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Magnetar is a premium brand created for audiophiles and cinephiles who demand uncompromising media playback performance. That mission, according to Magnetar Audio North America President Rob Jones (pictured right), drives the company to create high-end, format agnostic media players that offer "a seamless and elevated" entertainment experience.
With more than 20 years of combined professional R&D and OEM experience, the Magnetar team is working to deliver this reference-level performance, meticulous craftsmanship, and superior reliability and focusing on long-term support for physical media collections and stored media. The brand primarily targets high-end home cinema enthusiasts, audiophiles, and professional AV integrators. Their UDP800 and UDP900 players cater to customers with extensive physical media collections, as well as custom home theater installers seeking reliable, high-performance universal media players for premium home setups.
Jones, who prior to joining Magnetar in June 2024, founded Enclave Audio, manufacturer of the first THX Certified Wireless 5.1 home theater system. In this interview, he provides more insights into Magnetar as a company and its products, as well as the challenges and opportunities of the premium universal media player market.
Projector Central: What inspired Magnetar's entry into the high-performance AV space?
Rob Jones: When Oppo exited the media player market, a void was left for cinephiles and audiophiles who both valued and prioritized physical media and top-tier playback quality. Magnetar was created to help fill this gap, providing customers with an alternative that exceeds industry standards both in terms of performance and reliability, taking customer experience in the space to the next level. Magnetar recognized the ongoing demand for high-end universal media players that support 4K UHD, Blu-ray, SACD, and networked/stored media, and we have committed to delivering products that preserve and enhance the home entertainment experience for the passionate population behind its continued development.
How does Magnetar differentiate itself from other universal media player manufacturers in terms of performance, build quality, and features?
Magnetar products stand out due to our commitment to performance, craftsmanship, innovation, after-sales support, and customer experience. Our players, including the UDP800 and UDP900, support a wide range of physical and digital media formats while integrating advanced technologies like ESS DACs, precision temperature-compensated crystal oscillators, and high-end capacitors. With unsurpassed 4K upscaling, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support, and lossless high-resolution audio playback, Magnetar ensures an experience that remains true to the original source material. Additionally, we prioritize reliability and long-term product support, unlike many competitors who are moving away from physical media and offer minimal warranty and support for their player products.
How does Magnetar's universal media player technology complement high-end projection systems for home theater enthusiasts?
Magnetar players are designed to deliver the highest quality video and audio, ensuring that high-end projectors receive the best possible source material. With support for Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and other key technologies, our players provide stunning brightness, deep blacks, and intense color accuracy, complementing premium projection systems. Additionally, unmatched 4K upscaling enhances lower-resolution content, ensuring a superior viewing experience.
What role does video processing play in Magnetar's product lineup, and how does it enhance the viewing experience on a premium projector setup?
Video processing is a critical component of Magnetar players, allowing for dead-accurate reproduction of video content. Magnetar universal media players utilize advanced video processing algorithms to enhance sharpness, color depth, and motion clarity for discerning customers all while respecting the source materials original details. Features such as HDR tone mapping and high-bit-rate playback ensure that every frame is rendered with precision, maximizing the performance of high-end projection systems. Magnetar product performance is validated through a board of advisors who are the very creators, engineers, and producers of legendary music titles and major blockbuster films. Magnetar players can be found in professional studios worldwide, performing as an essential part of the production process by serving as a reference source device.
Many projectors now support advanced HDR formats. How do Magnetar players optimize playback for formats like HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HLG?
Magnetar players are fully compatible with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HLG, providing dynamic metadata support for frame-by-frame brightness optimization. By delivering higher peak brightness levels, deeper contrast, and more lifelike colors, our players faithfully represent all HDR based source content flawlessly offering a cinematic experience that takes full advantage of modern projection technology.
With the rise of 4K and 8K projection, how does Magnetar ensure future-proof compatibility with emerging display technologies?
Magnetar is committed to long-term product support and innovation, ensuring that our media players stay ahead of industry trends. Our universal media players already feature 4K upscaling enhancing lower-resolution content for today's projection systems. While 8K adoption is still in its early stages, we continue to explore ways to support emerging technologies and new media formats to ensure future-proof compatibility based on market shifts and demands.
In an era where streaming dominates, why does Magnetar believe in the future of high-end physical media players?
