Pioneer Hi-Res Digital Audio Player, Black XDP-30R(B)

I converted all of my store-bought and mix CDs during the summer of 2016. I was recovering from surgery and it was a fun project at the time. I have over 900 CDs and I stopped listening to them because it was so cumbersome. My first conversion was in MP3 format. 900 CDs took about a week of steady effort. At first I was amazed at the sound, but after a week, I decided to keep the MP3 files and try to figure out how to re-do everything in a lossless format. I researched about the differences in the lossless formats, and learned that there is no difference in the sound, so I decided to use the only lossless program my then Windows 7 computer had, WMA, Windows Media Audio. Three weeks later, I completed the project. I have everything loaded in a 1st gen Fiio X5.I am fascinated with the lossless players manufactured in China and by Cowon in Korea. It's kind of like when Japan was manufacturing those reverse-painted, metal-grilled transistor radios in the early 1960s.I have a small collection of lossless players including a Cowon Pleune d, and a really cool Shanling M2. I am half-heartedly looking for a player a notch up from what I have, but, of course, I don't want to spend a lot. So I ordered an XDP-30R-B. It spent several days kicking around in Miami after being shipped promptly from Allentown. I had to inquire after several days as to why the package tracking just stopped. Amazon got back to me and thought they had lost the package, but after another few inquiries, the tracking magically continued and the next day, it was delivered in pristine condition. Brand-new, beautiful product. I loaded it with 270 GB of WMA lossless audio and hit "Library". Guess what? The player will not read my files. I took the SD card and inserted it into another player and it worked flawlessly. I put an MP3 card into the player and it worked fine. I thought about converting to FLAC, but no way I am going to. So I returned the player the next day.I did get one WMA lossless file to play. The player showed one album by the Who. I played it through one of my home stereos and it sounded fantastic. Really fantastic! I am disappointed that it won't play my files. Even the MP3s sounded great, but not as good as lossless. Besides, I only listen to MP3s in the car. The build quality and the feel of the product is good. I like the audio adjustments too. This is a great player and if it will only play my files! Most people will love this player. I did not use any of the wireless features.I am in the process of re-ripping everything into FLAC so I can use newer android and android-type players like this one. I have re-purchased this model (at a great price too) and I loaded about 10,000 tracks onto two 128 GB cards. To my dismay the player would not read the first card, a PNY card I had purchased 2 years ago, but I copied that to a SanDisk and it works fine. This is a very nice player. The sound is a little sharper than say, my Fiio X5, but it has great detail and there are some pretty cool and easy-to-access sound control buttons to adjust all kinds of digital processing, up-sampling, etc. The differences are subtle but they do make a difference. It always takes a month or two for components to burn-in and for the human ear to adjust to the fine differences unique to each player. This player's sound ranks up there with the Cowon Pleune D which has amazing sound. Like the Pleune D, I see no album artwork but at least this player doesn't try to hide that fact. Right in the middle of the screen where you would expect to see artwork are the play/pause and forward/reverse screen buttons. Very conveniently, in the upper left-hand corner of the screen is the information and it is easy to read. That almost makes up for the lack of artwork.The lack of album artwork, the not-too-solid feel of a thin plastic strip over the back of the unit, and no protection for the micro sd cards are my only negative criticisms. I like the like and feel of the product otherwise. The sound is excellent. It can locate tracks fairly quickly. It sorts everything well. I think this is a good product for the money, especially if you purchased one on 12/20/2017!11/19/2018 I want to add I updated this player OTA and it shows album art now. I think this is a pretty good player after all. Pioneer stayed with it. It does have twin ESS DACS. Compared to how this player performed when I first purchased it and wrote this review, is has improved greatly.. There are just so many DAPs (digital audio players) available now and they are a notch better each roll-out. I just want to add that after I did the update yesterday, I found the player much more likable. Figures. I am readying it as a gift! I don't know if this player does now read WMA lossless files or not. Those files were too much trouble and I re-ripped my entire library in FLAC.

This product lives up to what it promises a 100%. In the era of smartphones which in a dumbed down manner can do everything to satisfy our various, basic audio-visual needs, this is a product that offers something else. It does mainly one thing, and does it really well; it delivers excellent sound quality. I strongly recommend it to anyone who is looking for something more fulfilling than an itunes listening experience. Yes, high-res audio, high sample rate files that is, do sound better than ordinary digital music, and this player has the capability to make that difference noticeable, provided the speakers, or headphones, that go with it are equally good. For use with external speakers it has a line-out function which is very nice when at home or in the car, for example. Pioneer XDP-30R is equipped with WIFI and the option to stream radio music, as well as off Tidal and Deezer. It offers plenty of space with two card slots (which is a lot for music, and something that tablets or smartphones don't offer) and an optional bluetooth connectivity, which I personally would never use in a product that is primarily about the quality of sound. The only possible downside is the battery life. With heavy listening and WIFI on (for more than a few hours a day) I have to charge it daily. The good thing is that the charging is pretty quick. Overall, it is a high quality product from a renowned Japanese company that has been in the business for as long as I can remember, and never fails to deliver. Here again, it does what it promises adding a few usefu extras. Timeless. Five stars!

I am really happy with this player so far. Over the years I have learned that a solid user interface is pretty central to enjoying one of these things. Have used the iPod, Zune, Shanling, Sansa Fuze and I like this the best of all of them: a good range of relevant features and very intuitive. Whatever I have wanted to do, I have been able to, and it's been where I expected. I have loaded up two 128 GB cards with a combination of mp3 and flac. Minor issues with lag, but I do mean minor--titles appear in a second or less. Scrolling allows you to expedite through long lists with a scroll bar on the right that shows the alphabet (like the Zune), which is very helpful if you have a lot loaded. I do wish the titles scrolled when navigating. My naming convention for say multiple recordings of Beethoven's 7th is to tack on the conductor and orchestra at the end. Without scrolling names, I never see this, which makes folder navigation tricky. No issues with album art unless I haven't tagged it and I have not had any of the problems mentioned in other reviews, so I am optimistic that the explanation for them was QA issues (not that that is a comforting explanation for a potential buyer). Haven't done anything with playlists or online streaming so can't speak to that. Sound is great through the car (which is the main reason I have one of these) and sounds good through my system at home as well (Arcam equipment). Earbuds sounded good but pretty basic stuff--nothing hard to drive--you will be using a headphone amp anyway if that's your listening preference. We will see about overall durability.All in all, I think the combination of sound quality and options at this price point was remarkably well-considered. Gains to be had, but this is probably close enough to the point of diminishing returns for most people. For me, the UI means I will use this more than I did some of the others, which means I will enjoy the music more.