By: Wil

Wil — Wed, 07 Feb 2018 04:20:00 +0000

I have just purchased the Pioneer PD 70AE and my overall assessment, so far, is that this is an exceptional unit! I have only really had a chance to listen to this player for a few hours and so I intend to follow up with a further post. Firstly build quality is superb, weighing as much as some AV Receivers and in fact exceeding many of the run of the mill Receivers in weight, build quality and bulk. It has full steel or cast tray and also features a load of other internal goodies, all of which can be readily seen and read about on line but, how does it sound? My initial listening tells to me that it is very revealing and to that extent, play a garbage CD here and it going to sound garbage – even more so but, play a well-engineered and recorded CD and it sounds fabulous! As soon as you push the power button and open the tray you know you own a very special player. Even the power button requires some effort to switch it on, it’s not just some flimsy “tick sounding” button – you know the type I’m referring to. The tray opens and its super quiet smooth and when the tray retracts, there is absolute silence! The player has 3 digital filters from which you can choose, I almost certainly return to the slow setting as this produces a more pure, smooth silky sound, real analogue. I used Brothers in Arms SACD as my first test and was amazed at the ability of this player to transition between the quiet and delicate guitar work and piano to explosive awakenings within the track of The Mans Too Strong. Moving onto another CD, Tom Petty’s Mojo, this is a very dynamic recording but the Pioneer controls the overall performance, never allowing vocals or any particular instrument to dominate. The thing that stands out to me is that when listening to larger than life recording and by that I refer to CD’s that contain tracks with many instruments, all playing at the same time, the Pioneer PD 70AE keeps everything tight, defined and controlled, not turning to a mash of garbled sound and drums; I swear I can hear the sticks contact the skin more with this player. Bass is nice and tight, punchy and incredibly detailed. Vocals come through very real and life like and the highs are crisp, detailed but not over pronounced. The overall balance is beautiful and the Pioneer causes you to understand why you paid so much for this player, it’s worth the money and it’s as simple as it gets! I have some friends that are also into audio gear and one of our friends has a Yamaha CDS1000 and I have to say that the Pioneer sounds more sophisticated. It seemed to me that the Pioneer had more presence and was more balanced overall. It’s probably not that the Yamaha is a bad player; it’s just that the Pioneer is a better player. More to come.

Comments on: Pioneer PD-70AE SACD player also works as DAC

By: Wil