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Post by flamingeye on Mar 12, 2010 17:10:41 GMT -5
...so expect a long winded post later this afternoon/evening. We would expect nothing less. ;D Looking forward to your impressions! me 2 |
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ntrain42
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Post by ntrain42 on Mar 12, 2010 18:58:16 GMT -5
OK.........whew...........this was a long one. Many of you know about the few bugs that have driven me a bit nuts which have sidetracked me a bit but here it goes.
A. The HDMI switcher. Its SLOOOOOOOOOOOOW, especially compared to the Onkyo units when switching from one input to the next. Its also very slow when changing channels on cable, especially when going from one resolution to another. Regardless if its set to pass thru or Auto. In pass thru mode, it does pass a 24p signal. When set to auto it does not. Beyond this though it seems to work fine. Hopefully an update speeds the switching speed up significantly. Id also like to see it pass a 24p signal when set to auto as well. Not sure if this is a possibility though.
B. Legacy switching using component, composite, S video, is a bit faster, works fine. No real issues here. Video quality will be what is expected using these inputs, no signal degredation that I could tell.
C. DCDi chip upscaling. As Ive said before I owned the unit, its not as good as units possesing the Reon chipset. But its not bad either. It has better upscaling abilities than most HD TV's and source units you would find at a typical box store, but it still falls short of anything that uses the Reon processor. Specifically jaggies and softening of the picture. When using my Projectors Reon chip or the Onkyos that also have the Reon chip, the picture was noticeably sharper with less jaggies on lower resolution upscaled sources whether it be DVD or compressed cable TV. Regardless though, its a step better than a few of the Samsung pdp's and Panasonic TV's I tested it out with. Also of note, I actually find the UMC-1 to be a bit better upscaling DVD's than the Oppo 83 player overall. Having a few nice 1080p projectors with a 106" and 150" screens really allows you to see picture differences, defects etc.
D. Analog inputs/outputs are very good on this unit. If you have a good CD player with an excellent on board DAC, then I wouldnt hesistat to use this AV processor as a preamp. It has very low noise and does not seem to compress the signal or degrade it in any major way. I never expect a home theatre processor to be great as a preamp for serious audio listening, but for those using mid grade source units like Oppo players, the ERC-1, Adcoms(Like a GCD 700 or 750),Rotels etc. this will not degrade the sound or add any extraneous noise in any real noticeable fashion. For most people it will be more than "good enough".
E. Internal DACs for movie/music decoding. Here I was actually a bit surprised. For movies, the internal DAC's are just fine, especially with the nice xover/eq function this unit employs. The sound is clear, well defined and spaced out well. I was not dissapointed using any surround format(the ones I care about and tested extensively include Dolby digital,DTS,TrueHD and DTS MA). For movies the unit does just fine. Having 2 PS3's on hand(One gen 2 which does onboard decoding, one PS3 slim that can bitstream out)and an Oppo 83 player. I really couldnt tell a difference either way. When I have to constantly AB repeat items over and over again to try and pic out minute detail differences, I consider it a wash. That was the case here. Even with the Onkyo's which use BurrBrown DAC's there wasnt much difference for movies. The small difference there was though did favor the Onkyo units, again though it was really too close to call to worry about it one way or the other.
For music the UMC-1 wasnt bad either, and its going to have better decoding than your typical box store/wal-mart cd players etc. like my older Onkyo DVD/cd changer and my old Pioneer F1009 301 disc changer, where the sound is much more spacious and well defined with a less muted sound, but compared to the Oppo player and more specifically my Adcom GCD 700 its just not as good. The Adcom is best of the bunch and its the only one to employ Burr Brown DACs, and it shows. The sound is much more defined and open. Using the UMC-1's DACs the soundstage was narrower and was muted considerably.........it was still pretty good, but the AB difference between them was significant. The Oppo was also a bit better falling somewhere between the UMC-1 and Adcom player........being closer in sonics to the UMC-1.
F. EmoQ: I didnt waste my time with the autotune setup(and most of you know why as I have my own Audiocontrol 3055 RTA), and I know of the complaints, but I personally could care less. This processor has ALOT of manual tweaks and thats all I care about. I love the adjustable 12/24db slope xovers and the MANY points available. I also love the 11 band individual channel EQ, and the large cuts/gains. This is HUGE. With a good RTA tool, you can take some really crappy speakers and make them sing with the ability to smooth them out considerably. The time delay/speaker distance function is also great too. I like the fact it has 2 user presets. If I can find fault with anything, I wish they would include maybe one or 2 more user presets as well. If they could add one or more manual presets into the firmware that would be spectacular. That way I can have one for 2 channel music, one for daytime HT viewing, one for nighttime and one more for a future setting. All in all the EmoQ itself makes the $700 price a big bargain.
