I decided to treat myself to a special gift for my birthday and ordered a P01 through Scott Buwalda's second group buy. I just got the DEH-P01 (DEX-P99RS) installed last night (thanks James!) and wanted to note my initial impressions. I will add notes as I continue to listen to it. The P01 replaced a Pioneer DEH-P800PRS. The harness used is the same as the 800/880 so it was a very quick install as I did not need to redo the harness. The functions and layout are very similar to the 800/880 so owners of those HUs will have a relatively short learning curve.
The initial setup menu is used to setup how many speakers are being used. The P01 has 8 RCA outs - sub L+R, low L+R, mid L+R, and high L+R. There MUST be speakers connected to the mid L+R - all the others are optional and can be turned off in the initial setup menu. So for my 2-way setup, I turned off the high outs.
Running auto eq and ta is slightly different from the 800/880. Getting to auto eq is the same - hold the EQ button for a few seconds and the motorized door slides down, exposing the microphone input. I rotated the right knob to "Auto NW" and thenj pressed the right knob to select "Custom NW", indicating that I had a custom setup (e.g. 2-way + sub) rather than the default 3-way + sub setup. Then I rotated the right kinob once more to "auto eq" and pressed the right knob to begin the auto eq countdown.
I knew that the P01 had some more bells and whistles, like better EQ, selectable display colors, etc. and I expected there to be an incremental improvement in sound quality over the 800/880 due to better components etc. However, I was unprepared for the quantum leap in improved sound quality that I heard. In a word, stunning!! I'm a pretty jaded audio guy - I have heard a lot of good audio equipment but the difference between the 880/800 and this was HUGE. The three 24 bit processors that are used may have something to do with it. Regardless, the audio was very lifelike and three dimensional. More detail, more clarity, the music just seemed more palpable, like I was in the room with the musicians when they were playing.
I will be adding more to this review as I continue to listen to it. If you are thinking about getting one of these units - don't hesitate - IMHO it is worth every penny.
The initial setup menu is used to setup how many speakers are being used. The P01 has 8 RCA outs - sub L+R, low L+R, mid L+R, and high L+R. There MUST be speakers connected to the mid L+R - all the others are optional and can be turned off in the initial setup menu. So for my 2-way setup, I turned off the high outs.
Running auto eq and ta is slightly different from the 800/880. Getting to auto eq is the same - hold the EQ button for a few seconds and the motorized door slides down, exposing the microphone input. I rotated the right knob to "Auto NW" and thenj pressed the right knob to select "Custom NW", indicating that I had a custom setup (e.g. 2-way + sub) rather than the default 3-way + sub setup. Then I rotated the right kinob once more to "auto eq" and pressed the right knob to begin the auto eq countdown.
I knew that the P01 had some more bells and whistles, like better EQ, selectable display colors, etc. and I expected there to be an incremental improvement in sound quality over the 800/880 due to better components etc. However, I was unprepared for the quantum leap in improved sound quality that I heard. In a word, stunning!! I'm a pretty jaded audio guy - I have heard a lot of good audio equipment but the difference between the 880/800 and this was HUGE. The three 24 bit processors that are used may have something to do with it. Regardless, the audio was very lifelike and three dimensional. More detail, more clarity, the music just seemed more palpable, like I was in the room with the musicians when they were playing.
I will be adding more to this review as I continue to listen to it. If you are thinking about getting one of these units - don't hesitate - IMHO it is worth every penny.
