Sony UBP-X800

FOR Great detail; superb sound quality; vibrant colours AGAINST Nothing of note

Doing something for the first time can often be nerve-wracking. Bungee-jumping, for example, or going on a date. And making a success of it is even harder, as you venture forth into uncharted territory.

No doubt Sony had similar feelings with the release of the UBP†X800, the company’s first 4K Blu-ray player. But it can rest easy; the X800 is a definite success.

The cat’s whiskers

So, let’s start with the ‘things a good 4K Blu-ray player should do’ checklist. First up: colour. We feed the X800 a copy of the 4K HDR Planet Earth II, and the vibrancy of the colour immediately hits us. The azure skyline pops against the white of the snow-capped Himalayas without appearing oversaturated, and the subtle hue differences in the fur of the wild cats is nuanced and natural. So far, so good.

The X800 certainly makes the most of the number of pixels it has to play with. As well as being coloured nicely, the mountain cats’ fur is layered and crisp. You can also make out more detail in the rocky terrain, more cracks or rock fragments than other players can pick up. Planet Earth II features lots of long pans over vast landscapes, and even in the far distance you can see faint indications of slopes and sharp angles under the blanket of snow.

Pleasingly, the X800 fares well during dark scenes too. We stream a few hours of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror on Netflix and in the episode 'Playtest' the detail and range of blacks in the grotesque spidercreature’s hair helps blur the distinction between hologram and reality even more.

Moving down a level in terms of resolution, we load the X800 with a Blu-ray of Guardians Of The Galaxy. There is a good degree of depth to the image, so when Star-lord, Gamora and Rocket Raccoon are planning their escape from the Kyln prison ship, with Groot reaching for the battery behind them, the difference between the foreground and background is impressive.

This is due to the sophisticated way the X800 renders the small details in outlines, which means you certainly won’t have to worry about the quality of the upscaling with this player.

But when their best laid plans go south and the superheroes are forced to improvise, the X800 has no trouble moving from stationary planning to a guns-blazing battle. Star-lord’s leaps and rolls over tables, Drax’s burly punches, and Rocket’s frantic scrabbling to escape the bullets are all kept smooth and realistic – or as realistic as a film with talking animals and god-like villains can be.

Sparkling sound

The video quality is matched by crisp audio too. We connect the X800 to a Yamaha RX†A3060 amplifier and our PMC Twenty.23 speaker set-up, and find a light, insightful character to the player that

outshines its main competitor, the Panasonic DMP†UB900.

We play Fantastic Beasts And Where To

Find Them, and when Eddie Redmayne’s Newt Scamander catches the magical, coin-spluttering Niffler (a platypus-type creature) the clatter of gold coins falling to the floor has a shine to it that, while never verging on the bright, adds a little bit of sparkle to the sound.

Well-defined space

Effects such as the hatching of a monster egg are sharp and snappy, and stand out against the soundtrack. It’s well organised, with each sound effect having its own clear, well-defined space.

And while it has no trouble with large-scale sounds, it really comes through in its low-level dynamics. Early on in the film, in the scene where Jacob Kowalski goes to the bank to offer pastries as a way to alleviate his financial woes, the emotion in both the bank manager’s steely refusal and Kowalski’s disappointed whisper is really quite expressive.

Setting up the X800 couldn’t be easier. The remote is well-sized, the buttons feel nice and the dedicated ‘Net Service’ button – which takes you to the last used app – means that non-netflix subscribers have a button for their most used streaming service too. If you are a Netflix subscriber, you have your own dedicated button.

The X800 comes with the expected support of Netflix and Amazon Video, as well as BBC iplayer, Demand 5, Spotify and an array of other options. While it’s not a complete list – ITV Hub and All4 are missing – those with a 4K HDR television will most likely find the full range of services available through their TV.

Standard-bearer

You can also stream your Android smartphone to the player via Miracast, and if you’re among those people with a 3D television, the X800 plays 3D movies too. There’s also a USB input for video and audio, hidden underneath a panel on the right-hand side of the player.

Much like other Sony players, you can connect it wirelessly to other compatible speakers via its Sonypal app, or stream the audio through Bluetooth to some wireless headphones if you don’t want to disturb others with the noise from your TV. But if that’s not a concern, you can hook the player up to your sound system via the coaxial output or the second HDMI port.

If you’re in the market for a quality 4K Blu-ray player, this is the one we’d recommend. It has a crisp, detailed and colourful image, sounds great, and is simple to use. The X800 has certainly met Sony’s high standards – and also set a high standard for its competition.

“The X800’s video quality is matched by the crisp audio quality. It has a light, insightful character that outshines its Panasonic rival”

With two HDMI ports you can hook the X800 to a projector and TV

The X800 has a crisp image, sounds great and is simple to use