Pioneer XDP-100R Digital Audio Player Unveiled
If you’ve been following the world of “high-resolution audio” and support for it among the major manufacturers, the Sony Corporation would immediately come to mind. They even developed the logo. But the announcement that Pioneer has entered the market with a very full-featured portable high-resolution audio player called the XDP-100R Digital Audio Player is notable for a number of reasons. This new portable player sets a very high bar if you’re counting features along but its biggest claim to fame is the licensing of the MQA technology from Meridian. Also among its impressive specifications is the inclusion of DSD at normal, double, and even quad rates and PCM up to 384 kHz and 32-bits…although words longer than 32-bits will be downconverted to 24-bits).
Here’s the official press release issue by Pioneer:
“September 10, 2015 – There is a groundswell of ‘higher than CD quality’ High Res audio formats and player devices that support them. With the mainstream growth for streaming audio and video services, many users are looking for more ways to enjoy their high res contents on the go.
Pioneer is proud to announce the ‘XDP-100R’ Digital Audio Player. Based on Android OS, it supports many high res audio formats up to DSD 11.2MHz, 384kHz/24bit FLAC/WAV audio files, in addition to streaming audio and the upcoming MQA format.
The class leading 4.7 inch display can make Google Play apps further expand its capabilities. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support allow for a variety of wireless connectivity options. With the preloaded OnkyoMusic app, you can download high res audio files without the need of a PC. And with two micro SD card slots, along with the built in storage, you can max out the total storage up to 288GB.
The ‘XDP-100’” is based on our years of experience building component and portable audio devices. Based on ESS technology’s SABRE DAC ES9018K2M and SABRE 9601K, all functions within the ‘XDP-100R’ are blocked off in a closed loop construction to eliminate any extraneous noise. The audio board and CPU board are separated internally, further isolating sources of noise, using the same approach as separating an amplifier from the playback device in a component stereo. It will improve the sound quality of your existing audio library. You can import your existing music files simply via the X-DAP Link app. In addition to the rigid aluminum body, the top and bottom have removable bumpers to protect the cables/connectors from wear and tear.”
I wasn’t able to find a price for the new player but you can bet it’s going to be hefty. The closest competitor is the top-of-the-line Astell & Kern AK380, which is priced at $3500. The new Pioneer unit bears a striking similarity to the A&K unit…the large screen, the beveled edge, and the decidedly high-tech vibe. You can read the specs for yourself at other sites around the web. But as impressive as the listed specifications are for this “high-resolution audio” device, I can’t help but think back on the fidelity of the audio being played on it.
There aren’t any 384 kHz/24-bit commercial recordings being produced. The number of extreme high-end releases is probably less than 100…and that’s being very generous. You can’t count tracks that have been upconverted from analog tapes or standard resolution digital files. And what about the inclusion of the MQA technology? I received an emailed message from MQA today as well. The new technology will also be part of the new line of Bluesound products from Lenbrook. I’m still waiting for inventor Robert Stuart to finish answering the questions I asked 4 months ago.
So it seems audiophiles are near the peak of the highest fidelity mountain. How much more playback potential do we actually need? Perhaps the artists, musicians, producers, and labels should pay as much attention to producing and releasing “high-resolution music” as the hardware guys are to providing the ability to play it back.
Hell Yeah!! This. mqa is the for real deal. I heard it at ces.
Look forward to the daily blog.
Thank you
MQA is certainly an exciting technology. I experienced a private listening session at CES as well. I’m hoping to get some straight answers from the inventor…soon.
The price of XDP-100R is 600~700 bucks quite much cheaper and reasonable.
Now, this is lower-end version of Onkyo’s upcoming DP-X1 (which is about 1K bucks) audio player. XDP-100R has single-dac, single-amp while Onkyo DP-X1 has dual-dac, dual-amp.
