Pioneer PDR-609

I've found the PDR 609 to be easy to use and capable of producing great copies. It is also a decent as a stand-alone player and as a transport feeding a DAC. Perhaps nowadays, with computers and audio-capture software, these kind of machines are no longer needed, but I still have two of them and prefer to use a PDR 609 for capturing vinyl to CDR. The 609 has a headphone out - useful when recording to avoid any chance of the turntable being adversly affected by the sound from the speakers. One criticism I have is that the layout of the remote is a little cluttered, so entering track data before finalizing is made harder than it need have been. A shame there is no connection for a keyboard - a simple measure that would considerably enhance the user experience. Overall this is a super machine. I bought my first one over 10 years ago and it is still working as perfectly as the first time i used it.

I've had the deck for several years, and am still very satisfied with it. Pristine audio capture, pretty good features, and a good set of I/O (Coax Digital, Optical Digital, and RCA Analog). CD-Text capability is quite useful, but not simple to set up on the deck itself. If you're looking for a classy, high-end audio capture unit, this is THE deck you want. Only kvetch: It uses slightly-more-expensive CD-Digital-Audio disks, but overall, it sounds great.

Answer to below and others with blank media issues is that the 609 will only use audio cdrs or audio cdrws, and not the pc ones found everywhere these days. The audio blanks are more expensive and not sold at the supermarket! Type in 'audio cdrw' on ebay is your best bet. As far as the 609 goes, it is good value for money with a good sound quality; a recommended piece of kit.

I am in a similiar position where my old cdrw's have stopped working as I reused them for yonks. Soon as I tried some brand new cdrw's (several brands) it comes up 'pro disc'. Same with cdr's incidentally, which means I can no longer use it as a recorder. Does anyone know what the issue is with media? Until I can find an answer I do not recommend anyone buys this product. Any help is appreciated.

Ian

For me, it does what it says on the tin. Pioneer PDR-609 makes CD copies from pretty well any source, and as long as you read the instruction booklet you get excellent results: copying via coaxial from CD to CD-R or CD-RW gives you a copy which is to my ears (and through a very analytical system) identical to the original. Ditto if you want to record from a high-quality analogue front-end - your CD copy will contain exactly what is on your source, and you know it will play on any machine. As a CD player, it sounds OK for most purposes, but I would always prefer to listen through a quality dedicated player.

I found it a bit fiddly to use, not quite as user-friendly from analogue source as it could be. The analogue recording facility only works automatically if the source is very clean (i.e. if breaks between tracks are v quiet), so if you are not critical about quality and want more convenience you may prefer one of the cheap turntable/USB units which link to your computer. That will presumably be OK for iPod and download sound quality. Also the Pioneer copies in real time, so it's much slower than a computer-based copy arrangement. CD-RW works fine but erasing from them is fiddly.

Depends what you want. For top quality recording, and if you're prepared to accept the fiddly bits as above, I found it does the job really well.

Pioneer PDR-609.This is a beautiful bit of kit. Even though it's been around a couple of years, it's still a top of the range cd recorder and player. Great looks and easy to use, for the amateur or professional.

After more than 3 years my analog input doesn't work any longer.

Does anyone have the remedy.

I don't understand the folks having issues with recording media. I assume they are not using CDs designed for Digital Audio - this recorder REQUIRES that you use CD-R and CD-RW which say Digital Audio on them.

Really simple method for duplicating CDs, using optical digital input. The 609 will copy and finalize with the push of a couple of buttons.

The Pioneer PDR609 makes nice recordings from vinyl as well, although please forget any ideas you have that much of the process is automated; the track-sensing software in this (and I bet almost all others) recorder really can't do a good job of dividing one song from another by itself. Therefore you have to sit with it and tell it (via front plate or remote) to 'start a new track now.'

I have had this recorder for about 2 years, and I have found it to be superb for recording off Vinyl, CD and Tapes. It is superb at recording from both Digital and Analogue inputs.

I have recorded off my LP12 and found them to be very warm sounding, and it has kept the warmth and detail of the Sondek.

Tapes are also a very good transfer, but this depends on the tape decks ability to play the cassette accurately.

CD to CD - there is no difference in quality from the original. If there is I have not heard any. As long as you use the digital Output from the player you use. It is much better than the computer sound you get when you record CD's.

I use the CD-RW's by Maxell, and they work with no problems, but ensure they have audio on them and not data. Anyway, you should have got one in the box with the Pioneer PDR609 CD player.

I have exactly the same problem with my Pioneer PDR609 DC player. I've just spent £30 on a variety of packets or RW disc, and every single one comes up as a Pro disc! It clearly says in the manual that the discs I have bought have been checked for compatibility with this unit. This isn't the case, I haven't managed to find a disc to use yet.