Pioneer LX500 4K Dolby Vision Blu-ray player aims to rule

Is this the world’s next best UHD Blu-ray player? Pioneer has finally released details on its UDP-LX500, a premium Dolby Vision-enabled player moving into the hardware void created by departing Oppo.

As we’ve seen on previous Pioneer flagship disc spinners, build quality appears high. The deck features a low resonance design, honed for high-speed UHD Blu-ray playback. An Acoustic Damper tray sits within a rigid double-layered chassis with a 3mm steel top plate. The deck tips the scales at 10.3kg.

Pioneer says “the UDP-LX500 has also been engineered to be a superb audio-only player.” Audio boards have also been designed for a superior signal-to-noise ratio, it adds.

There’s a Direct function for analogue audio playback, which turns off the digital audio and video circuits, and Pioneer's PQLS (Precision Quartz Lock System) for HDMI connection to compatible Pioneer receivers (SC-LX701, SC-LX801, SC-LX901).

The UDP-LX500 is compatible with both SACD and DVD-Audio discs, and is High-Res able. It's also 3D Blu-ray compliant.

The UDP-LX500 has three HDMI output modes: The Separate mode separates sound and vision via the main/sub HDMI outputs; a Single mode routes both video and audio output via the main HDMI output, while a Pure Audio mode delivers an audio-only output from the sub HDMI terminal.

There is also an SDR/HDR Preset to optimise the video output according to display, adjustable between LCD TV, OLED and Projector (which should prove interesting), and info rich OSD which will relate bit-rate, soundmix format details, plus mastering information including MaxFALL (Maximum Frame Average Light Level) and MaxCLL (Maximum Content Light Level) metadata values. You want more? How about a self-Illuminating remote control?

The UDP-LX500 will sell for £1,000 when it's launched in September.