Hello Everyone,
This is a review and measurements of the Pioneer PD-D9-J CD/SACD Player and Transport.
This is my second review of a Pioneer CD/SACD Player, after the more recent PD-30 which did pretty well.
Released in 2007at roughly $1200, it was an expensive CD/SACD player, and the top of what Pioneer had to offer. I did not know this player and I was surprised by its weight at 11kg (24.2lbs). It’s much better looking IRL than on any pictures I saw. The front face is made of two very well-adjusted aluminium parts. A procedure is provided in the service manual (one of the best I’ve read) about how to adjust them, should it be required.
So it reads the CD and SACD, that's all, no digital input to benefit from the internal DAC with other external sources:
As opposed to the Yamaha CD-S2000 that I recently reviewed, no XLR outputs here.
There were two main reasons for me to get interested by this CD/SACD Player:
Wolfson did really great DACs at the time, and I was impatient to test this one, even if the THD+N @0dBFS was “only” -100dB per specs. The SNR, even with A weighted, was a very high 128dB (fs=48kHz) and so that meant a very silent DAC. I wanted to verify that.
This is the inside of it:
The power board:
The conversion board:
On a user experience point of view, not much to say, except that the drive is reactive, a little more than the Yamaha CD-S2000, and FFW/REW are convenient to use (2x, 4x, 8x). I was very surprised to hear the same faint noise when it spins a disc, as I heard with the Yamaha CD-S2000. Maybe they share the same drive, I did not check. I could not hear anything from beyond 1 foot (30cm), so I guess it's ok.
Note that there is a "Pure Direct" mode which has no impact on measurements and deactivates the digital outputs. So that Marketing advantage has the sole effect to reduce the functionalities of this Player for the end-user…
Pioneer PD-D9 - Measurements (CD Audio)
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
I measured 1.897Vrms (0.46dB below 2Vrms) output from RCA. The channel imbalance was a low 0.03dB. Phase showed a roll off at 20kHz of 20° with LEGATO ON and 2° without
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (RCA out):
We get the documented THD of the Wolfson, at full scale, not taking noise into account. The calculated SNR with this 0dBFS test tone is a comfortable 98dB, which again confirm we meet the specs of the Wolfson DAC,
Let’s have a look of the same at -6dBFS:
H3 is on the rise, but still reasonably low and the SNR has improved a little meaning the DAC is silent enough to resolve CDA without issue (hopefully).
----
I guess you saw a very silent player, but let’s zoom on that, for fun:
Any potential power supply leakage is buried way below in the noise floor, as we don’t see anything here despite the lengthy FFT that I use for this measurement (512k), and that means there’s nothing to hear on that perspective at least down to 24bits equivalent resolution!
----
Next is the bandwidth, first with LEGATO OFF:
We get a near flat bandwidth, with some ringing, and I measured this to be roughly 300 times higher that the typical documented passband ripple of the Wolfson DAC oversampling filter(s) at 44.1kHz sampling rate. This is of no hearing consequences, so only for knowledge. That, with other measurements, mean to me that the Wolfson internal filters are not used at all, and Pioneer relies on two external filters, one of which is the LEGATO, and it impacts the bandwidth, as shown below:
It starts rolling off before 10kHz and the attenuation is off the graph at 20kHz, per my standard zoom.
I’ll add one more graph soon, but I saw -3.56dB attenuation at 20kHz, meaning this is a very slow filter that will let a lot of artifacts of the conversion being created beyond fs/2 (22.05kHz).
Pioneer documents the LEGATO filter as per the below (from the User Manual):
For as great as CDs sound, the digital recording process clips off important musical shadings and nuances above 20 kHz. These signals contain important clues about musical texture and shape that define a live musical event. Pioneer’s Legato Link Pro Conversion system uses psychoacoustic processing to restore missing high frequency dynamics to fully recapture all the shading and detail of the original performance.
