What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
24 SEP 2008
Pioneer BDP-LX71
The ’LX71 makes up for a slightly incomplete spec with luxurious looks and stunning performance
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Some Blu-ray players are stylish in an industrial kind of way, this Pioneer is just plain stylish.
Of course, being from the company that brought you the none-more-black Kuro range of TVs means the ’LX71 is available only in black, but the glossy finish combines with sharp lines and seductive glowing lights to produce a sumptuously luxurious unit.
Even the fascia buttons are touch sensitive, although this can make finding a particular function a little difficult in low light.
Good compatibility with older amps
Unlike the £900 Denon DVD-2500BT, the Pioneer is a fully fledged Blu-ray player, and as such comes complete with coaxial, optical and seven-channel outputs, and HD audio decoding (although not of DTS-HD Master Audio), which makes it compatible with older receivers.
In direct competition with the Denon DVD-2500BT and new Yamaha BD-S2900, the Pioneer proves that its five-star First Test and subsequent Award were far from flukes.
Fed the Blu-ray of Blood Diamond, it produces an image full of punch, vibrancy and insight. The colour palette is vivid enough to produce excellent, lush scenery, while also having the subtlety to reproduce skin tones with balanced, natural realism.
The now obligatory 24fps motion is of course supported, and the fast action of the RUF’s brutal attack on Freetown plays out without judder or smear.
Switch to The X-Files: I Want to Believe on DVD, and the ’LX71 further impresses by happily contrasting the snowy landscape with the black of the night sky, while also revealing plenty of detail and very balanced colours.
In its delivery of sound, the Pioneer proves to be both a subtle and an expressive performer with both HD Audio and stereo CDs.
If you are connecting to an older receiver, the onboard decoding is very good indeed, but if you have a modern, price-appropriate multichannel amplifier (costing around £800 or more), its decoding will be a little better.
When we first tested this player we commented that it was a little slower to load discs than cheaper players such as the PS3; but compared with the other players in this test, this Pioneer in fact isn’t particularly sluggish.
This apparent improvement may be down in part to the recently released 1.07 firmware.
It’s the one for onboard decoding
The Pioneer is an undeniably detailed and sharp performer, but it’s a fact that the Denon DVD-2500BT does beat it in these regards – particularly with DVD playback. But if you can’t stretch to the Denon, or if onboard decoding is on your list of requirements, the Pioneer BDP-LX71 could be your perfect player.
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