Magnetar launches $12,000 reference 4K Blu-ray player for audiophiles and cinephiles
Magnetar has unveiled the Ultima, a $12,000 reference 4K Blu-ray player, at CEDIA 2026, supporting a wide range of disc and file formats without a built-in DAC.
The Ultima is built on Magnetar's MKII player platform and supports 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, SACD, DVD, CD, DVD-A, DSD/DoP, USB and network playback. It can handle a broad range of premium formats and external digital files in a single system. The player is designed with an external DC power supply rather than a traditional internal AC setup, resulting in two separate units. It uses dedicated lithium-based power stages intended to isolate the transport, clock and signal paths from noise, voltage fluctuation and other potential interference.
Those power stages come from BYD, the Chinese firm known mainly for its electric cars. TechRadar notes that seeing an automaker involved is less surprising than it might first appear because BYD is a leader in battery and power electronics technology.
The Ultima runs a synchronized master clock system around a unified 10MHz reference clock for precise timing. Notably, it has no audio DAC, as its purpose is to deliver the most accurate audio data to the rest of a user's system. It offers two HDMI outputs, one of which is audio-only, plus gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, AES/EBU and coaxial S/PDIF connections.
The player is available now through Magnetar's dealer network. Although the price is steep, TechRadar says it is welcome news because few hardware makers continue producing Blu-ray players, and the format has been neglected even as interest in Blu-ray appears to grow again.