Pioneer Elite N50 Network Player

[tophatjohnny]

Anyone here know this animal?? I think it has the Pandora ap. Just wondering how much better Pandora would sound through this unit than a cheap Sony DVD Blu Ray player??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MakeTrack=true

[tophatjohnny]

Anyone here know this animal?? I think it has the Pandora ap. Just wondering how much better Pandora would sound through this unit than a cheap Sony DVD Blu Ray player??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MakeTrack=true

No Pioneer Elite "wizzards" in the Polk House??

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I don't know alot about it, but seems expensive for what you get., especially since I think alot of that functionality is included in their AVRs now...

[tonyb]

For less coin than that you can get a SB touch or Sonos unit and stream that and alot more right to your stereo.

[deronb1]

Anyone here know this animal?? I think it has the Pandora ap. Just wondering how much better Pandora would sound through this unit than a cheap Sony DVD Blu Ray player??

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MakeTrack=true

Johnny, BluRay players have decent DACs. They have to, to handle the new DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby TruHD audio codecs. If your BluRay has RCA outs, you would be surprised of the quality going to a decent preamp. My cheapo LG BluRay will play SACDs and it sounds pretty darn good. With an internet stream, you don't need to drop a ton of money on something that your BluRay will do 99 percent as well.

[tonyb]

Don't base your whole decision around dacs/chipsets. What BDP's don't have, at least the cheaper ones, is a decent analog output stage of quality. Which is just as important as a dac.

[tophatjohnny]

For less coin than that you can get a SB touch or Sonos unit and stream that and alot more right to your stereo.

Never heard of either?? I'd like to know more.

Johnny, BluRay players have decent DACs. They have to, to handle the new DTS HD Master Audio and Dolby TruHD audio codecs. If your BluRay has RCA outs, you would be surprised of the quality going to a decent preamp. My cheapo LG BluRay will play SACDs and it sounds pretty darn good. With an internet stream, you don't need to drop a ton of money on something that your BluRay will do 99 percent as well.

I was told from the seller that my Pandora would sound day and night better through this than my cheap Sony Blu ray player?? If that's not case, yes it's an expensive unit. 500 delivered?? It had better make that Pandora sing!!

[coolsax]

pandora is nothing but mp3 quality.. so it will always be limited by that limitation, if your main concern is just streaming pandora then sticking with your bluray or going the squeezebox or sonos is probably just as good as and a cheaper route to boot..

[tophatjohnny]

pandora is nothing but mp3 quality.. so it will always be limited by that limitation, if your main concern is just streaming pandora then sticking with your bluray or going the squeezebox or sonos is probably just as good as and a cheaper route to boot..

I keep hearing of this Sonos?? heard squeezebox was not around anymore, know nothing of either, but if one will improve on the sound of my Pandora radio, I'm sure wanting to look into that!

[tophatjohnny]

I keep hearing of this Sonos?? heard squeezebox was not around anymore, know nothing of either, but if one will improve on the sound of my Pandora radio, I'm sure wanting to look into that!

Just looked into Sonos, and at this point I think I'll stop chasing my tail. I'm good at that!!

[deronb1]

Don't base your whole decision around dacs/chipsets. What BDP's don't have, at least the cheaper ones, is a decent analog output stage of quality. Which is just as important as a dac.

Good point tony, but if I remember right, he is going to hook into a decent pre.

[mantis]

I have not used this but I can see many benefits to owning it. High Rez music is first and foremost for me so I would absolutely check this out. We have not sold any nor even looked at one but now that I checked out the 30 and 50 , I think I'm gonna get one in.
The 50 has the same exact DAC as the SC-68 and I can say from experience , it's sounds amazing. At 699 retail price for this unit , I say it's 100% worth full retail just for the DAC.
Then it has the ability to stream everything else is just a bonus. Airplay and an ap really round it out.

I'm all in , get one.

[deronb1]

I have not used this but I can see many benefits to owning it. High Rez music is first and foremost for me so I would absolutely check this out. We have not sold any nor even looked at one but now that I checked out the 30 and 50 , I think I'm gonna get one in.
The 50 has the same exact DAC as the SC-68 and I can say from experience , it's sounds amazing. At 699 retail price for this unit , I say it's 100% worth full retail just for the DAC.
Then it has the ability to stream everything else is just a bonus. Airplay and an ap really round it out.

I'm all in , get one.

Hey Dan, does the Pio in question "upconvert" the SQ from Pandora? It's only 128kbps from the source. I think Pandora One is 192kbps, or something like that. I wont hook up my XM to my 2 ch system. Just sounds disappointing. I run it through the HT system and it sounds ok.

[tonyb]

Good point tony, but if I remember right, he is going to hook into a decent pre.

yeah man, I got that, but that means he's going to use the analog outs of the dvd player, thus having the dvd"s analog output stage play a role also in the sq. I maybe splitting hairs here, but seems to me a better solution would be to just split the 2. Keep the HK for movies, and the pre for music. A simple Y connection at the amp would take care of that. Rather than running a dvd player into a 2 channel pre. Just my .02 from miles away.

[tophatjohnny]

Talked to the folks at Pioneer. This unit is discontinued! Short (1 year ) life?? I'm probably not going to jump.