Pioneer has a long history of making some fantastic award winning equipment, so naturally I was very excited to see how it’s latest premium mini Hi-Fi system sounds.
Taking the unit out of the box you are greeted by lovely build quality and looks famed with such a big brand. There is a decent sized colour screen on the front making reading what’s currently playing or flicking between menus and content very easy. To the right of the screen is a nice rotary knob for adjusting volume and a series of buttons atop of the unit making controlling it without the remote easy. Spinning the unit round reveals a nice host of connects such as digital optical and RCA phono sockets, it also has USB sockets front and rear too.
The XCHM86D is bristling with all the latest streaming options too such as Spotify Connect, Apple Airplay, Tidal, Google Connect, and Deezer to name the full list! There is also bluetooth allowing you to stream any of your other favorite music services to the unit. Radio is also accessible via the Internet or DAB and finally it supports DLNA making accessing your stored content on a computer or nas drive a breeze. Another key benefit to this unit is it supports high resolution files, giving you the ability to play back high resolution files upping the quality of sound even more! With all this streaming ability Pioneer hasn’t forgotten about a good old fashioned CD player, it’s accompanied with an excellent quality built in dac (digital to analogue converter) which will make the absolute best of your digital music collection and CDs.
Pioneer has gone to great lengths to ensure that this unit produces a high quality sound and it shows. Some very clever engineering and tuning means it punches well above its weight. It’s 65 watt per channel class D amp has got a huge amount of power under the bonnet for such a modest sized unit. I sampled plenty of speakers on the XCHM86, but I always kept coming back to the superb Monitor Audio Silver 2 bookshelf speakers, as I found these to suit the Pioneer best. However, that big power output means it has plenty of grunt in reserve for some big floor standers should that be to your taste!
All this talk about specs but how does the unit sound? Well, I’m pleased to say unlike any other mini system I’ve heard in this price bracket, and I mean that in the best way possible! I used Spotify connect on the Pioneer for my music source and first up was a track called Jealous from Aluna George’s latest album I Remember. Immediately I was greeted with fantastic levels of detail and crispness on the top end and Aluna’s vocals came through very nicely, with all the instruments within the track given plenty of room to breath. However the biggest thing that impresses is the bass within this track, it is delivered extremely impressively and unlike any other mini system. That’s not to say it’s without refinement as it never becomes boomy or over the top. I was very taken back by just how good it actually sounds!
Next up was a complete change of mood in the form of Earth, Wind and Fire’s Guiding Light, this track I know is a challenge for any good system as it contains a lot of warm tones to it, which often come across in one confused lump on some lesser systems, yet once again the Pioneer delivers the goods. There’s a lovely warmth and dexterity to the bass just as it should be, the soft vocals again coming through beautifully amongst everything else within the track.
One final track auditioned, this time Rudimental’s song Common Emotion. This track happens to come from one of my all time favorite albums so naturally I know it well and know how much of a challenge it can be. Playing this track I’m stunned by what the Pioneer can do, its a track with a heavy bass line and lots of instruments happening along side, every element of the track is brought through superbly. Clearly this unit has no trouble in delivering big bass notes whilst keeping the rest of the song in check. The only minor thing is that this track did make the unit struggle slightly with timing but it is a very small mark in the XCHM86’s otherwise perfect armor.
To summarise I’ve been completely stunned by the sound quality of this Pioneer mini system. It’s connectivity and sound quality leave very little to be desired for this price point. Even when my fellow colleagues have passed by our demo room, they all thought it was a much bigger system playing! So it’s well worth popping into store or giving us a call to book in your demo slot soon!
To find out more about the Pioneer XCHM86D, click here.
Author: Aaron, Bournemouth store
