Pioneer AA6j or AA9j (with Pioneer pdd6j)

[admin_exported]

Hello,

I am considering pairing my existing sacd player
Pioneer pd d6j with pioneer's aa9j . I have been using the sacd
player, which I like a lot, in my current listening setup: Graham
Slee's Solo headphone amplifier and Audio Technica's ATHW5000. I am
unable to listen them anywhere locally but given the sound / quality of
the pdd6jI am very much inclined to go with Pioneer's amplifier.

My
only concern is that the combo might cause an overaccentuation of high
frequencies, even harshness with treble, as noted in some reviews. Has
anyone tried the cd + amp configuration?

Maybe aa6j would suit the player better (given they were meant to play together)?

The rest of the set up would
be QUAD 12L2 SPEAKERS and supra rondo speaker cables. I would really
appreciate your thoughts on this.

Thanks

Pat

 

[survivor]

Hi Pat.

I own the PD D6J and the AA6J. They work very nicely in my system which has B&W685 speakers. I haven`t noticed any treble harshness and the level of detail is very good indeed.

I thought briefly about getting the AA9J for some extra power but after the review it received and the fact that it would cost £300 or so more I decided against it. As happy as I am with my system I must admit I have sometimes wondered how good the larger model would sound. I have not dismissed the idea entirely and might someday consider it for an upgrade.

If you go with a Pioneer amp then I can only recommend the AA6J I`m afraid as I haven`t as yet heard the AA9J. The big question though is how will this combination work with your quads? Hmmnn... not sure. Hopefully the rondo speaker cables will help tone down any potential brightness that might occur.

Sorry I couldn`t be more help. Good luck.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi and thanks for the answer.

normally, I wouldn't consider the more expensive amplifier, but the price has dropped down recently to 499 GBP which is about 150 pounds more than the A6 - tempting, isn't it?

As far as the speakers go, I was considering BW685s which after all are pretty heavy on the bass (ideal for the pioneers), but also read that the midrange is lacking. After much reading and consideration I've narrowed my choices down to either Epos 12.2 (the word 'bright' does come up quite often with those in all sorts of reviews) or the mentioned Quads 12l2 ('bright' is used very little with these on the other hand).

Funnily enough, the d9's price is going down as well (equally tempting). Might be a good time to upgrade.

Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[survivor]

Interesting. Didn`t know about the price drop. Not surprising I guess considering the competition in that price range. Something to think about.

If you`re not keen on the B&W`s then go for the Quads. If you do go for the aa9j I would be interested to know how it sounds.

Good luck!

 

[Anonymous]

Same here, I'm still thinking on upgrading to PD-D9 and A-A9 but this negative What Hi-Fi review of PD-D9 (only 3 stars) discourages me a bit, and I still haven't heard the Burr Brown USB DAC that's inside A-A9...has anyone heard the quality of streamed FLAC files with pioneer amp?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I know it got only three stars but there are other places where it was given top score, for instance http://www.avreview.co.uk/news/article/mps/uan/1471 . So it's not so clear cut.

A far as my pd6 cd player goes, I am thinking of upgrading it with Chevronaudio.co.uk. The thing is that pd9 looks to me like an upgraded version of pd6. I suspect you would get similar results with the pd6 by doing an upgrade. I was quoted 300 GBP for Masterclock - upgrade with their UltraClock2, Power supply - various capacitor additions, Output Stage - new opamps and coupling
capacitors and Power Supply & Chassis Control upgrade - more capacitors and lamination on the inside elements/chasis. This would cost me about the same as pd9. Certainly less than going sell-pd6-and-buy-pd9 route.

Thanks again.

 

[Anonymous]

Took the plunge. A9j it is. I am waiting for new speakers BW CM1 so far I have only heard it with Q Acoustics 1010 (borrowed) and it sounds promising, a lot of soundstage and detail. I heard the CM1s with Pioneer d6 and the were amazing.

I compared them against BW 685 (TERRIBLE! AWFUL! I was literally lost for words. I couldn't believe they sounded so bad! I thought to myself, if that's the sound signature at this price range I'll need to save some serious money until I make any purchase. They gave me headache after 10 minutes) then there were the CM1 - amazing! then Focal JM LAB 806V again no comparison to CM1 (no mid range at all), then Spendor s3/5r - really nice, well balanced similar sound to cm1 but less soundstage (more expensive as well), then some Japanese company (similar to focal - bass and high end with nothing in-between so I passed).

I had 5 different speakers to compare and after listening to all of them I asked to audition the CM1 again to check whether my initial excitement was caused by the awful sound of the 685's. I was comforted to hear that they were really exceptional. Hopefully they will work well with the a9j.

Just some initial impressions.

 

[paurey]

I have had the PD-D9 and its partner AA9 since last two years and I must say I am extremely pleased with both products. The quality and finishing of both products is fantastic. I have been using the USB input of the amp the last months and my impression is that the DAC does the job quite well. It is a 16-bit DAC but has no background noise at all, clear sound and very good response in general. The FLAC, or any other loseless files sound really well, and it is easy to hear the difference from compressed files. Of course, comparing same recordings, the DAC from the AA9 is noticeable better, but the difference is not that big as one might think.