And this is BS, sorry Pioneer. The reality is that the LEGATO filter will let a lot of aliases of the conversion being created beyond 20kHz, like I explained with the SMSL PL200 here, which offers a non-oversampling filter. These do not include “important clues” because they are not related to any potential missed musical content past 22kHz. They are copy/paste of frequencies below 22.05kHz, mirrored around fs/2, and replicated, all due to the voluntary weakness of the filter. Who can say that a Sine tone at 10kHz, replicated at 34.10kHz has any musical content and therefore interest?
So, the LEGATO is a slow filter and let’s have a look at it with a wider bandwidth:
You can see, from the white noise, a significant rebound beyond 44.1kHz. I overlaid that, as usual, with the IMD AES dual tones (18kHz&20kHz 1:1). This view is interesting as it shows that not only there’s a mirror copy of 18khz&20kHz tones at respectively 26.1kHz&24.1kHz, but there is also a subsequent full copy paste of everything from 20Hz to 44.1kHz from 44.1kHz to 88.2Khz!
This is why you can see copies of our dual tones repeating again, and logically, at 62.1kHz&64.1kHz and 68.2kHz&70.2kHz. All of that is not music, just garbage created by the 0-hold function that all DACs generate, and that we should be filtering… or not…
Let’s quickly compare the same view with the other filter of this Pioneer, which is a sharp one:
And voilà, this time the artifacts are very well suppressed as they should be (my point of view), and what’s left is at -90dB, or below.
From my measurements, this (Sharp) filter has the below characteristics (including analogue filter effect, of course):
Final note: I think I talked enough about all of this, and every time I’m faced with a slow filter that is sold as a Marketing argument of better sounding, I can’t resist. Because creating garbage out of the audio band is not the purpose of a D/A converter. Also here I saw a small phase deviation with LEGATO ON (20° at 20kHz) so, I’d recommend sticking to the non-LEGATO filter which offers decent performances. But at least the customer has the choice of filter selection, which I appreciate.
Oh, I almost forgot to show what happens at a higher frequencies, since I’ve been showing the same for few reviews recently:
The noise shaper of the Wolfson Delta-Sigma modulator rejects noise beyond 100kHz and that is very good, modern I’d say. The blue line shows that the Stopband frequency of the LEGATO filter is at 82kHz, too late if you ask me. Ok, enough now and let’s move on.
----
Let's have a look at the multitone test that a lot of you like very much:
The trace is very good. The Pioneer is distortion free for roughly 18bits which is good. Note that both oversampling filters have no impact on that performance, and it’s good to know that there’s no intermodulation distortion coming back into the audio band from the slow LEGATO filter.
----
The jitter test shows a happy player:
This is an overlay of the two channels. The trace is perfect on jitter perspective, and we only see some very level random noise at the foot of the fundamental. That is to be ignored because most of the time, that noise floor spreads over the full bandwidth, meaning it is higher from 20Hz to 20kHz. Have a look at the results of the excellent Sony CDP-X333ES, for instance.
----
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
Basically, the oversampling interpolator does not have any headroom to prevent intersample overs, as many others. And note that the LEGATO filter decreases the scores by 1 to 2dB.
----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
This is a very good trace as we see nearly no added noise, and that confirms the other measurements, fact that the Pioneer has no issue to fully resolve the CDA.
----
Other measurements (not shown):
The Dynamic range is the best that can be measured (unweighted) with the Audio CD..
Crosstalk is very low all the way through to 20kHz.
Pitch error is good for audio.
----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. I overlaid the results with the best in class SMSL PL200:
At this level (-12dBFS), the H3 is dominating, and it’s the one downgrading the reported performances on this test. It is still very good and will remain hidden into musical content, but several other DACs do better.
----
As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Here are the results of the Pioneer compared to others:
One more time the Pioneer is let down by the higher than wanted H3 at this level (-12dBFS). As a matter of facts, the distortion, goes much lower at -16dBFS and below. But since the above test, invention of mine, is set at -12dBFS, too bad for the Pioneer.
