Just read the review of the new Pioneer VSX-LX55 home theater amp in November's WhatHiFi? It's a 5-star winner of the Group Test and looks to be just what I need to replace my current Onkyo TX-SR875. But is it just me, or is the review a little, umm, grudging? Not sure...
In particular, for me at least, two major issues were raised but left unanswered satisfactorily - so any thoughts/comments fellow Forum members?
1/ The review says “the treble can be pushed into a little brightness, so take care over the partnering speakers”; this isn't too helpful if you didn’t know what the review amp was tested with though..... I have a mainly Mission set-up - 752 Freedom front floorstanders, C77 centre, M7DS rears and a REL sub. Do these count as "bright" by WhatHiFi? Standards, or are they suitable partners here?
2/ The VSX-LX55 can play 24bit/192kHz FLAC music files from its network connection. This for me is a huge step forward in the advance of HD digital music, but bizarrely for an audio magazine it receives just a passing mention in the review. There are a lot of external DACs that can handle 24bit/96kHz, but vey few reasonably priced ones that accept 24bit at 192kHz; all of those seem to need a digital audio input (co-ax or optical) but none I've found can do it via a LAN connection (at a reasonable price at least).
So Pioneer has made a major step forward and if it sounds good at 24/192 then I'm sold on the VSX-LX55 and I'll buy one. (Please don't tell me there aren't many of these files around - there weren't many Blu-Ray discs around when I bought my first BR player either......)
So, WhatHiFi? magazine, what is its 24/192 playback like? Please tell us!
Regards to all - David
In particular, for me at least, two major issues were raised but left unanswered satisfactorily - so any thoughts/comments fellow Forum members?
1/ The review says “the treble can be pushed into a little brightness, so take care over the partnering speakers”; this isn't too helpful if you didn’t know what the review amp was tested with though..... I have a mainly Mission set-up - 752 Freedom front floorstanders, C77 centre, M7DS rears and a REL sub. Do these count as "bright" by WhatHiFi? Standards, or are they suitable partners here?
2/ The VSX-LX55 can play 24bit/192kHz FLAC music files from its network connection. This for me is a huge step forward in the advance of HD digital music, but bizarrely for an audio magazine it receives just a passing mention in the review. There are a lot of external DACs that can handle 24bit/96kHz, but vey few reasonably priced ones that accept 24bit at 192kHz; all of those seem to need a digital audio input (co-ax or optical) but none I've found can do it via a LAN connection (at a reasonable price at least).
So Pioneer has made a major step forward and if it sounds good at 24/192 then I'm sold on the VSX-LX55 and I'll buy one. (Please don't tell me there aren't many of these files around - there weren't many Blu-Ray discs around when I bought my first BR player either......)
So, WhatHiFi? magazine, what is its 24/192 playback like? Please tell us!
Regards to all - David