Review of Compli Blu

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
Back from Arkansas where I was designing and pre-wiring a new home. The Compli Blu now has about 350 hrs on it. This thing has surprised me.
First understand that I am a dealer for the following BD players: LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Pioneer, JVC, Sharp, Pioneer Elite, Denon, Marantz, & Oppo so with the current state of affairs Theta has certainly been on a back burner. I've installed a lot of BD players, and this will be the first Theta. We are running an Elite BDP-09FD in our reference system at this time, and have been very pleased with it. There have been no problems, and it bested an Oppo BDP-83 in an earlier shootout (of course it costs 4+ times more than the Oppo.) I've installed Five Oppo SE's, but didn't have them long enough to put them in the reference system so I can't say much abouth the SE. Now to the Compli Blu:
Out of the box it sounded terrible, strident, thin, flat, no air. I put in a MC SACD, set it to Repeat, and went on to Arksnsas with it running.
After I returned I changed the disc every day, Classical Symphony one day, Hard Rock the next, and so on for 6 days, 24 hours a day. At this point things had greatly improved. The unit had fleshed out in the low & mid bass, a sense of air and dimension appeared, and the stridency was gone replaced by just a bit of top end edge. I put in some DVD-As on repeat for 4 days, and went back to life. Now at 250 or so hours we got down to some serious evaluation. The following descriptions apply to the Analogue outs to a Theta Six-Shooter playing SACD (both Stereo & MC,) DVD-A, and Redbook CDs: First it was extremely Dynamic. It seemed to be very fast in that it had a very quick, clear leading edge on transient attacks. It was very airy and had a real nice three dimensional image. FR was sweet on top and nice natural mids with a tight fast bottom end with no wooliness. It was far more musical, sweeter, and dynamic than the BD-83, which I find less than ideal with its Analogue outs. It was also more musical and Dynamic than the old Compli and our Denon DVD-5910CI Universal Player.
On BDs the Theta bested the Oppo in every way in audio, which it should for the difference in $$$$. Compared to the Elite 09FD the Compli Blu was more dynamic, open and airy. The Pioneer is very sweet and musical, but lacks the Dynamics and Transient response of the of the more lively Compli Blu. It also doesn't have the depth of image compared to the Theta. This was shown most succinctly on the magnificent two episode import version of John Woo's "Red Cliff." It is a beautiful pair of films with great acting, history, sets, cinematography, and sound. The battle scenes are among the best I've ever seen on film. The Compli Blu rendered this a fabulous Cinematic Experience, one of the best I've ever enjoyed in my theater. The sound was ultra dynamic and drew the viewer into the story more than I'm used to, edge of your seat stuff. The sound field was completely enveloping, and the bottom end was crushing without beeing bloated. Simply amazing stuff. It just blew me away.
The picture seemed better than I remembered from the Oppo. More three dimensional with better color saturation, and less artifacts, but this is more from the fact that it had slightly more of these qualities than the Elite 09FD which had bettered the Oppo head to head by a small margin (via HDMI directly into a JVC-HD750.) The moveable sub-titles allowed for perfect placement with our Panamorph 240:1 system, somthing the Elite cannot do.
Sadly I did not get to evaluate the Theta as an HDMI Audio Transport, lacking an HDMI SSP in our theater. That will have to wait for another day.
It would seem that Dave Reich's work on the new Power Supply, along with the reworked and much more rigid Transport Mechanism has done wonders for the Compli Blu compared to its OEM Cousin. It would seem that this has improved clock performance, thus reducing jitter and allowing for more clarity and dynamics. I would favor it over the Elite 09FD as well, and also the big Denon. As for the Marantz UD-9004 I can't comment not having heard or seen it in action except at RMAF in an unfamiliar system.
This is definitly not simply a re-badged Oppo like the Lexicon, but a new High End entry into the BD Player wars that is worth an audition. I really didn't expect this level of performance from this unit. A pleasant surprise, and a Universal to boot. Regards, Norm
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Thanks for the review Norm. I am all for people saying they hear subjective audio differences but video? I can't think of a reason the video would look different other that the configs being different from one to the other. Did you verify that both units were configured identically from level setup and also using a test pattern?

Does Theta claim anything about video performance improvements? I read through their main page and it doesn't seem so: http://www.thetadigital.com/compli_blu_info.shtml
 

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
Thanks for the review Norm. I am all for people saying they hear subjective audio differences but video? I can't think of a reason the video would look different other that the configs being different from one to the other. Did you verify that both units were configured identically from level setup and also using a test pattern?

Does Theta claim anything about video performance improvements? I read through their main page and it doesn't seem so: http://www.thetadigital.com/compli_blu_info.shtml
Amir, I did no video tests. My primary focus was on the Analogue Audio Outputs. There was just a feeling of more involvement in the picture. It seemed deeper and more saturated, but I admit this could be fleeting and was mostly from memory. So while I stand by my observations on the Audio, I will leave the video verification to those with more expertise and gear to verify or not. It is possible that the much better power supply and Transport mechanism could help stabalize the Video Circuits however.
Steve, there are no add ons that I am aware of, but there is a $500 trade in credit for any previous Theta Player or Transport. Regards, Norm
 

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
Thanks Norm. Just that Les said "starts at $2995" and I thought there were options in the player
Steve, there are no options on the Dealer Price list, and RS-232 is included. Norm
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Fair enough Norm :).

Just expanding on my comment, since out displays are "digital" these days, instability in video timing is not a concern anymore. So as long as the connection is through HDMI, better power supply, etc. makes no difference.
 

LesAuber

Well-Known Member
Jun 21, 2010
141
0
361
Sorry for any confusion. My wording was straight from Theta'a webpage on the unit. I didn't know if they were going the route of the prior Compli in which there would be additional options not yet announced or not.
 

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
Amir, you certainly are more up to speed than I on this, however since the disc is being read in real time is it not possible that like Audio, bits is not bits, or is jitter of no importance in Video?
 

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
Les, I know it says stating at....
but there are no options on the price sheet other than the trade in credit. Norm
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Amir, you certainly are more up to speed than I on this, however since the disc is being read in real time is it not possible that like Audio, bits is not bits, or is jitter of no importance in Video?
The jitter is definitely there. It is just that once the video samples are captured and go to a display with discreet pixel locations (i.e. every type of display in use today), jitter cannot impact them. The video is either for pixel 2 or 3 and nothing in between. If the clock timing says pixel location 2.001, we can safely put that value in pixel 2 location and thereby eliminate jitter.

In audio, the sample timing works differently as it is part of the equation of creating an analog waveform. The variations in timing distort the waveform and create distortion. So jitter does matter in this space.

In the days of CRT displays, jitter would have mattered for video and would cause the pixels to dance back and forth. The same can also occur if you use an analog connection to the display such as VGA/RGB/Component although displays have gotten quite good at eliminating this type of jitter.
 

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
Amir. I defer to you on this. As I said this is mainly an Analogue Audio review. If I put test patterns to it the perceived differences might not be there in light of the Video Circuitry being identical. Norm
 

Bulldogger

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
129
2
1,573
58
Clinton,MS
We needed to have some credible "ears" evaluate this player. The price point is a good one. I have been waiting for you to have some time to evaluate the Compli Blu and post your review. Good job and thanks!
 

tyree91

Well-Known Member
May 13, 2010
28
37
935
Rocky Mountain Empire
BD, I posted here first as this is a more polite open minded Forum of ideas. I hope more A/V Philes find it and leave the DW's and the like behind. Regards, Norm
 

Bulldogger

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
129
2
1,573
58
Clinton,MS
Once the HDMI upgrade gets released, there should be a lot of real discussions. This is a polite forum. Some of the other forums are the "wild west". Hey, if it's the "wild west", I shoot back:D. Not around here though. The Compli Blu would appear to be a nice option for someone without the proper dacs in their Casablanca that would still like great sound quality, assuming they have a Six Shooter. We have had many discussions. I know if you are vouching for this product, it's the real deal.
 

Bulldogger

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2010
129
2
1,573
58
Clinton,MS
It's likely that many of you already own Blu-ray players. With the upgrade now a reality some are also buying the Compli Blu. If you have more than one Blu-ray player have you compared the sound quality differences between HDMI out of the Compli Blu vs your other players?
 

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