To complement what I said, I’d like to show you that distortion and noise are very well managed below -16dBFS. The below is my standard 999.91Hz @-20dBFS with shape dither. I overlaid the output of the Pioneer with the one of the OPPO BFP-95, as a reference player using very well implemented ESS DAC:
You can appreciate that the two traces are very close, and at this level of quality, we can consider they are the same. All that means well done to Wolfson and Pioneer!
Pioneer PD-D9 - Testing the drive
Before going to SACD specific measurements, let me talk about the drive tracking capabilities, since these tests are performed from a CD Audio.
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
Here are the results:
One more best-in-class drive that passes all tests, yeah! I saw the servo interpolating as soon as with 2mm dropouts but I could not hear any negative impact.
Pioneer PD-D9 - Digital Optical Output (from Audio CD)
Ok, so let's verify if the Pioneer outputs a "perfect" digital stream, in case you think or want to verify an external DAC can do better. This is from my standard 999.91Hz @0dBFS file:
This is what is in the original WAV file.
Same with the standard Stereophile 3DC test:
No modifications of the signal to be seen here.
My ultimate proof of "perfect" digital output is when I reuse the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent, it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distortion. So here we go:
We get the 0.69dBFS overshot and no distortion. This is the same as the original WAV file, hence "bit perfect" output.
Partial conclusion (As a CD Player)
The Pioneer PD-D9 is a very precise CD player, with very low noise and distortion. The LEGATO filter is funny, and not enforced, which is good.
I was expecting very good performances from the Wolfson DACs used in mono mode, and I was not disappointed. The H3 prevented it from reaching the top in few cases, but the level of distortion remained below audible concerns.
We also get a really “perfect transport” when it comes to digital output as well as ability to read scratched silver discs. The look and build quality sets it apart, if you’re still into buying that type of wide footprint device.
To be continued with SACD tests...
This is a review and measurements of the Pioneer PD-D9-J CD/SACD Player and Transport.
Released in 2007at roughly $1200, it was an expensive CD/SACD player, and the top of what Pioneer had to offer. I did not know this player and I was surprised by its weight at 11kg (24.2lbs). It’s much better looking IRL than on any pictures I saw. The front face is made of two very well-adjusted aluminium parts. A procedure is provided in the service manual (one of the best I’ve read) about how to adjust them, should it be required.
So it reads the CD and SACD, that's all, no digital input to benefit from the internal DAC with other external sources:
As opposed to the Yamaha CD-S2000 that I recently reviewed, no XLR outputs here.
There were two main reasons for me to get interested by this CD/SACD Player:
- It hosts 2 stereo Wolfson DACs operated in mono mode, the WM8741, and that is one DAC I wanted to get to know more. It can decode DSD directly or convert to PCM beforehand.
- It offers the “LEGATO LINK” from Pioneer which is their (Slow) Oversampling filter offer, similar to Denon with their AL24/AL32.
Wolfson did really great DACs at the time, and I was impatient to test this one, even if the THD+N @0dBFS was “only” -100dB per specs. The SNR, even with A weighted, was a very high 128dB (fs=48kHz) and so that meant a very silent DAC. I wanted to verify that.
This is the inside of it:
The power board:
The conversion board:
On a user experience point of view, not much to say, except that the drive is reactive, a little more than the Yamaha CD-S2000, and FFW/REW are convenient to use (2x, 4x, 8x). I was very surprised to hear the same faint noise when it spins a disc, as I heard with the Yamaha CD-S2000. Maybe they share the same drive, I did not check. I could not hear anything from beyond 1 foot (30cm), so I guess it's ok.
Note that there is a "Pure Direct" mode which has no impact on measurements and deactivates the digital outputs. So that Marketing advantage has the sole effect to reduce the functionalities of this Player for the end-user…
Pioneer PD-D9 - Measurements (CD Audio)
All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.
I am now consistent with my specific measurements for CD Players, as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.
