One thousand pounds seems like an awful lot for a Blu-ray player when hugely capable machines such as Sony’s BDP-S790 can be had for just a quarter of that.
However, given an appropriate system – say, a Pioneer SC-LX86 and KEF’s R100 5.1 speakers – this Marantz UD7007 player makes a lot of sense.
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Picture
With Blu-rays, the Marantz’s picture is gloriously rich and vivid without overdoing things. With X-Men: First Class it delivers convincing skin tones and digs up a mass of fine detail, even in dark scenes such as where Magneto pursues the submarine.
The Marantz UD7007 keeps a firm hold of motion too, showing more stability than both its predecessor, the Marantz UD7006, and the best of the budget opposition. Its performance with 3D is equally surefooted, as a spin of the very entertaining Avengers Assemble shows.
Start watching DVDs (Star Trek is a good a test as any) and the Marantz displays impressive scaling and surprisingly little picture noise. Colours and contrasts are as convincing as we’ve seen from the format.
Sound
Move on to sound quality and the UD7007 continues to impress. It has a powerful and bold presentation that makes most alternatives sound insubstantial. There’s also lots of sonic detail and a huge sense of scale.
This is a universal machine, and listening to SACD and DVD-A discs makes us just a little sad that these superior formats never really took off.
Many feel the physical disc is old news, and this Marantz can stream our 24Bit/ 192kHz music files with ease. It has wide file compatibility, although the interface and responsiveness of the player is a little tardy.
Verdict
This is a solidly made machine that performs to a very high standard. If you have the right system, it’s a terrific buy.
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