Construction, simple remote. Good Sound, Dynamics & Basses. Headphone with output level(Cermetpot) adjust.

Poor & unusable (for purist) headphone OUT with impedance higher than 32 Ohms.

GOOD for this price: Robust Tray, well manufactured & shielded, good film & electrolytic Caps, very good power supply & converters for 1998's years, good OpAmps compromise. Very good "LineOut" sound... except the HEADPHONE amplifier OUT which sightly "clip@-5Volts" on some HIGH level's CD with my old 100$'s 600 Ohms Senheiser (ex.female chords,like Eskil !) nothing easy to do.. But, just a word for Eskil: take care with your Amp, because the high 2V "line level" out of the PDS06 COULD saturate your pre-amp!! (it was the case with my old 1979's Luxman-L81 which has "only" 120mV sensibility: i had to attenuate by 6dB my Luxman Input, and all is now OK!). Also, for the noise: open the player, front panel near you: you will notice 2 small Pots at the "right side" of the PDS06 and: re-trim a little (one of the 2, i don't remember!) and it will have a impact over the noise!! The other Pot is the PLL/Tracking; but netherless if you "remember" the mechanical position of the 2xpot's cursor it's NO problem even with (like me) no schematics... hope it helps ! (the modification of 100pF CapsOut is NOT mandatory with this 470 Ohms out-resistance inside: 1meter of classical CINCH cable is about 200pF itself).

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Old SONY 1BitStream of 1988's

All but fastness

Looks and construction: You can hardly find that nicely built CD Player for $500. Very reliable stable platter mechanism, good chasis with electromagnetic shields. Attention to detail in contrcution. Only power cord could be better. Sound: Good to very good depending on repertoire and experience with more expensive players. Natural and well balanced, however not very lively. Good space and location of instruments, strong bass. Presents music with the kind of smoothness and warmth you are about to love when listening lod for more than 30 minutes. Sometimes lacks the pulse and accuracy of (Marantz players) but is stronger than for instance Marantz OSE 6000 in buliding the atmosphere. Nothing to complain about in this price ranger unless you prefer fast beat to feeling.

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System: Amp: AUDIOLAB 8000S ($1000), Speakers: Audiowave 135SE ($900), Cables: KimberTC (speakers) Oelbach NF1 (Interconnect)

great sound most of the time

some stuff sounds bad or very bad. The pcb quality is poor.

Hi, I agree the player plays very well most of the time. But on some cd's I guess this legato link stuff freaks out. On some cd's, the noise level is unusually high with this player - example: The famous Hotel california live recording from Eagles, hell frezes over. Other cd's with a lot of treble content it can sound extremely sharp/scrill, and even sound like the recording is clipped. an example of very sharp sounding recording (on this cd player): George micael: spinnig the weel. fake clipping heard on some female choir cd's, when all sang wery high notes.

All is good - transport,converters,supply,design

still can't find

I was very impressed by the price for the best components
for now days- Pioneer Stable platter is one of two best
( anotherone is TEAC's VRDS ),Burr-Brown 20-bit PCM-1702
converters ,separate supply ( two transformers ).I even
couldn't trust for the price- ONLY HALF-THOUSAND ?!The
players with poor Philips SDM 12.X and the same converters
cost about 2500-3000 USD . What for, sorry ?Pioneer broke
market with their PD-S06.The only thing what i did- i
replaced output OP-AMPs JRC2114 to Burr-Brown OPA-2604
and own supply cable to Acrotec .That's all ,nothing better
is required .It looks fine , controlled fine and sounds
only how your CD was recorded .I have CD recorder Fostex
CR-200 - it was based on the same principle - Pioneer
Stable platter , two trans's and etc.as PD-S06 , but
costs 2500 USD .By my opinion ,PD-S06 is the best choice
for these money these days, it beates a lot of players
in price range up to 3000-4000 USD .Why to pay just for
proud name of Copland or the same a few thousand dollards
and 300-400 dollars really for "iron" ( i.e.hardware )?
I'm an engineer and saw other players inside ( Sonic Frontiers , for example ) - and trust me -there's nothing
to pay for .What's about PD-S06 , there even no required
to use any expensive audio cables - output resistance is
just 470 Ohm , and damping factor for standard case
will be better than 100 .It's enough to be happy .

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Cambridge Audio CD-6

Hi,I bougt the Pioneer PDS 06 second hand to team up with my Accuphase E-406 amp, Snell E III speaker and PAD cables. Before we (me and my wife) had a Pioneer PDS 701 which was quite nice but clearly the weakest link in the chain.

Enter PDS 06. What a brush of fresh air! It plays like a clear well of crystal water. It is transparent, 3D-like with an abundance of details and without getting the least bit bright or harsh. Very silky indeed. I´ll keep this a long time for sure. At the moment this is Pioneers top model in Europe and it uses the famous Legato Link in the latest incarnation Hi-Bit. It has 20 bit Burr-Brown DACS as opposed to the bitstream that they used up until now.