By the way, the size of XDP-100R is really, really big (DP-X1 is even bigger). These are not pocket friendly just like Pono, Cowon and overpriced Iriver A&K products.
I am far more interested in smaller DAPs (i.e Fiio X3, X5, Sony A10 and newly introduced A20 series) because they actually fit into normal size pockets unlike these bricks.
Plus : and of course, these multi-dac chips and mult-amp chips audio players eat battery in incredible speed. I am not sure about XDP-100R, but DP-X1’s battery won’t last more than 8 hours as far as I heard. A DAP that cannot last a day is just sad. My Cowon D2 audio player used to last a week (52-hour battery)….
I should have taken the time to do a search for the pricing…thanks. I don’t think I would be spending any money on a portable player. The fidelity of my recordings on my phone is good enough for the road.
Yup. Portable hi-rez is a waste because portable devices are used mostly in high-noise areas like vehicles, public transportation, gyms, and various outdoors environments — junk-rez 128kbps mp3 is more than adequate for such purposes. Hi-rez only makes sense at home, and then only if you live in a quiet, isolated neighborhood where you can really crank up the volume, but not in apartments where you’re molested by your neighbor’s subwoofer-equipped TVs 24/7/365.
“subwoofer-endowed TVs” would have been funnier. -SW
Hey Mark, I just saw it listed at £499 including VAT!
Sometimes I’m confused, we all know that HDA’s audible improvements are subtle at best and hard to pick out on less than very good equipment. Yet the market for expensive HDA in portables has been very good since the beginning. Who would be able to hear the value of HDA while jogging down a busy city street or exercising on a noisy treadmill or like? As for using it as a front end at home I can do just as good if not better for a whole lot less money.
Sorry but high dollar portable HDA players just don’t make sense to me, my $60 Sansa Clip + and $100 Grado SR80i’s are just find in portable conditions for a dinosaurs like me.
http://www.custom-cable.co.uk/pioneer-xdp-100r-portable-player.html
Custom Cable in the UK list the XDP-100R at £499 inc VAT…..
While the stats on these new devices are impressive I have to believe the market is so small I question the sustainability of it all. I would find it so cumbersome to cart around big heavy devices such as this. I invested in an Oppo HA-2 headphone amp instead which just takes the files from my iDevice and processes them for delivery to my headphones. That product supports DSD as well and uses my device’s internal storage as the hard drive. Even that device is a bit cumbersome at times and it is no larger than an iPhone. It will be interesting to follow how long and in what way these products continue to be marketed.
Good points…very narrow market.
There are a few labels selling music in DXD resolution, e.g. 2L. Looking at their free samples, however, this seems rather pointless. Above 50 kHz, it’s all noise with the typical rising profile. Their ADCs (Sphynx 2 / AX24) are apparently happy to output PCM at rates higher than make sense for the (5-bit) sigma-delta modulator in use. Without a dramatic improvement in ADC technology, distributing music at anything higher than 192 kHz is a waste of bits. Then again, with no music content at those high frequencies, even with better ADCs, it would still be a waste.
Thanks…my thoughts exactly.
Meh. I’ll keep using my Squeezebox Touch until it stops working. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great that more manufacturers are getting into the game. For me I’m just not seeing the value. I think I have 15 or 20 true hi res albums. That might be a stretch. So 150 tracks out of 10,000 benefit from hi res capability of the SBT. Not interested in DSD. That’s all I need is another medium.
~ 384 kHz/24-bit
2.5MHz / >>16-bits CD sounds incredible .
~ How much more playback potential do we actually need ?
Seems like the only thing that is highly needed is infinite oversampling .
Since most DAPs are used by folks outside the home, in noisier than home environments, it doesn’t make much sense to me to worry about ultimate fidelity and sound quality. I have a Fiio X3 and MEElectronics 161P IEMs and hi-res files do sound very good. However, I find that 320k MP3s are more than adequate 90% of the time. And MP3s are certainly very space efficient….
-CD-