Pioneer Elite SC27 versus SC37?

Does anyone know btw if they ever confirmed some of the differences stated between the SC35 and SC37? I wanted to pick one or the other up when I get my new TV for the bedroom.

digitalvideo wrote: »

Pioneer Elite SC27 versus SC37?

I was wondering if any of you own either of these two playes or both and have tested them. Any differences between these two? I have a Pioneer Elite SC05 and was wondering how much of a improvement I will get with either of these two?

Someone on avsforum.com doesn't have high praise for the SC37 and said it's a step back from the SC27, this is what he said below:

I'm curious the source of this info.

In fact, I was looking forward in buying the SC-37 this year to replace my SC-25 considering their original press release mentioned about the use of AKM DACs (which I love more than Wolfson), Marvell Qdeo K2 scaler and "improved" MCACC. imagine my disappointment when I found out that not only the don't use AKM, they revert back to Burr Brown and the improved MCACC is much less accurate than the previous year's MCACC.

Somehow I must have let the DAC's slip past me . I usually pick up on these kinds of things. So Wolson has been removed for AKM's which never made it and Burr Brown is in? I'd like to get a hold of our rep and confirm some of these rumors. I'm not gonna have to listen to a SC-37 at home vs my SC-07 and see if I can hear any differences in overall sound quality. In the field they sound just as amazing as the last SC-0 and SC=2 series did.
As far as MCACC , I run it all the time and didn't notice anything missing or the system not sounding as good as it should.

I have been doing some testing today with my SC-25 and my Squeezebox Touch. I assumed going in that the Pio would have better DACs, but wanted to test the Touch to be sure.

So I hooked up the Touch via both coaxial and the analog outputs and started listening. I'd heard that the DACs in the Touch were good, but didn't know any specifics going in.

The DACs in the SC-25 and SC-27 are Wolfson, the Wolfson WM8740 to be exact. The DACs in the 3x series is apparently a mystery, as Pioneer does not list them on the website.
The DAC in the Touch is the AKM4420. I had never heard of AKM before now, but apparently they're well regarded.

Keep in mind that I didn't know any of this going in, as I just assumed the Pio would have better DACs given its price.

I listened for a couple hours toggling back and forth between the outputs on the Touch (and thereby toggling between the DAC in the Touch and those in the Pio). Honestly, after a couple hours with a bunch of music that I know really well in lossless format, I can't hear any difference between the two. I put the receiver in Pure Direct mode and toggled between the coax and analog inputs, I just can't hear a difference.

I'm sure there are differences on paper, and maybe super high resolution speakers would bring it out, but my guess is that most people won't be able to hear a difference.

I don't know about the comparison between the TI DACs and the Wolfson, but I'd expect similar results. We're so far along these days and most DACs are well designed enough that's its going to be very difficult for most people to hear a difference.

AsSiMiLaTeD wrote: »

I have been doing some testing today with my SC-25 and my Squeezebox Touch. I assumed going in that the Pio would have better DACs, but wanted to test the Touch to be sure.

So I hooked up the Touch via both coaxial and the analog outputs and started listening. I'd heard that the DACs in the Touch were good, but didn't know any specifics going in.

The DACs in the SC-25 and SC-27 are Wolfson, the Wolfson WM8740 to be exact. The DACs in the 3x series is apparently a mystery, as Pioneer does not list them on the website.
The DAC in the Touch is the AKM4420. I had never heard of AKM before now, but apparently they're well regarded.

Keep in mind that I didn't know any of this going in, as I just assumed the Pio would have better DACs given its price.

I listened for a couple hours toggling back and forth between the outputs on the Touch (and thereby toggling between the DAC in the Touch and those in the Pio). Honestly, after a couple hours with a bunch of music that I know really well in lossless format, I can't hear any difference between the two. I put the receiver in Pure Direct mode and toggled between the coax and analog inputs, I just can't hear a difference.

I'm sure there are differences on paper, and maybe super high resolution speakers would bring it out, but my guess is that most people won't be able to hear a difference.

I don't know about the comparison between the TI DACs and the Wolfson, but I'd expect similar results. We're so far along these days and most DACs are well designed enough that's its going to be very difficult for most people to hear a difference.

Thanks for the info , I'm guessing that once you reach a level of quality in todays DAC's , there really isn't any difference in overall sound quality. Years ago Burr Brown made the best DAC's and everyone raved about how good they where and sound. Todays the word for the last few years has been all Wolfson. With the SC models from Elite , I figured that the step above the rest in sound quality with digital in music like a ipod connected to the front or a Apple Tv connected VIA HDMI or Optical was the Wolfson DAC's. When you listen to other receivers in the price class you hear a music clarity difference with the Pioneer Elite SC models. Even the VSX models shine which had Wolfson DAC's in them.
Over the years or Decades if you will , Pioneer Elite receivers have always been one of the very best sounding AVR's in all their price classes. When the SC models came out , in my opinion I thought they exceeded all others.

F1nut wrote: »

Who is they?

Anyway, a couple of differences....the SC-37 uses 32 bit DAC's, while the SC-35 uses 24 bit. The SC-37's remote has a way cool feature that allows you to shut off the main display on the AVR and view it on the remote, which is something that cannot be done with the SC-35.

The 32bit DAC could be called out as a difference, but when are you going to use it?
If you look closely at the manuals and in real life execution you will find that it is almost impossible to get to these so call specks.
I give you an example: I have a SC-07 that claims to be 24/192khz capable.
If you see what is supported in the manual only two type of recording are supported in the so called quantization bitrate of 24 bit. and none was actually stated as supporting 192Khz.
I tried playing a flac sound file which was produced at 24bit/192Khz and one at 24/96Khz and none were recognized.
A closer look at the manual under flac they only support 8bit and 16 bit. and LPCM and WAV support 24 bit, but the sampleling frequencies say max 44.1 Khz for LPCM and WAV.
I think there is much marketing infuence this days that it is impossible to bay something and not feel somewhat desapointed with your purchase.

I didn't say it did. I was simply pointing out a couple of differences. :biggrin: