Lexicon BD-30 Redux

CEDIA 2009

By Scott Wilkinson • Posted: Sep 12, 2009

I already blogged about the Lexicon BD-30 universal Blu-ray player, but no one outside the company knew before the show that it has received THX certification. At the Lexicon booth, I also learned that it can decode DVD-Audio and SACD and send multichannel PCM via HDMI, a great feature in this $3500 player. The BD-30 is pictured here with the MC-12HD pre/pro, which just received a firmware update that lets it accept a 7.1-channel PCM bitstream from Blu-rays that offer it—the previous version was limited to 5.1 PCM.

Comments

Submitted by Larry S on September 14, 2009 - 4:18pm.

Scott, The rumor mill has it that the Lexicon player is a rebadged and tweaked Oppo BDP-83, with a major bump in price. Any comments? Also, any info on when/if Lexicon is going to make a meaningful update to the MC-12? It's very long in the tooth, and receiving only minor tweaks - - tough to justify it's price these days.

Submitted by Scott Wilkinson on September 14, 2009 - 6:07pm.

I've heard the same rumor about the BD-30, but I haven't been able to confirm it, and I doubt that Lexicon or Oppo will do so, at least on the record. As for the MC-12, I agree that the update they introduced at the show is underwhelming. I have no idea when or if they will provide a significant upate.

Submitted by Gern Blanston on October 22, 2009 - 4:56pm.

The Lexicon player is an Oppo BDP-83. The only difference, besides the labeling, is that the Lexiscon player is $3000 more expensive than the Oppo making it one of the most offensive rip-offs for dummy psuedo-aduiophiles.

Submitted by Clint DeBoer on January 16, 2010 - 10:50am.

I wish it could be said that they made all sorts of changes, tweaked the player and produced a really cool product. Fact is, though, that they flat out dropped an Oppo into a Lexicon chassis with no hardware tweaks: http://audioholics.com/reviews/transports/high-definition-dvd-players-hd... The THX certification seems to be questionable as well, since the player has the same non-THX spec bass management issues as the Oppo. In this way, Lexicon and THX really got caught, because those analogue audio measurements are like a thumbprint.