Reavon high-end UHD Blu-ray players

Like the proverbial London bus, you can never get a high-end UHD Blu-ray player when you want one — then two come along at once. With Oppo’s legendary disc spinners long gone, and no news yet (we asked) of whether the revival of Onkyo and Pioneer (see below) will see the latter’s high-end players returning to Australia, we can only release the party balloons to celebrate the release of the $1390 UBR-X100 and $2900 UBR-X200 from French company Reavon, especially since the higher model has already received the acclaim of the combined editors of EISA (of which we can lay claim to one), as featured on page 24 of this very issue.

The two players are easily distinguished from their rear panels. The X100 (shown right) is all-digital, with no internal DACs, so offers two HDMI outputs, one combo and one audio only, along with optical and coaxial digital audio outputs. Other than that, one could hardly call it a budget player — it’s solidly built with steel plate reinforcing its chassis base, and it plays the same full range of discs as its pricier sibling, from UHD Blu-rays (including Dolby Vision HDR), through standard and 3D Blu-rays right down to DVD and CDs, while also having Ethernet DLNA networking and a USB 3.0 input to play music and video content, including MKV and M2TS video.

Double your money to the X200 and you gain internal Burr-Brown DACs to enable the inclusion of the not-inconsiderable socketry shown below left, with decoding of Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and lesser formats to its individual analogue pre-outs for 7.1 channels. The main left and right channels are presented from both gold-plated RCA and balanced XLR sockets. The X200 also adds SACD playback.

Both units cater to the video geek, with detailed information screens, including impressive HDR detail (see below). Reavon is distributed in Australia by Avation, so more information at www.avation.com.au

BenQ has released the $999 GV30 projector, a 720p model which comes with an Android stick to provide smarts, an internal battery to deliver enough portable power to get through a movie, and a 2.1-channel sound system built-in. The circular design enables the projector to be rotated on its magnetic base, making it easy to aim the picture where you need it, from straight ahead to the ceiling, and rather beyond. We’ll have a full review in the upcoming issue of Best Buys Audio & AV, our bi-annual Sound+Image reviewfest. More tech info: www.benq.com.au