

I have a Pioneer 610 and a Sony S370 both fed into a Yamaha AVR. Both players output DSD into said DSD compliant receiver, and the pretty DSD light comes on every time

 

Thanks for the answers. I'm now puzzled why AVR receivers are required as there is a lack of DSD DACs that have HDMI inputs?

 

No sure why it hasn't been implemented. I know it's been asked about over the last few years.
Could be licensing issues

 

I'd hold off on buying this Sony UHP-H1 right now, because a 4K version with the same kind of SACD and DVD-Audio support is supposedly in the pipeline:

Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player »

 

Just to clarify a bit further, the Sony UHP-H1 is forced to convert DSD to PCM in my case because my NAD 32 digital amplifier only supports 2-channel PCM on its HDMI input. But the Sony UHP-H1 does offer DSD output as well as PCM output, so as far as I know, it would happily output DSD to any receiver that supported it.

 

Yes, there is a paucity of DSD DACs with HDMI inputs. Partly because the audiophiles who buy most DACs have a preference for USB and S/PDIF. Partly because the licensing arrangements and costs are problematic for many of the very small companies that make those DACs.

 

For me, DoP (DSD over PCM, i.e. a repackaging of DSD data, not a conversion) would be optimal. Unfortunately not an option for disc players afaik. I had ordered the UHP, yet, but did cancel due the announcement of UBP-X800 ... also not capable of DoP i guess.

BTW. Anything changed for gapless playback of USB/Network Audio (UHP was not able to in the beginning)?

 

The UBP-X800 looks promising, but surprisingly it lacks the DAC, the RCA ports and the optical port of the UHP-H1.

I think that going from DSD to PCM, there is always a conversion.

 

I'd only use it over HDMI, so no loss for my use case.

 

How does this device perform with audio streamed over the network or connected via USB? I'm considering getting one of these to simplify my current set-up. At the moment, my BDP handles movies and (somewhat awkwardly) CD playback whilst my Raspberry Pi serves audio to my DAC. The Pi has a 1TB USB drive attached which I control via it's web-based GUI. Is the Sony player able to work with a large library of ALAC files and can it be controlled from a phone app such as BubbleUPNP?

Also, does it have Spotify Connect?

 

How is the Analog out on this? I'd be using it into a Music Hall 15.3 amp, primarily for concert blu rays and concert download files (as i primarily listen to vinyl), and am wondering if it worth getting if i'm not using a digital out. Thanks.

 

The UHP-H1 is about a year old. Sony has the UBP-X1000ES coming out soon. The UHP-H1 will probably go on sale. I'll be waiting...

 

More to the point, it looks like they're coming out with the UBP-X800 soon...the spec page indicates it will have all the features of the UHP-H1 and play 4K discs - for $50 less than the UHP-H1: Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player

 

"All the features of the UHP-H1" except (for me) the most important one, it doesn't have analog L and R outputs! The UBP-X1000ES does.

 

Sony UBP-X800 review

No analogue out is a depressing but is here to stay. Fine for home cinema users (i.e HDMI systems) but makes it useless for SACD in a dedicated stereo set it (without HDMI)!

 

Maybe I'm crazy, but if you wanted the stereo RCA outputs, wouldn't you want the Oppo 205? This seems aimed very much at HDMI users who want a truly universal player without paying money for DACs they're not going to use.

 

The UDP-205 that doesn't come out till April, and rumoured to be $1300? I don't think that someone that's in the market for a $350 player will make the jump to a $1300 player. I know I wouldn't.

 

Right, but are the analog outs on the UHP-H1 anything to write home about? Both can do HDMI and S/PDIF and using the S/PDIF you can connect to almost anything made in the past 20 years. Otherwise you're stuck using the consumer-level DACs in the player. If you're using the player's DACs, I'd think you'd want to shell out for good ones.