CDP with minimal controls on front panel


Greeting everyone and Happy Holidays.

For this Holiday season I have treated myself to a Pioneer Elite PD-D9 J SACD/CD Player. One thing I noticed about it is that on the front panel it is very minimalist IMO. There is only a power, play/stop and eject button. I guess I'm just surprised by this because I've really only seen something like this on REALLY inexpensive players. Normally lots of CDPs from other manufacturers have track control buttons to advance or go back to the previous tracks or a pause button. I guess I better not loose the remote. ;)

PD-D9

Has anyone encountered this before where a CDP or any type of player they have doesn't have many control buttons? Is there any kind of sonic benefit to this kind of design or this just normally done for aesthetics?

I tried looking in the archives but I couldn't find a thread like this pertaining to CDPs.

Thanks in advance.
128x128jedinite24
I have the PD-D6-J and it's obviously setup the same way. I assumed most of the high end CD players were similar, but it sound like these are a minimalist design.

I would assume you like the way it sounds, mines great.
my marantz cd/dvd player has only 4 buttons on the front. to do beyond play, ff, rew, eject you must use the remote. i.ve wondered about this also. my newer marantz universal player has a selection to turn the display off and play audio out only. they claim it improves the sound but since it is just ok i don,t believe it. neither of these are high end but they were not cheap either.
The Elite units also have the ability to shut off the digital display and other unnecessary digial circuits for improved sound. I can't say that I've ever heard a difference, but I do leave it in pure audio mode. For me it was a good indication that the engineers were working to optimize the design.
The Lector 0.6t twin tube cd player has only two buttons.
One for open/close and one for play. That's it. There is one power switch. Everything else you need is found on the remote, so yes you need to keep track of the remote or program a universal to accept the most common commands.
Accustic Arts players - 1 knob for standby/operate, 1 knob for forward/reverse, 1 button for play, 1 button for stop

FANTASTIC sounding unit
Bel Canto CD2 has only one rotary knob on faceplate. Don't lose the remote. Almost makes you wonder why there are any controls at all on the unit.
The Nuforce CDP-8 has NO BUTTON at all. Just a touch strip and would be completely stealth if you get the black on.
Greetings all

Thanks everyone for chiming in and sharing. I'm surprised at the number of other higher-end players out that have a similar design in terms of minimalist front panel controls. Good to know.

The looks and design of the Pioneer PD-D9 J is so surprising to me because it is a stark contrast (IMO) to their styling of previous players. I have a Pioneer DV09 and it has gold colored accents, wood sides, writing everywhere detailing what is in the unit, a larger display.

The Pure Audio ouput option is something I also use a lot as well. In my Oppo and Marantz players I've owned I've also used the Pure Audio option as well. I have never heard a difference in audio quality on any of these players when the Pure Audio option is on or off. I just like not seeing the bright displays unless I have too.

Mceljo
I'm liking the sound PD-D9-J makes so far in the limited listening sessions I've had with it. It is a tad less punchy & a little laid back vs the Oppo BDP 83SE. Once the holidays are done I'm hoping to have longer listening sessions with it.

Thanks again everyone and Happy Holidays.
The Granite 650 and 657 players also have no buttons at all. I owned the 657, which added an additional (tube) output, and it always kind of scared me that I was completely dependent on the remote control, given how often a remote gets misplaced.