Other characteristics of the (non!) sound is netrality which you often do not notice before you are faced with it. What I mean is that you perhaps like your a bit heavy fluffy bass. It sound nice but then when you upgrade and start to hear more how they actually play the individual notes on the bass guitar or when you hear the difference between the box and the plucking of the strings of the accoustic bass. That is another ballgame. It sound more real. A good recording helps but I´ve noticed that a so and so i fine since the sound is smooth and never fatiguing treble.

So in brief
Very nice champagne looks with very good build quality.
Sound: Treble is precise and smooth
Midrange is transparent and very neutral.
Bass is potent and tight and goes way down there.

I can really recommned this model that is a real success in Sweden!

Best Regards from Anders

Oh, the asking price is 7000SEK ($875) and I got mine for 4800SEK ($600).

Top quality build design. Good sound.

No power on/off switch with the remote

I had previously demo'd an Arcam 7SE prior to obtaining the PDS06. For the price the Arcam's build is too flimsy although the Pioneer did cost an extra hundred and also I didn't want to combine it with the Arcam 8R amp. In contrast the build quality and particularly the CD platter on the Pioneer is excellent. The PDS06 sound quality is very good especially for jazz,however sometimes I find it a bit mild on rock. Also I wonder about the merits of the High-Bit Legato Link Conversion S which restores lost signals below 16 bits and requantises them. Often times the effect of this is to restore hiss sounds to certain CD's, I've tested this on regular CD players and the hiss is not picked up. For such a high spec model I would have expected it to be able to play CD RW's but this is not the case.

I used the Pioneer in combination with B&W 600 Series 2 and an Arcam 8R amp.

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Arcam 7SE

One of the best transport and one of the best converters

non-finished output circuit

Hi again.I found that Pioneer trusts to their Legato Link
Digital Filter so a lot that made output circuit some
simpler that required.This creates some strange harmonics
in high frequency range, which makes a few "nerves" feeling
during listening the music.As i found ,Pioneer didn't
install output capacitors near audio output sockets and
didn't install output rf-filters.You may install both
capacitors ( 100pF ), install link between output trace
and capacitor trace on the second channel ( this link is
already installed on first channel ), rip output trace
very close of output sockets and solder two thru-pass
ferrite-circle supplied filters ( the same as are used
for low supply filtering in processor circuits )beteween
output traces and output sockets ( i.e.thru-pass )on
the printed side of the board.This modification makes the sound more "like-analog" with more soft highs , but
don't worry- the "air" and "dimension" remain as well.

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Cambridge Audio CD6

superb build quality, involving sound,excellent value for money

nothing for now

I had to choose between Arcam 7, Micromega stage 4, others ... and Pioneer PD S06. The budget of mine was apx USD 550. Finally I bought the last one. The reasons?
First of all I was confused of the mixed
reviews about Micromega... "very good ... but it scips". I've visited the dealer of M. The sound is OK but I had doubts of the further problems with it. Actually where is the profit if it can't
"read"!? The next stop was Arcam 7. Mixed reviews again. I've seen and heard it. I still wonder how it is possible to put this amazing sound into a poor piece of plastic ... I am not sure that can rely on this "box" in next two years. Some people say "the sound is most important"- Yes that's the strong point, but how long time we'll enjoy it- is important too.
But I should talk about the Pioneer. I bought a brand new PDS06 at USD 550. Very good deal! As I know
its price on UK market is J550(usd 900).
It means that on our domestic market, top model of Pioneer beats Arcam 7 (J330- usd550)and Micromega 4 on the price, even it is more pricey in UK...

The sound of PD S06 is stuning. This is not "set of tones", but a real and alive picture. A lot of details, no more harsh
and coldness of mechanical "0010110...". The sound is very enjoyable and doesn't make me nerves even on high level. I was really impressed when I heard Brahms simphony #4, Dvorjack #9. It makes jazz too, even with the master M. Davis- "Live Evil". Just a little bit soft with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but "top of the dog" with Kansas, Steely Dan, Toto and Yes. Great with Billy Cobham, K. Jarret and J.Garbarek...
The midrange is focused verry accurate, the bass is tuned and has authority, the treble?- hear it!
Well, about the build quality: looks like
a palace of the gentle giant, weigths 10kg, superb transport and simple face...
By the way it was rewarded by EISA as "CD player of 1998/1999".
What Hi-Fi? verdicts 4 stars on the first test and 3 stars after "the supertest" (among 10 other more expensive players- up to J800), because "its artifice too clearly heard..." Thanks, but I prefer to be the judge by myself and explore it in my own area, in my own time, with my CDs... "clearly heard".
"the best" is this what you like! Enjoy the music!

p.s. I use amp Sony TA FA3ES, speakers MS 812 put on Atacama BDS 21, cables- QED Quodos.