In respects other than its digital filtering, the PD-S801 is familiar fare. The disc transport is the cheaper incarnation of the Stable Platter Mechanism introduced in the preceding generation of Pioneer players. This use s a turntable-like planer to support the entire surface of the disc, which is read from above rather than underneath and so ha s to be inserted upside down. Digital to analogue conversion is by Pioneer's own Pulseflow one-bit D/A converters. Incidentally, precisely the same filter and D/A converter chips are used in the £400 PD-S901 and in the top-of-the-range, £2,000 PD-95.
Little about the PD-S801's operation is worthy of remark-it is generally as quick, smooth and quiet as one has any right to expect for the price-but the display blanking and fast search facilities merit comment.
Just to the left of the central disc tray is a switch labeled Display Off, which allows the player's fluorescent display to be completely blanked when a disc is playing. Aiding and abetting this welcome feature is sensible control logic which re-illuminates the display in search, pause and stop modes, and when changing tracks, before blanking it again a couple of seconds after play is resumed.
Such commendable user-friendliness is unfortunately not to be found in the fast search facility, which is blighted by a curious software bug. If you fast search in play mode there is no problem. But if you prefer to suppress the demented squeaking and squealing from your speakers by searching in pause, then the PD-S801 unaccountably blanks the seconds digit s of the time display, leaving only the minutes digit(s) illuminated. If you know precisely, to the second, the point on the disc you wish to reach, this plus or minus 30 seconds resolution is frustrating in the extreme and quite unnecessary.
How it performed
Not surprisingly, considering the treble roll-off imposed by the Legato Link filtering, the PD-S801 has a warmer, darker-hued tonal balance than the typical CD player. In addition and perhaps as a direct consequence, the stereo image retreats a few steps and, on appropriate recordings, there is an enhanced sense of acoustic space-the deep, full reverberation of a large room, not the thin, insubstantial variety which so often passes for natural ambience. The overriding sense is of an ordered, naturally proportioned sound stage rather than an artificial, two-dimensional, fun-fair duck shoot.
On many recordings, notably of vocal music, the result is unquestionably more natural than that offered up by most of the PD-S801's competitors. Occasionally, particularly with recordings which are already high in ambience, the sound can seem a little indistinct, but reverting to the brighter portrayal of an alternative player, even a considerably more expensive one, often leaves the impression of as much being lost as gained.
Another corollary of the PD-S801's warm tonal balance is an unexpurgated bass delivery, marked contrast to the bass reticence displayed by most CD players. Sometimes the result can be a little too full, but any over-emphasis is minimized - and the sound quality generally maximized by exercising care over the machine's working conditions. Molly-coddle it like a turntable and it will repay your consideration.
To compile a roster of the PD-S801's strengths and weaknesses in this way is to obscure the wood by trees. What makes this CD player unusual, particularly at its modest price, is the holistic, self-consistent way it presents music. It is entirely devoid of the over-lit, self-consciously 'hi-fi' quality that characterizes so many inexpensive, or for that matter expensive, CD players.
I cannot recommend the PD-S801 unreservedly, however, for the simple reason that its less overt nature could, in the wrong system context, precipitate a lackluster sound. In such circumstances a player with a 'glitzier' delivery may well be preferred. On the other hand, if your system is already too bright and aggressive, the PD-S801 will of course be a welcome emollient.
Further to this general point, I imagine that the Pioneer's cause will not always be best served in hi-fi dealers' showrooms, where a larger-than-life sound is often advantageous. So if you think this cultured player might suit your tastes and system but it flunks its demonstration, consider having it on home trial.
Should your dealer for any reason be reluctant to allow this, then cast the following spell. Construct an apposite, authoritative sentence around the arcane keywords 'recession' and 'buyer's market', and see what unfolds.