This is a translation of a foreign article, so there may be mistranslations.
https://www.avpasion.com/magnetar-formato-fisico-uhd-magnetar-ultima/
Magnetar continues its commitment to physical media, announcing a new UHD player, the 'Magnetar Ultima'
Magnetar Audio, the Chinese company generating the most buzz in the hi-fi industry, is continuing to invest in 4K UHD Blu-ray players. This year we were able to see the new 2026 machine they announced: the Magnetar Ultima, an imposing device that succeeds the UDP900MKII, which passed by briefly in 2025.
The biggest difference with this model, the 'Ultima', is that it is a pure UHD player with a pure transport design and no built-in DAC. It is important to understand this precisely: a DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter) is mainly responsible for converting the signal (ones and zeros) of digital files such as MKV into analogue information so that speakers can produce sound.
Magnetar Ultima: a fantastic new high-end UHD player from the Chinese brand
Magnetar showed this new 4K Blu-ray player, the Ultima, at ISE 2026, the most important integrated technology fair, held recently in Barcelona. The new player supports UHD Blu-ray discs as well as CD and SACD playback, and takes direct aim at the physical media film market, which — despite a curious rebound in recent months — is gradually being reshaped into a high-end audiovisual market.
In any case, this player carries advanced decoding and image processing technology. Much like the Reavon UBR-X200, a former rival of Magnetar that has now disappeared, it is aimed at dedicated enthusiasts. It supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ playback, a metal body for a more premium finish, 4K UHD upscaling, HD audio format compatibility and SACD disc playback.
Internally it appears to follow the trend of recent years: it carries the well-known MediaTek MT8581 quad-core chipset supporting the BT.2020/BT.709/BT.601 colour gamuts, with upscaling up to 4K 50/60 Hz.
It also supports literally almost every medium: it can play UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, AVCHD, SACD, CD, Kodak Picture CD, CD-R/RW, DVD±R/RW, DVD±R DL and BD-R/RE. Beyond that, it can connect to your favourite server via DLNA, SMB and NFS, and supports a wide range of multimedia formats including MKV, AVI, MP4, WAV, FLAC, APE and DSD.
What is interesting is that the Ultima adopts a pure transport design without a DAC, making integration with an existing hi-fi system easier. The main unit draws power from an independent power section, reducing noise generated by AC or switching power supplies, improving thermal management and optimising the purity of high-resolution audio. The rear panel carries two HDMI outputs, which prevents mutual interference.
Magnetar Ultima: launch status and release date
Because such highly premium products target a specific minority and are produced in very small quantities, it is very hard to pin down an exact release date. Given the nature of the product, countries such as China and the United States will probably receive stock first, after which it will gradually roll out to the remaining markets the brand regards as priorities.
The Ultima shown at ISE was a pre-production unit (a prototype), but the design retains Magnetar’s characteristic classic style. Industry observers expect the new flagship to sit above the UDP900 MKII in the lineup, and anticipate an official launch in 2026. The price has not yet been officially confirmed, but it is expected to be considerably high.
▶ Original source: https://www.avpasion.com/magnetar-formato-fisico-uhd-magnetar-ultima/
