[karmazynowy]

Is this combo more focused on dac or amp section, does anyone knows?

 

[GourouLubrik]

DAC first, clearly.
=> Remote, no analog input, can be fixed or variable DAC output for use as a preamp.
In my (difficult) opinion, headphone output only worth to be used with low power balanced headphones (TH900

) .
It clearly doesn't partner well with orthos, it lacks power & dynamic & drive with those.

 

[karmazynowy]

Thanks. Any comparisions to Marantz HD-DAC1 yet?

 

[laurenthr]

I just bought this Pioneer U-05 to replace a TEAC UD-301 that did work perfectly but I wanted to have a dedicated balanced output for my new headphone Sennheiser 650 and be able to play DXD as well (just in case). 
I am not too sure about the performance as I don't have enough experience. I remember having tested a pure headphone amp (no DAC) from a local Japanese vendor at the shop that sounded warmer, but I chose this one for the features. I looked at the Oppo also but was twice the price...
 
That said, the real issue with this product is that the software support is ridiculously minimal !
This product is designed to play hi-res audio, targeting new users that are not specially audio otaku or computer geaks... just buy hi-res file and play it. Here in Japan, it is getting more visibility, so I can see a lot of lambda customers bying it. 
But strangely, Pioneer does not even bother to provide a simple yet fully functional player like TEAC does (no fancy UI just player : http://teac.jp/product/hr_audio_player/). 
You have to install a shareware (foobar) which is fine for those or us who are not allergic with these things, but it can't be considered as a normal consumer product. 
 
Strangely the driver is recognized as "output speaker". My TEAC was seen as a  DAC, not sure if it changes anything...
 
I hope Pioneer will provide a similar player as TEAC that is effectively supported on WIndows and MAC...

 

[Hitman202]

  HI,
just baught this DAC and the sound is very impressive, open , detailled and warm .
The headphone amp is not a gadget , drives my Sebbheiser HD600 and Hifilan HE500 without problem.
But i have an issue with DSD files , when i try to play one i have no sound , just chug and the display show PCM 176;4 instead of DSD .
I tried with a Teac UD 501 and no problem at all , i can play DSD files;
I use  Daphile on a Toshiba Laptop .Also tried with Win 8;1 (with pioneer drivers installed) and jplay mini , same problem.
Any idea ?
Thanks in advance.

Have You tried using Jriver?
I can play DSD (and it shows on the display) on Windows 7 using Jriver Media Player.
It did take a lot of hairpulling though.
I think you need to use the Asio driver instead og Wasapi and direct throughput

 

[GourouLubrik]

It's not just Pioneer, lots of dac manufacturers recommend foobar + foo_input_sacd of official method for playing DSD in Windows.
DSD playback is not mainstream and not very well supported. ASIO drivers and DoP are just hacks to make it work, it's an additional layer of complexity for everyone.
 
IMHO, It's not manufacturer job to develop software for playback, I don't wan't a proprietary software for each dac, I want softwares that  work for all my dacs.
Still, I do appreciate the effort of Linn, because they do open source software... Teac, Korg and Onkyo are doing it wrong by restraining use and/or reuse.
 
BTW, I can confirm DSD playback works in foobar with official drivers, as well as transcoding to PCM -> DSD on the fly.
 
Still, I don't like CMedia6631A ASIO driver very much...

 

[shuttleboi]

What Hi-Fi in the UK has a review of the Pioneer U-05. Looks like a beautiful piece of gear. 
 
Does anyone know if it's going to be sold in the USA?
 

