Pioneer N-50A

[Jnan_devi]

Almost missed this thread ... i posted and deleted the post again ... but cant hold myself ... few points here.

1) N50 has Toslink and Coaxial output - Can Devialet optic, handle 24/192 bit rates (i have not idea here)?
2) Same question for coaxial as (1) ?
3) This one does have DAC - given price point, we can ignore as we intend to use only digital section.

Thank you Womaz. This product sounds interesting for my budget

[hk6230]

Almost missed this thread ... i posted and deleted the post again ... but cant hold myself ... few points here.

1) N50 has Toslink and Coaxial output - Can Devialet optic, handle 24/192 bit rates (i have not idea here)?
2) Same question for coaxial as (1) ?
3) This one does have DAC - given price point, we can ignore as we intend to use only digital section.

Thank you Womaz. This product sounds interesting for my budget

1. Optical can handle up to 24/96 only.
2. Coaxial can support 24/192.

[Jnan_devi]

Thanks hk6230. Same question i have asked you in the streaming section. How did you figure optical does only upto 24/96.

So if coaxial supports 24/192, i wonder why did D folks did not make optical go beyond 24/96. Optical has almost un-limited BW compared to all connections. - anyways dont have to answer this off topic.

Coaxial supporting 24/192 is good, as this increases number of network players available in the market.

[hk6230]

Thanks hk6230. Same question i have asked you in the streaming section. How did you figure optical does only upto 24/96.

So if coaxial supports 24/192, i wonder why did D folks did not make optical go beyond 24/96. Optical has almost un-limited BW compared to all connections. - anyways dont have to answer this off topic.

Coaxial supporting 24/192 is good, as this increases number of network players available in the market.

I tested with my Bluesound optical output (24/192) and 24/192 music will not play thru. And Devialet support confirms it, too.

[Jnan_devi]

thank you hk.
Pioneer NP50 does becomes good product to look out for.

[Confused]

I am using a Pioneer N50-A with my D200. I am happy with the sound quality but I have not really tried any of the dedicated streamers. I would be interested in finding out if anyone has done a A/B comparison with the Pioneer N50-A and one of the dedicated streamers like the Auralic Aires. Thanks

seasusa - It occurs to me that it is very likely that the only person on this forum who has tried a Pioneer N50-A with a Devialet is yourself, I am certainly not aware of anyone else who has tried one and posted there experience. 

However, there is a way you could get a very goo idea of how the Pioneer performs in relative terms by trying it yourself versus Devialet AIR.  If you then found that the Pioneer was say slightly better than AIR, you could conclude that it is perhaps better than the Auralic Aires and perhaps getting close to things like the Melco N1A or 'more affordable' Aurender models.  If say it was slightly inferior to AIR, then it perhaps more in the range of the Auralic, or maybe other options like the Bluesound node. 

To be honest, I was a little reluctant to post this.  After all, you appear to be very happy with your Pioneer / Devialet combination, and getting involved with AIR can be hassle and maybe a little frustrating.  However, if you do happen to have some sort of PC / Mac / Laptop to hand, this is something you could try yourself for no cost.  (other than your own time) 

Whether or not you want to do this is entirely your own choice, of course.  It would be an interesting test though I think.

[Confused]

Good luck getting AIR to run smoothly! Plus, as I am someone looking to spend maybe ten times the cost of a Pioneer N50 on a new streamer, I'll be quite interested in how this one works out.

[helloworld1978]

I love my Pioneer N-50A using it with the Nordost Sort Kone and it truly sounds fantastic. Not a fan of AIR due to its limitation. Currently the Pioneer is connected to one of my D200 via coax cable. When compared to the AIR I find that the instruments have more air between them. The soundstage is wider and not as compressed. With the AIR on wifi I get dropouts when playing a 24 bit-192kHz file. As for the Pioneer I have a Furutech rhodium plug going into it which tames the upper frequencies which can sound harsh. At £400 the Pioneer is an excellent buy when comparing to the much more expensive alternatives out there.