Magnetar Ultima – Universal Transport for Optical Discs and Digital Files

Magnetar has introduced its flagship Ultima media transport, designed to handle virtually all major types of physical and file-based media. The unit supports UHD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-Audio, as well as playback from USB storage devices and over a network. It also supports DSD/DoP via AES/EBU, Dolby Vision and HDR10+. Built on Magnetar’s MKII platform, the Ultima is positioned as a universal reference source for high-end home cinema and audio systems.

One of the Ultima’s key features is its sophisticated power architecture. In addition to placing the power supply in a separate enclosure, Magnetar uses BYD lithium-based modules intended to isolate the most sensitive transport, clock and signal circuits from mains noise and power fluctuations. This is complemented by a unified synchronization system with a 10MHz reference clock, designed to improve the accuracy of digital signal transmission, reduce phase noise and provide more stable operation with external DACs and AV processors.

The mechanical design has also been extensively reworked. Magnetar uses a heavily reinforced chassis with increased resistance to vibration and resonance, internal isolation of individual sections, and optimized grounding and power distribution. The disc mechanism itself has also been refined to improve read stability and preserve data integrity. At the same time, the Ultima is conceived primarily as a transport, with its main task being to deliver the original digital signal to external components with the minimum possible intervention.

Magnetar presents the Ultima as a statement of its commitment to physical media at a time when many manufacturers are increasingly focusing on streaming. According to company representative Rob Jones, the model was developed as a universal solution with as few engineering compromises as possible. The new transport was publicly demonstrated at CEDIA Expo 2026 in Denver, although pricing and availability details for the Magnetar Ultima have yet to be announced.