What am I listening to, it can't be Digital?

My experience has been that DVD-A stereo sounds exceptionally good
(dynamic, resolving, etc), but I'm not going to get into comparisons with
analog because it's too subjective.

Have you listened to other DVD-A discs other than Diana Krall's? Just
interested to know your basis of comparison.

My hunch is that there's no down mixing going on, and that you're listening
to DVD-A stereo. If the DVD-A has both multi channel and stereo mixes, you
will have the menu option on the Pioneer DVD player of selecting the mix you
want to hear. That's the first step.

When you play the Krall DVD-A, your Pioneer player's display should indicate
which channels are being reproduced (L&R, or Multi Channel). All my DVD-A
or SACD players have done this (Denon 2900, Denon 3910, Sony DVP999ES,
Esoteric UX-3Pi).

Dear Jylee,
Already know that it isn't 5.1 Surround Sound, I am incapable of utilizing any of the AUDIO OUT (5.1ch) Outputs on the Pioneer. It might be possible that what I am hearing is two Channel 96kHz/24-bit, but double the presence, double the harmonic content, a foot wider Soundstage with Headphones? Do you have any two Channel 96kHz/24-bit recordings that do this? I have listened to 2-Channel SACD, and this blows it away. The problem is a Perfect Storm, three causes whose total is greater than the sum of their parts. Let me explain:
1. A Pioneer Manual that talks about a Players ability to
to take 4-Channel DVD-Audio and Downmix it to 2-Channel
Stereo.
2. A Player that doesn't indicate the presence of a 4-
Channel DVD-Audio or a Surround DVD-Audio. A Player that
further doesn't indicate when it is Downmixing or not.
3. A Disc Jacket for a DVD-Audio Disc that doesn't explain
that access to the Surround Channels is only available
through the use of external Surround Processing. A
simple disclaimer such as, "Downmixing of Surround
Channels to 2-Channel Stereo is not accessable on this
Disc".

Mental note to self: if a DVD-Audio Disc offers 4 Channels of Audio, but if two of these Channels are Surround Sound, then these Channels CANNOT be downmixed to 2-Channel Stereo. These Channels can only be accessed through external Surround Sound Processing. I think I got it! Well this should help avoid any further mistakes, and help me save some money!

The Pioneer's on-screen Audio menu should provide the options, e.g. multi-channel, two channel, or down mix, and allow you to select the option you want, yes?

Dear Tvad,
I wasn't trying to compare what I was hearing to Analog to try to determine which one was superior. I'm not saying either one was the best. All that I was trying to say is what I was hearing shared some of the same characteristics as Analog. I do have a Turntable, but the mix in quality of various Records, CD's, DVD-Audio, and SACD in my opinion makes comparison impossible. I try for the highest quality Recording instead of the highest quality Format. I try for a System that can play many Formats. My latest foray was into DVD-Audio and SACD. I was overtaken by the confusion in DVD-Audio and SACD/2-Channel and Multi-Channel. My operating Manual doesn't help and only adds more confusion. I am using my player as an Audio only instrument, the problem is that most of the Audio functions of this player can only be accessed through a T.V. Video Menu. I already have a DVD-Player that is already set up with my T.V.. Disconnecting, reconnecting, disconnecting again, reconnecting again, and I am supposed to presume that the Pioneer will remember its settings after I reconnect it back to my Stereo System. I will muddle through it. Sorry if I confused anyone out there.

Pettyofficer, my DVD-A/SACD players have also all been used in a dedicated audio-only two channel system. As you said, it's a pain to access menus when a video monitor is required, and almost all of the consumer universal players require this.