Audiophile Blu Ray Player - Pioneer LX 55 V/S 450 V/s Panasonic BDP 500

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Hello FM's,

I am in search for an audiophile BDP under 20 K. Panasonic BDP 500, Pioneer 450 and LX 55 are true audiophile BDP's with dedicated DAC's, kindly help me in finding out best among three. My requirement as follows:

Top scale audio output
Good video scaling (natural color rendering)
Majority format support (including BR ISO)
Well build to have minimum interference on audio processing
Must support FLAC/WAV/WMA etc
Must have optical input
Must support external hard disk upto 4TB

Dont have any idea about Audio and Video format support of LX 55. Sony 790 is out as Panasonic outperforms when it comes to audio. Oppo 105 is out as dont have that kinda budget. Please Help !

 

[reignofchaos]

Get the LX55 - I've heard it personally and it sounds pretty musical for a video player.

 

[[email protected]]

@ reignofchaos: I'm more worried about the file format support (audio/video) of LX 55, i dont think it supports WAV. Whats say?

 

[reignofchaos]

It'll play CDs/SACDs for sure. You can burn the files onto disc and play.

 

[[email protected]]

Does it support 4TB HDD?? Any one there to help ??

 

[[email protected]]

It may not support 4 TB as it is not designed to play mainly from Hard Drive source. It is one of the best BDP available in the market globally. Truely a legendry system. End of the day we buy blu ray players to watch Blu ray discs. to watch 4tb use an HTPC. Or use a 1tb which supports even in my BDP 450

Thanks Saravana,

I've read reviews & comparison of BDT 500 VS LX 55. The reviews says Pana uses Burr-Brown DAC & it supports 7.1 analogue output wherein LX 55 uses quartz precision system. End of Day, Pana sounded better & pioneer was lacking little warmth. Also, the disc loading time is better in Pana. Too much confused as my friend is going to Thailand & planning to bring it from there.

Repeat, my first priority is audio & video quality.

BTW, can you share a brief of your demo with LX 55??

 

[pakecc]

LX55 is my opinion.... THE BEST AND MY DREAM is to get it soon now....

Hi, since you own a BDP 450 already, what improvements are you looking ( dreaming too ) in a LX55. Me too pondering over LX55 and BDP450 to replace my Sony S1100.

 

[rajan]

Pioneer BDP 450 & LX55 - both are selling at same price 179 in UK. Deal is also at Amazon.co.uk

Richer Sounds - The UK's Hi-Fi, Home Cinema & Flat Panel TV Specialists!

 

[[email protected]]

I've LX 55 (6-7 nos) available at 16 K, sealed pack without any warranty.

 

[ajay0722]

Is panasonic DMP BDT500 still in the race in this thread ...
It was listed for $149.99 on amazon.com and currently ishop is giving 50% discount on shipping.... overall approx 15k landing cost for BDT500.

what the experts says .....

 

[vijaykarthik123]

In brief, I would support Panasonic BDP-500 based on my previous auditioning experience

 

[ajay0722]

I see lots of +ive reviews for BDT500, and pretty less for LX55. As i do not have chance for audition, going with the reviews and ordered one from amazon @ 149.99USD. Shipping via ishop. total landing cost is less than 15.3k.

 

[rajbhaskar]

Hi Ajay,
Could you please let me know the region compatibility of the Pana BDT500 that you got from Amazon.
Also if you can post URLs it would be really appreciated. I am not aware of ishop. You inputs will probably help me in acquiring one.

Thanks in anticipation.

 

[ajay0722]

BR Region A, DVD 1
I have not yet received, it is in transit. Below is URL

Amazon.com : Panasonic DMP-BDT500 Integrated Wi-Fi 3D Blu-ray DVD Player : Blu Ray Disc Players : Electronics

 

[ajay0722]

Got my DMP BDT500 yesterday , here is first impression on this deal:

Order: I placed my order on 29Dec13 via ishopinternational, when this was listed for 149.99USD on amazon. ishop website was showing that they have placed order to amazon on 30Dec, but the status didnt change till 7Jan, and i had called them 3-4 times to know the status but seems ishop has very defficient tracking process. nobody was able to answer whether the product was actually orderd or recieved by their NY warehouse. All of a sudden, on 8Jan, the online status changed and was showing a BlueDart tracking number. When i checked bluedart, the product was actually reached bangalore and delivery was done in next 3 hours. I was happy but surprized how ishop people dont know that product has reached india? Just for fun, i called them again on 9Jan morning, asking the status, and they still have no clue. however i informed them that i have recieved

Packing: The product was in original panasonic box, which was damaged at several places. The player was sitting very loosely inside, and while opening the box i was very much concerned about the damages inside. bring out the player from inner sleeve, a small (3-4 mm) crack on the front flip cover made me disappointed at first place.
Keeping my fingers crossed, made the connections with TV/AVR etc. Its 110V player, and as i already own a stepdown for my AVR, plugged it to the free 100V point on transformer.
A deep breath of relief.... the player is alive no other issue....

Out-of-box impression:
Build & Finish: just wow, player is solid build and very rich finish.
(Just tried with USB as of now)
Video: I am not an expert, but my layman's point, it is superb, very nice colors and motion handling. I have used Denon's DBP2012, and the result with bdt500 is very much close to it, at least for my eyes Or my TV . The most improvement i see is the fast moving scenes which is damn smooth with bdt500.

Audio: The sound quality is definitely a plus, while watching BR/MKVs i tried different audio modes and they really give a impressive output particurly night surround mode. Played some 320kbps mp3, not much difference then denon 2012. I think i dont hear difference bcoz my speakers (I had same feeling when i plugged Asus Xonar E1 DAC )

Convenience: Touchpad in Remote is really a bad idea. If you want to scroll to 50 songs in a folder, you might need to swipe atleast 10 times
Another limitation i see is, it cant play videos continuosly (like video songs).. cant move out of the folder while playing a audio(mp3 etc) without stop playing....
may be i will come out of this problems once i have used this for few hours... remember this is just 'first impression'

A friend of mine has decided to buy LX55, once it is there, hopefully we will meet some weekend to a-b comparision... will write up if that happen sometime soon

 

[[email protected]]

Does ishop cover shipping damage ??? Sad to hear even if the crack is small, it hurts a lot !!

Look forward for your detailed review.

 

[CLEARCUT]

Panasonic is the best I have pioneer lx55, and Pan 320. Pioneer looks sturdy, But in audio Pana 320 in high audiophile quality in which analogue video is cut off. But in hdmi its available. Audio amazing. It simply beats dedicated audio cd palyer too.

 

[ajay0722]

Does ishop cover shipping damage ???

I dont know...
Actually this crack is very small to be visible from 2-3ft distance and only a cosmetic thing.... moreover i dont want to spoil the mood by dealing with ishop again ... so accepting it as it is ...