G. The remote: Its cheap, its plastic, its not backlit. But its easy to navigate, and the secondary zone 2 control at the bottom is great. It would be nice if they had an upgrade available for this. Maybe a nice aluminum cased backlit version. Id pay for it.
All in all, I think for $700 its a good deal.
The bugs I encounter that need to be fixed:
A. Slow HDMI switching(and defaulting to 480p out of pass thru mode)
B. HDMI needs to be able to pass 24p in auto mode
C. Unit locks up ALOT..........supposedly there is a fix for this coming.
D. Dim setting #2 has the display looking erratic with lots of static
Other than this Im very happy. Hopefully the next firmware revision takes care of all of these small issues.
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RadTech
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Post by RadTech on Mar 12, 2010 19:11:58 GMT -5
Nice write up! Thanks. ;D
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Post by elwicksto on Mar 12, 2010 23:06:57 GMT -5
Nice write up! Thanks. ;D +1 - a very good read indeed. |
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kt10r
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Post by kt10r on Mar 13, 2010 0:06:28 GMT -5
Awesome ntrain, you da man. Quick question have you ever tried the erc-1? Do you think you might? Ive got a umc and 3 xpa-1's coming. Just trying to decide if i want to bother getting a usp-1 to go with my erc and my umc. Im trying to figure out if it would be enough of a difference. Im hoping not. Ive been really surprised there havent been more people curious on the subject. Anyway thanks again for the review bro.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2010 0:39:57 GMT -5
Many of you know about the few bugs that have driven me a bit nuts Ntrain42, I had made the observation that you were already a bit nuts before you got the UMC-1. ;D ;D ;D OK, now to be serious for a minute. Very nice review and all the time you put into it. I do not have the UMC-1, so I can't comment on most of your findings. However, I was surprised at your mentioning: ".....It has better upscaling abilities than most HD TV's and source units you would find at a typical box store....." ".....I actually find the UMC-1 to be a bit better upscaling DVD's than the Oppo 83 player overall......" These statements surprised me (even knowing that you have "a few nice 1080p projectors with a 106" and 150" screens" ..... you must have one hell of a big house! ;D) since I own the Oppo 83 and did lengthy tests when I first received it. One of the things that impressed me so much about the 83 was IMO the excellent upscaling of DVD's. This capability was menitioned in all or most of the numorous pro reviews that I have seen. The conclusion I would come to reading your review is that the Oppo 83 has a relatively mediocre upscaler, not as good as the UMC-1 or especially the Reon. I know the Reon has an excellent reputation, but I was surprised you observed that much of a diference. Anyway, just my two cents and keep up the good work on your reviews. ;D |
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ntrain42
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Post by ntrain42 on Mar 13, 2010 10:43:42 GMT -5
Awesome ntrain, you da man. Quick question have you ever tried the erc-1? Do you think you might? Ive got a umc and 3 xpa-1's coming. Just trying to decide if i want to bother getting a usp-1 to go with my erc and my umc. Im trying to figure out if it would be enough of a difference. Im hoping not. Ive been really surprised there havent been more people curious on the subject. Anyway thanks again for the review bro. Hey bro, yes I have heard the ERC-1. For the money its a pretty good CD player. Honestly I would bypass the USP-1 and plug the ERC-1 into the UMC-1's analog section. You wont really lose anything. Wait for the XSP-1 to come out if your eventually looking for a dedicated 2 channel preamp. ;D |
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ntrain42
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Post by ntrain42 on Mar 13, 2010 10:52:35 GMT -5
Many of you know about the few bugs that have driven me a bit nuts Ntrain42, I had made the observation that you were already a bit nuts before you got the UMC-1. ;D ;D ;D OK, now to be serious for a minute. Very nice review and all the time you put into it. I do not have the UMC-1, so I can't comment on most of your findings. However, I was surprised at your mentioning: ".....It has better upscaling abilities than most HD TV's and source units you would find at a typical box store....." ".....I actually find the UMC-1 to be a bit better upscaling DVD's than the Oppo 83 player overall......" These statements surprised me (even knowing that you have "a few nice 1080p projectors with a 106" and 150" screens" ..... you must have one hell of a big house! ;D) since I own the Oppo 83 and did lengthy tests when I first received it. One of the things that impressed me so much about the 83 was IMO the excellent upscaling of DVD's. This capability was menitioned in all or most of the numorous pro reviews that I have seen. The conclusion I would come to reading your review is that the Oppo 83 has a relatively mediocre upscaler, not as good as the UMC-1 or especially the Reon. I know the Reon has an excellent reputation, but I was surprised you observed that much of a diference. Anyway, just my two cents and keep up the good work on your reviews. ;D Hi Chuckie, I find that with bigger screens its easier to find upscaling artifacts. One thing that annoys me is when a picture has that bland washed out look when upscaling. THe Oppo 83 wasnt bad at upscaling at all, in fact its definetly above average, but