I measured 1.897Vrms (0.46dB below 2Vrms) output from RCA. The channel imbalance was a low 0.03dB. Phase showed a roll off at 20kHz of 20° with LEGATO ON and 2° without
----
As usual, let's start with my standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from the Test CD (RCA out):
We get the documented THD of the Wolfson, at full scale, not taking noise into account. The calculated SNR with this 0dBFS test tone is a comfortable 98dB, which again confirm we meet the specs of the Wolfson DAC,
Let’s have a look of the same at -6dBFS:
H3 is on the rise, but still reasonably low and the SNR has improved a little meaning the DAC is silent enough to resolve CDA without issue (hopefully).
----
I guess you saw a very silent player, but let’s zoom on that, for fun:
Any potential power supply leakage is buried way below in the noise floor, as we don’t see anything here despite the lengthy FFT that I use for this measurement (512k), and that means there’s nothing to hear on that perspective at least down to 24bits equivalent resolution!
----
Next is the bandwidth, first with LEGATO OFF:
We get a near flat bandwidth, with some ringing, and I measured this to be roughly 300 times higher that the typical documented passband ripple of the Wolfson DAC oversampling filter(s) at 44.1kHz sampling rate. This is of no hearing consequences, so only for knowledge. That, with other measurements, mean to me that the Wolfson internal filters are not used at all, and Pioneer relies on two external filters, one of which is the LEGATO, and it impacts the bandwidth, as shown below:
It starts rolling off before 10kHz and the attenuation is off the graph at 20kHz, per my standard zoom.
I’ll add one more graph soon, but I saw -3.56dB attenuation at 20kHz, meaning this is a very slow filter that will let a lot of artifacts of the conversion being created beyond fs/2 (22.05kHz).
Pioneer documents the LEGATO filter as per the below (from the User Manual):
For as great as CDs sound, the digital recording process clips off important musical shadings and nuances above 20 kHz. These signals contain important clues about musical texture and shape that define a live musical event. Pioneer’s Legato Link Pro Conversion system uses psychoacoustic processing to restore missing high frequency dynamics to fully recapture all the shading and detail of the original performance.
And this is BS, sorry Pioneer. The reality is that the LEGATO filter will let a lot of aliases of the conversion being created beyond 20kHz, like I explained with the SMSL PL200 here, which offers a non-oversampling filter. These do not include “important clues” because they are not related to any potential missed musical content past 22kHz. They are copy/paste of frequencies below 22.05kHz, mirrored around fs/2, and replicated, all due to the voluntary weakness of the filter. Who can say that a Sine tone at 10kHz, replicated at 34.10kHz has any musical content and therefore interest?
So, the LEGATO is a slow filter and let’s have a look at it with a wider bandwidth:
You can see, from the white noise, a significant rebound beyond 44.1kHz. I overlaid that, as usual, with the IMD AES dual tones (18kHz&20kHz 1:1). This view is interesting as it shows that not only there’s a mirror copy of 18khz&20kHz tones at respectively 26.1kHz&24.1kHz, but there is also a subsequent full copy paste of everything from 20Hz to 44.1kHz from 44.1kHz to 88.2Khz!
This is why you can see copies of our dual tones repeating again, and logically, at 62.1kHz&64.1kHz and 68.2kHz&70.2kHz. All of that is not music, just garbage created by the 0-hold function that all DACs generate, and that we should be filtering… or not…
Let’s quickly compare the same view with the other filter of this Pioneer, which is a sharp one:
And voilà, this time the artifacts are very well suppressed as they should be (my point of view), and what’s left is at -90dB, or below.
From my measurements, this (Sharp) filter has the below characteristics (including analogue filter effect, of course):
- Passband : -0.1dB
- Passband ripple: ±0.02dB
- Stopband : 0.551fs (24.3kHz)
- Stopband Attenuation : -93.7dB
- Attenuation at fs/2 : -14.3dB
Final note: I think I talked enough about all of this, and every time I’m faced with a slow filter that is sold as a Marketing argument of better sounding, I can’t resist. Because creating garbage out of the audio band is not the purpose of a D/A converter. Also here I saw a small phase deviation with LEGATO ON (20° at 20kHz) so, I’d recommend sticking to the non-LEGATO filter which offers decent performances. But at least the customer has the choice of filter selection, which I appreciate.
