CEDIA 2014

Sales of Blu-ray players are holding their own and may even see a bump as Dolby Atmos discs begin to make their way into the market next month. With that in mind, Pioneer’s introduction of the new Elite BDP-88FD Blu-ray player—conceived as the ultimate reference player—couldn’t be better timed.

Rolf Hawkins, national sales trainer, said the new flagship is the direct successor to Pioneer’s highly acclaimed BDP-09. “The build quality on this is absolutely spectacular with a triple-layer iron chassis, separated and isolated compartments for audio and video, transport, and power supply to minimize interference between the different devices on board.”

The BDP-88FD also plays “every format known to man,” including DVD-Audio and SACD, DSD streaming, FLAC, AIFF, and all the usual audio, video and photo file formats. “Big features for the audiophile community are balanced XLR outputs and the very, very high-end ESS SABRE DAC used in the audio section,” Hawkins continued. “One of the things we do that’s unique in the industry in terms of video format playback, is the ability to take a 1080p Blu-ray and scale it to 4K in the 4:4:4 space at 60 Hz.”

The BDP-88FD ships in December with a suggested retail price of $2,000.