so is the UMC-1. WIth my PJ's upscaling chip bypassed, thus using the UMC-1's and 83's I found the UMC-1 to be a tad less washed out and more focused. On a smaller fixed pixel screen the difference was hard to tell apart and I would honestly probably call it a wash, but on a larger PJ screen, the UMC-1 had to my eyes a slight edge literally with all processing functions(like NR)turned off. My screens are all calibrated per independant input as well by myself with both user and professional tools on hand. I personally myself dont do DVD's or SD anymore so to me either way its not a big deal, I just spent some time on it for others here who do. And my conclusion is the UMC-1 and Oppo 83 both are not bad upscalers at all with a small edge going to the UMC-1(but that does not detract from the Oppo). Neither are the best, but for most it should be more than good enough.....especially on smaller fixed pixel displays. I mean honestly........you shouldnt be watching any content that needs to be upscaled anyway.  Unless its Led Zepplin's "The Song Remains the Same". ;D  |
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Post by bigred7078 on Mar 13, 2010 11:49:52 GMT -5
Nice write-up Ntrain
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ntrain42
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Post by ntrain42 on Mar 13, 2010 17:57:52 GMT -5
I have to add an update: The sub EQ and xover dont work on the UMC-1, not on my unit anyway.........just checked this extensively on all input/output formats..................I get this impression this is another firmware issue.................it never crossed my mind till I talked with another member on the phone today. My sub's own response is ruler flat and the xover is set low so I missed this originally. Add it to the bug list..............
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Post by RayoVac on Mar 13, 2010 22:48:13 GMT -5
I have to add an update: The sub EQ and xover dont work on the UMC-1, not on my unit anyway.........just checked this extensively on all input/output formats..................I get this impression this is another firmware issue.................it never crossed my mind till I talked with another member on the phone today. My sub's own response is ruler flat and the xover is set low so I missed this originally. Add it to the bug list.............. I also noted this.  |
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Post by flamingeye on Mar 15, 2010 14:11:30 GMT -5
Awesome review ntrain it gives a person a good feel on how the umc performs
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Animo
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Post by Animo on Mar 15, 2010 19:20:08 GMT -5
Hey Andy, Tell us how you really feel  ;D Great job!! |
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Post by pmd918 on Mar 24, 2010 18:29:59 GMT -5
ntrain, nice review.
But I have to say that you have really made life difficult for me. My spot is due to come up on the UMC-1 pre-order list, so I am anxious to get it. But i have also been considering the Integra 40.1. Your review really put me on the fence.
First, the difference in street price between the UMC-1 and the 40.1 is inconsequential to me.
Regarding video scaling, both implement DCDi, but it sounds like the UMC-1 might have a better implementation. Who knows. But I have an Oppo 83 anyway, so I'm not too concerned about this. And I have a 54" plasma, so the differences are probably not even noticeable.
But it sounds as if you would probably give the 40.1 the edge in audio quality since it uses the Burr Brown DAC's. So the Integra wins here.
And clearly the Integra has a ton more features (many not useful to me), so again, the edge goes to the Integra.
On the flip side, the UMC-1 sure has a lot of flexibility with the EQ's. The 40.1 has Audyssey.
So to me I guess that the question is which will have the most impact on sound quality - the better DAC's or the EQ's. My gut feel is the EQ's, but I am very interested in your opinion.
Very tough decision for me balancing the different sound processing options and the added features of the Integra. I'll probably be happy either way, but I'm anxious to hear your thoughts since the 40.1 is for all practical purposes an Onkyo.
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Post by cipher on Mar 25, 2010 9:19:30 GMT -5
Very nice summary, nTrain. Out of the four issues you listed I'm most concerned with the slow HDMI switching. Lonnie and Dan have previously mentioned that switching was extrememly fast on this unit so I'm wondering if there might be a compatability issue with your source or if you are used to very fast switchers.
Can you tell us what HDMI source you have connected to the UMC-1 and also an estimate of how long it's taking to switch channels (both same resolution changes and one resolution to another).
Thanks
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Post by moovtune on Mar 25, 2010 15:48:36 GMT -5
ntrain, nice review. On the flip side, the UMC-1 sure has a lot of flexibility with the EQ's. The 40.1 has Audyssey. The 40.1 has a manual EQ adjust as well. You don't have to use Audyssey. 15 bands in fact. |
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Post by pmd918 on Mar 25, 2010 18:50:21 GMT -5
ntrain, nice review. On the flip side, the UMC-1 sure has a lot of flexibility with the EQ's. The 40.1 has Audyssey. The 40.1 has a manual EQ adjust as well. You don't have to use Audyssey. 15 bands in fact. Thanks for pointing that out. It may have just put the final nail in the coffin of the UMC-1 for me. |
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Unless its Led Zepplin's "The Song Remains the Same". ;D 
;D