Oh, I almost forgot to show what happens at a higher frequencies, since I’ve been showing the same for few reviews recently:
The noise shaper of the Wolfson Delta-Sigma modulator rejects noise beyond 100kHz and that is very good, modern I’d say. The blue line shows that the Stopband frequency of the LEGATO filter is at 82kHz, too late if you ask me. Ok, enough now and let’s move on.
----
Let's have a look at the multitone test that a lot of you like very much:
The trace is very good. The Pioneer is distortion free for roughly 18bits which is good. Note that both oversampling filters have no impact on that performance, and it’s good to know that there’s no intermodulation distortion coming back into the audio band from the slow LEGATO filter.
----
The jitter test shows a happy player:
This is an overlay of the two channels. The trace is perfect on jitter perspective, and we only see some very level random noise at the foot of the fundamental. That is to be ignored because most of the time, that noise floor spreads over the full bandwidth, meaning it is higher from 20Hz to 20kHz. Have a look at the results of the excellent Sony CDP-X333ES, for instance.
----
Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):
| Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz | 5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS | 7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS | 11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS |
| Teac VRDS-20 | -30.7dB | -26.6dB | -17.6dB |
| Yamaha CD-1 | -84.6dB | -84.9dB | -78.1dB |
| Denon DCD-900NE | -34.2dB | -27.1dB | -19.1dB |
| Denon DCD-SA1 | -33.6dB | -27.6dB | -18.3dB |
| Onkyo C-733 | -88.3dB | -40.4dB | -21.2dB |
| Denon DCD-3560 | -30.2dB | -24.7dB | -17.4dB |
| Myryad Z210 | -70.6dB (noise dominated) | -71.1dB (noise dominated) | -29.4dB (H3 dominated) |
Sony CDP-X333ES | -30.5dB | -24.8dB | -16.3dB |
| BARCO-EMT 982 | -32.7dB | -24.5dB | -16.3dB |
| TASCAM CD-200 | -73.5dB | -36.3dB | -19.7dB |
| Sony CDP-597 | -30.4dB | -24.7dB | -16.5dB |
| SMSL PL100 | -53.1dB | -31dB | -19.1dB |
| SMSL PL200 | -94.8dB | -97dB | -39.5dB |
| OPPO BDP-95 | -39dB | -28.8dB | -19.2dB |
| Yamaha CD-S2000 | -29.7dB | -24.1dB | -16.6dB |
| Pioneer PD-D9 – LEGATO OFF | -30.7dB | -25.1dB | -18.0dB |
| Pioneer PD-D9 – LEGATO ON | -29.7dB | -24.0dB | -15.9dB |
Basically, the oversampling interpolator does not have any headroom to prevent intersample overs, as many others. And note that the LEGATO filter decreases the scores by 1 to 2dB.
----
Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:
This is a very good trace as we see nearly no added noise, and that confirms the other measurements, fact that the Pioneer has no issue to fully resolve the CDA.
----
Other measurements (not shown):
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -94.1dB
- IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -95.4dB
- IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -88.4dB
- IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -83.8dB
- IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -86.2dB
- IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -84.9dB
- IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -106.7dB
- IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -104.4dB
- Dynamic Range (without dither @-60dBFS) : 98.8dB unweighted. 97.9dB CCIR2k weighted, 101.6dBA
- Crosstalk: 100Hz (-123dB), 1kHz (-123dB), 10kHz (-105dB)
- Pitch Error : 19'996.70Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie -15ppm
- Gapless playback : Yes
- De-emphasis compliance (deviation at 11khz) : Yes (0.0dB)
The Dynamic range is the best that can be measured (unweighted) with the Audio CD..
Crosstalk is very low all the way through to 20kHz.
Pitch error is good for audio.
----
Last and not least, I like to run a THD vs Frequency sweep at -12dBFS as it shows how the conversion has evolved over time. I am currently using the beta version of REW and I discovered that this sweep gives better and more reliable results than before. I overlaid the results with the best in class SMSL PL200:
At this level (-12dBFS), the H3 is dominating, and it’s the one downgrading the reported performances on this test. It is still very good and will remain hidden into musical content, but several other DACs do better.