While streaming services offer convenience, physical media remains unmatched in terms of quality, reliability, and ownership. Magnetar universal players deliver lossless audio and uncompressed video, ensuring a superior viewing experience. Additionally, physical media is not subject to compression, buffering, or licensing restrictions, making it the preferred choice for cinephiles who want to experience their collections in the highest possible fidelity.
In an era where streaming dominates the conversation, physical media has often been stigmatized as outdated or impractical. At Magnetar, we reject that notion. When it comes to home entertainment, there doesn't have to be one singular path forward. Physical media continues to hold unmatched value for enthusiasts and collectors alike, offering a tactile, immersive experience that goes beyond simply "watching" content.
Magnetar is here for the long haul, continuously innovating to support new media formats and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in the home entertainment industry. Our dedication to quality, customer support, and long-term product reliability positions us as the go-to brand for those who refuse to settle for anything less than excellence.
What advantages do Magnetar's players offer over streaming solutions in terms of video and audio quality?
Streaming services rely on compression algorithms that reduce video bitrates and limit dynamic range, leading to a noticeable drop in quality, especially when based on subscription tiers with varying bitrate delivery levels. Additionally, and problematically, these algorithms vary from streaming service to streaming service, leading to inconsistent viewing experiences across each of them.
Magnetar players offer full-bandwidth playback of 4K UHD, Blu-ray, SACD, and other high-resolution formats, preserving the original detail, color accuracy, and sound dynamics. With support for lossless audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, as well as full uncompressed audio, Magnetar provides uncompromising quality that streaming platforms simply cannot match.
How do you see the relationship between physical media and streaming evolving for home theater enthusiasts? Is there still a demand for disc-based playback?
Absolutely. While streaming has become the norm for casual viewing, physical media continues to be essential for enthusiasts who demand the best quality and control over their collections. Many customers recognize the long-term value and reliability of discs, which are not subject to digital rights revocation, content removal, or bandwidth limitations. Magnetar's commitment to supporting both physical and networked media formats ensures that customers can enjoy the best of both worlds.
How does Magnetar cater to audiophiles/cinephiles, and what distinguishes your media players in terms of high-resolution audio playback?
Magnetar media players feature reference-level audio components, including ESS DACs, precision temperature-compensated crystal oscillators, and high-end capacitors. These components minimize distortion, reduce jitter, and enhance audio fidelity, ensuring studio-quality playback. Magnetar products offer a unique combination of features, all housed within a singular device. The rare combination of support for a wide range of formats coupled with high-end components empower Magnetar universal media players to provide superior performance that cannot be matched by other solutions.
Magnetar universal media players are fully compatible with a wide variety of formats including 4K UHD BD, BD, BD-R, BD-RE, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, AVCHD, SACD, CD, CD-R/RW. In addition, it can easily connect to numerous media resources through USB 3.0, supporting up to 16TB hard drive, sharing video, music, and pictures files through DLNA, SMB and NFS supporting a wide range of media formats including MKV, AVI, MP4, WAV, FLAC, APE, DSD, etc., users can easily play and manage media files in local and LAN storage devices.
Many high-end home theater users integrate projectors with dedicated AV processors. How does Magnetar ensure compatibility with top-tier AVRs and processors?
Magnetar players are engineered with broad connectivity and high-bandwidth HDMI outputs, ensuring seamless integration with AV receivers and processors. Bit-perfect audio output, multi-format decoding, and high-resolution passthrough capabilities allow our players to function flawlessly within any high-end home theater setup.
How does Magnetar support customers and installers in achieving the best possible performance from their players and projection setups?
Magnetar provides dedicated customer support, technical assistance, and dealer partnerships to ensure optimal performance. We work closely with boutique AV retailers and professional integrators to deliver hands-on demonstrations, detailed product education, and responsive service.
Unlike other brands, Magnetar avoids large e-commerce platforms like Amazon and rouge marketplaces to preserve an exclusive, hands-on purchasing experience. Magnetar directly answers the needs of customers with extensive physical media collections seeking to maintain or enhance their high-quality entertainment experience.
What's next for Magnetar? Are there any upcoming innovations, new product launches, or features that home theater enthusiasts should be excited about?
Magnetar is committed to expanding its product line, supporting new formats, and introducing innovations that enhance the home theater experience. While our UDP800 and UDP900 remain best-in-class, we are always exploring ways to further push the boundaries of AV performance through new features, improved connectivity, and future-proof compatibility.
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