 

[GourouLubrik]

Interesting quick review, As I also own an Audiolab M-Dac,
 
I don't know if it's again the What Hifi UK & Marantz fanboyism at work, but I should disagree that the "Pioneer’s detail retrieval holds up well.", the Pioneer detail retrieval is ahead of the Audiolab MDac. I cannot complain on the "fluidity" of the pioneer, I would say that dac output (that I don't use much now) is a little more on the cold side than the Mdac, but the balanced headphone amp is more on the warm side.
Overall, the pioneer is a better dac, has better support (usb > 96khz, DSD, and AES), better headphone amp, better remote, and much faster to power on... The Audiolab is more compact, have a better display, a greater choice of filter (but I assume that this is one of the reason to the longer power on), and my beloved digital outputs that the Pioneer lacks
 
I should note that I found a bug in the firmware. I happened to play DSD (using the foo_dsd_asio) over the USB without the pioneer to display anything (it should display something on the screen while playing)
 
You should  avoid at all cost clipping samples (over-volume) when using foo_dsd_asio - because it will be clearly audible, and way more annoying than when it's PCM clipping.
 
I did quick test between PCM redbook material NOS Direct mode and oversampled to DSD128 through foo_dsd_asio ... My humble ears did not detect audible differences.

 

[qaminh]

Hi all, i'm intersted in U-05 , i know it uses ES 9016 dual . If i use DAC (only), is sound warm or cold ? Could I pair well with grado 325is?

 

[148124]

still no review with some serious AP measurements ? this can be state of the art dac but nobody has made it so far ...
 
headphone section uses tpa6120 ? if so it sucks too bad with high output impedance thus low damping factor with low impedance HP and shows how ignorant pioneer was when designed this beautiful dac+amp combo ...

 

[GourouLubrik]

Maybe not a TPA.
 
Balanced section benefits from a discrete output stage.
but I believe SE use the big IC (the large one on the left).
 

 

[148124]

gonna have some demo unit for 2 weeks and see what it's worth
 
will compare it directly with audio-gd nfb-28 (sabre 9018 in current domain) and m-dac / q-dac (9016)
 
dont get me wrong - tpa6120 is nice for high impedance HP, like it a lot with hd600/650 etc but it has to be turned almost all the way to show its full potential with this integrated headamp and to really move hd600
 
with low impedance headphones it sucks so bad, oh boy ... completely out of control of the drivers with many HP I tried in my life

 

[GourouLubrik]

I own a m-dac too. after a quick test of there dac out on my v200, I found out that Pioneer is ahead in term of what matters to me (resolution, transparency & soundstage).
 
I event didn't bother to compare headphone out. I do not like the headphone out of the M-Dac, technically clean but so boring.

 

[3083joe]

  gonna have some demo unit for 2 weeks and see what it's worth
 
will compare it directly with audio-gd nfb-28 (sabre 9018 in current domain) and m-dac / q-dac (9016)
 
dont get me wrong - tpa6120 is nice for high impedance HP, like it a lot with hd600/650 etc but it has to be turned almost all the way to show its full potential with this integrated headamp and to really move hd600
 
with low impedance headphones it sucks so bad, oh boy ... completely out of control of the drivers with many HP I tried in my life

So what exactly do you think of it?

 

[GourouLubrik]

Well, I don't know for him, but for my balanced TH-900... I've bought a second unit (at an amazing price) that I will leave at work.
I've sold Violectric HPA v200, and selling my M-Dac.
 
Don't get me wrong, don't ever buy a Pioneer in order to drive an orthodynamic. It would be a mistake.
 
Someone else told me that it believe it's on the dry side. In fact, the dac is on the dry side, but additionnal warmess from discrete balanced out + NOS settings tends to limit this characteristic.
I've tested Moon Neo HA430 and Aurorasound Heada out of the pionner and compared the balanced headphone out on my TH900.
 
Well, don't get me wrong, the Pioneer did not beat them... but didn't sound ridiculous neither.
 
The bad thing is that it was the brightest of the 3 (I hate brightness).
The soundstage front depth and definition was the best of the 3.
The best bass of the 3 belongs to the Heada, sound addictive, strong and refined, and the tamed highs is good with TH900... but the lacks of depth that really disappointed me. I wonder why it did not retain something that belong to the very nature of the Pionner Dac.
Moon is versatile, powerful, maybe too much for a TH-900, good all rounder, best volume adjustment I ever encountered. Every manufacturers using digital volume should look into their knob-of-god.
Also tested vs Alo Audio PanAm, I prefered the balanced headphone out of the Pioneer by a large margin...