UltimateAVmag.com: Over The Top

And now for something completely outrageous—a $135,000 Blu-ray player! Leave it to hyper-high-end Goldmund to charge that much for the Eidos Reference Blue, which will be limited to a production run of 50 units. But how can it possibly justify such an astronomical price tag?

Sure, it's built like a tank—the heavily damped, brass-and-aluminum mechanism weighs 66 pounds and is suspended by four spring-loaded legs on its own dedicated table. Also, the power supply is completely isolated from the mechanism, and something called Goldmund Magnetic Damping is said to greatly improve image stability and sonic transparency.

On the flip side, while Goldmund calls the Eidos Reference Blue a "universal" player, it can't play DVD-Audio or SACD. And the analog-audio outputs—one L/R pair and a 5.1 group—are unbalanced, which is ridiculous for such a pricey disc spinner. The owner's manual refers to secondary video and audio, but it says nothing about Internet access or BD-Live, which means this is a Profile 1.1 player, another inexcusable limitation.

Goldmund has always represented the extreme high end, at least in terms of cost, and many of its products are truly outstanding. The Eidos Reference Blue's performance might be exceptional, but at $135,000, it should offer all the features found in much less expensive players and then some. But hey, at least it comes with its own table!

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Reader Comments

Posted Fri Sep 4, 2009, 6:42 PM — By Alex

Wow this is absurd. For some reason I'm not at all surprised its HDMI 1.1..... crazy gear like this usually ignores the petty concerns of most mortals like BD-Live, bitstreaming options, etc.

Posted Fri Sep 4, 2009, 9:33 PM — By Scott Wilkinson

Actually, it's not HDMI 1.1...it's Profile 1.1, also known as Bonus View, which lets it play secondary content in a PIP window while watching the movie. I think the HDMI output is 1.3, but I'm not 100% sure about that.

Posted Sat Sep 5, 2009, 8:19 AM — By Jochem

Wasn't it exactly this company who had a multi thousand dollar DVD player which was internally one of the cheapest Pioneer DVD players? both pick-up and circuit boards were just put into another casing. Wondering what this is inside

Posted Sat Sep 5, 2009, 10:44 PM — By Seth G.

This player has actually been around for quite some time. I remember hearing about it back in the days when Sony was slow on the rollout of their own blu ray players and it pretty much either a samsung or PS3.

Posted Sun Sep 6, 2009, 11:10 PM — By Scott Wilkinson

Seth, are you sure you're not thinking about the Eidos 20BD, Goldmund's first Blu-ray player?

Posted Mon Sep 7, 2009, 10:36 AM — By mikewinburn

no wonder its limited to a production run of 50... 50 suckers willing to buy: sucker : Lit: those who don't research a product before they buy it, and take someone's word that its the best money can buy. (Note: one can be rich or poor and make for a sucker)

Posted Mon Sep 7, 2009, 2:53 PM — By Joe Dokes

But it begs the question: Does it come with a live in hooker who "services" you while you watch? I'm of a libertarian bent, but it is products like these and the people who buy them, that make me wish for a drastically steeper progressive income tax.

Posted Mon Sep 7, 2009, 9:02 PM — By Vince

This looks like alot like an unfinished Oracle Audio CD player. Such aesthetics is unacceptable for a machine that price (specially when compared to the obvious inspiration it's been designed after). As for performance to justify the price, I'll have to see for myself.

Posted Wed Sep 9, 2009, 12:26 PM — By Seth G.

Scott - you are right I am thinking of the 20BD. The irony is here we are 3.5 years from the launch of BD I still have yet to buy a BD player because I have yet to find one that operates in a fashion I can live with - you never realize how spoiled you are by almost instantaneous DVD startup and playback that anything less seems to bug the hell out of ya because of its plodding opperation. I've also been waiting on the Standards to be somewhat cemented for the product before I jump in as well - I don't want future promised functionality, I just want it to work and work every time and quickly.... not to mention with a GREAT image to go with it!

Posted Fri Sep11, 2009, 11:14 AM — By Ted

I was once impressed by Goldmund speakers - the little Logos 1 speaker. However, this BD player is utter BS. Profile 1.1, no unbalanced outputs, and what the hell is "Goldmund Magnetic Damping"? Seriously, this reeks of getting money from well heeled and in some cases I am sure, not so well heeled customers...

Posted Fri Sep11, 2009, 9:47 PM — By Sean Finney

The reason this is being released as many have already eluded is about $6,750,000. Next year they'll undoubtedly release an updated model, for $150,000.00 and the same 50 suckers will buy it. It seems like I am in the wrong line of work.

Posted Mon Sep14, 2009, 9:52 PM — By Ray

Seth take the plunge. Oppo has a really good hi-value unit out that is worth the money, $500. Its fast to load and is pretty much a universal player. You won't get great analog outs but they are there. Plays pretty much everything. I never listen to surround music but for movies the new HD audio formats are fantastic and then there's the picture quality.

Posted Sat Sep19, 2009, 1:21 AM — By Raul

Good to know this ridiculous staff but it will be great to know some of the 50 stupid that buy it.

Posted Wed Sep23, 2009, 8:44 AM — By Gern Blanston

Recently I had to recover some computer data from some old floppy disks. I had to go out and purchase a 3.5 inch floppy drive from a dealer. This set me back $9.95. Then I noticed something strange. It seemed that I made a lot of spelling errors when I was younger. I saw an ad for a floppy priced at $1,250,955.79. Fortunately I am very wealthy. The manufacturer promised better "musicality", "tonality", "transparency," and "staging" with my data. Wouldn't you know it; all of my spelling errors are now fixed. And the .WAV files on my floppies sound WAY better. You either read the data or you don't. Anyone who spends an obscene amount of money on an optical music or video player is a complete, uninformed, idiot!

Posted Mon Sep28, 2009, 10:29 PM — By dave s

for seth g; i too was wary of bd for a while. then i purchased an lg bd390 in a package deal. actually the lg replaced the samsung 3900 that came with the package. the reason for a bdp? its ability to stream netflix wirelessly, not that i was convinced of blu ray superiority. the samsung was poor, would never connect and took 15 minutes to read a regular dvd and never played it! the lg is outstanding, connected effortlessly, very fast startup with blu ray discs. the lg picture is great, upscales, and is a real pleasure. it even gets great reviews as a top notch bd player.

Posted Thu Oct29, 2009, 6:39 PM — By shooter313

I am sure there are at least 50 "movie stars" that will just HAVE to have this thing. Lets face it they are the only people that one day are washing dishes and waiting tables, and the next day are complaining because they only got 5 mil for doing their last piece of "art" movie. I am not knocking people that wash dishes or wait tables, I am SURE most of them are smarter than actors.

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Posted Thu Dec10, 2009, 3:24 AM — By hotsellkicks

the samsung was poor, would never connect and took 15 minutes to read a regular dvd and never played it! I am not knocking people that wash dishes or wait tables, I am SURE most of them are smarter than actors. www.hotsellkicks.com

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