Magnetar has announced the debut of ULTIMA, the world’s first luxury media transport featuring a dedicated DC power stage. Building upon Magnetar’s MKII platform and backed by more than two decades of engineering experience, ULTIMA supports UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, CD, SACD, DVD-Audio, DSD/DoP via AES/EBU, USB media, and high-resolution network playback along with Dolby Vision and HDR10+. This broad format compatibility allows ULTIMA to handle virtually every premium physical and digital media format found in today’s custom theaters and dedicated listening rooms while eliminating the need to specify multiple disc players or file transports within a single system.
At the heart of ULTIMA is a dedicated DC power architecture unlike anything previously realized in a luxury media platform. Rather than rely exclusively on traditional AC-supplied power, ULTIMA features dedicated BYD lithium-based power stages to isolate critical transport, clocking, and signal pathways from noise, fluctuations, and contamination elements commonly found in conventional power environments. ULTIMA’s power architecture allows for the creation of a stable, low-noise operating environment for precision playback.
Complementing the power architecture is a synchronized master clock system anchored around a unified 10 MHz reference that maintains precise system timing across the player for stable, accurate transmission to downstream components such as external processors and DACs. This unique approach allows the entire system to operate from a single “time axis” with synchronized, predictable data flow and timing relationships. The result is overall system stability, signal integrity, timing consistency, significantly reduced total phase noise, and improved disc playback consistency.
A massively reinforced chassis minimizes vibration, suppresses resonance, and maintains stability during operation. Additionally, internally isolated components shield sensitive circuits from unwanted interference, while meticulously controlled grounding and power distribution further reduce problematic electrical interaction between subsystems. Lastly, the transport mechanism has been refined to the same standard, resulting in disc read stability, vibration management, and data integrity that have all been elevated beyond conventional universal playback standards.
The Magnetar ULTIMA is now shipping and available through Magnetar’s authorized dealer and distributor network at an MSRP of $12,000.
For more information, visit www.magnetarusa.com.