----
As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.
Here are the results of the Pioneer compared to others:
| CD Player model or DAC | Calculated ENOB (999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither, THD+N span = 20Hz - 6kHz) | Percentage of max resolution achieved (higher is better) |
| OPPO BDP-95 | 18.7bits | 100% |
| SMSL PL-200 | 18.7bits | 100% |
| SMSL PS-200 (from CD player) | 18.6bits | 99.47% |
| Pioneer BDP-LX58 | 18.5bits | 98.93% |
| Denon DCD-900NE | 18.5bits | 98.93% |
| Yamaha CD-S2000 | 18.4bits | 98.40% |
| Onkyo C-733 | 18bits | 96.26% |
| SMSL PL150 | 18bits | 96.26% |
| SMSL PL100 | 17.9bits | 95.72% |
| Pioneer PD-D9 | 17.7bits | 95.65% |
| Sony CDP-597 | 17.5bits | 93.58% |
| Onkyo DX-7355 | 17.3bits | 92.51% |
| Denon DCD-3560 | 17.2bits | 91.98% |
| Yamaha CD-S303 | 16.8bits | 89.84% |
| Revox B-226S | 16.8bits | 89.94% |
| Accuphase DP-70 | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| Sony CDP-337ESD | 16.6bits | 88.77% |
| Teac VRDS-25x | 16.5bits | 88.24% |
| Marantz CD-73 | 14.9bits | 79.68% |
One more time the Pioneer is let down by the higher than wanted H3 at this level (-12dBFS). As a matter of facts, the distortion, goes much lower at -16dBFS and below. But since the above test, invention of mine, is set at -12dBFS, too bad for the Pioneer.
To complement what I said, I’d like to show you that distortion and noise are very well managed below -16dBFS. The below is my standard 999.91Hz @-20dBFS with shape dither. I overlaid the output of the Pioneer with the one of the OPPO BFP-95, as a reference player using very well implemented ESS DAC:
You can appreciate that the two traces are very close, and at this level of quality, we can consider they are the same. All that means well done to Wolfson and Pioneer!
Pioneer PD-D9 - Testing the drive
Before going to SACD specific measurements, let me talk about the drive tracking capabilities, since these tests are performed from a CD Audio.
What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.
Here are the results:
| Test type | Technical test | Results |
| Variation of linear cutting velocity | From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s | Pass |
| Variation of track pitch | From 1.5µm to 1.7µm | Pass |
| Combined variations of track pitch and velocity | From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm | Pass |
| HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio) | Variation from 2% to 18% | Pass |
| Dropouts resistance | From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms) | Pass |
| Combined dropouts and smallest pitch | From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm | Pass |
| Successive dropouts | From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm | Pass |
One more best-in-class drive that passes all tests, yeah! I saw the servo interpolating as soon as with 2mm dropouts but I could not hear any negative impact.
Pioneer PD-D9 - Digital Optical Output (from Audio CD)
Ok, so let's verify if the Pioneer outputs a "perfect" digital stream, in case you think or want to verify an external DAC can do better. This is from my standard 999.91Hz @0dBFS file:
This is what is in the original WAV file.
Same with the standard Stereophile 3DC test:
No modifications of the signal to be seen here.
My ultimate proof of "perfect" digital output is when I reuse the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent, it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distortion. So here we go:
We get the 0.69dBFS overshot and no distortion. This is the same as the original WAV file, hence "bit perfect" output.
Partial conclusion (As a CD Player)
The Pioneer PD-D9 is a very precise CD player, with very low noise and distortion. The LEGATO filter is funny, and not enforced, which is good.
I was expecting very good performances from the Wolfson DACs used in mono mode, and I was not disappointed. The H3 prevented it from reaching the top in few cases, but the level of distortion remained below audible concerns.
We also get a really “perfect transport” when it comes to digital output as well as ability to read scratched silver discs. The look and build quality sets it apart, if you’re still into buying that type of wide footprint device.
To be continued with SACD tests...
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