Official Pioneer SC-68/67 Thread - Page 34

Ha, always interested. The 59txi is still doing great. Just trying to be prepared if I ever have to replace it. The 09's have held their value while the 5805 can be found pretty reasonable if you keep an eye out.

thx,

bob

Hey was reading reviews on this avr do you guys find the high end weak and not airy? Do you think your missing out on the high end at all? So hard to pick between Cambridge, Anthem, Elite or NAD.

I just bought the sc 65, the remote absolutly sucks, I need a magnifing glass just to see the letters on the keys, I have polk rtia speakers, the mac set them all to large and I had no output from the sub, I manually changed the center and sides to small, I have the fronts set in biamp, but the receiver seems to run out of steam at high volumes, speakers are 8 ohms and 90 db, overall I am very unhappy with the sc 65, I checked with me dealer about returning it for a exchange, but no luck as it was a special order.

Manually set the crossover to 80Hz and set all speakers to small then you will get some if not most of the steam back.
Also note this thread is a 68/67 which has a meaner amp section than the 65.

I use the android app with my 67 almost daily. Be sure you download the 2012 version of the app. The old version won't work. The only problem I've had with it is occasionally it loses comm with the 67 and jumps back to the connection screen. No big deal. I don't think this is even the app's problem. It's probably my router or something else. Bottom line: the app works very well with my Galaxy S2 and the SC-67. I love being able to turn on my patio speakers and start pandora.... from my patio.

I too get that once in a while. Lately, though, not as often. Pioneer should fix this.

Hi everyone, I have a quick question on where I can find a Pioneer Elite dealer close to where I live. I am from Alberta Canada and i can't find a dealer anywhere any more. Any one know, let me know.

Thx

Have you tried here? Just enter Albert and change distance based on the need.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.ca/POCEN/Where-to-Buy

Cool. As most users use Ipads I hope Pioneer continues to give equal support to Android users.

I had the flagship HK AVR7550HD before moving to the SC-68 due to ongoing problems with the HK. Even though the HK was only a few years old the SC-68 seems much more modern, at least in the sense that it works smoothly all the time; the HK was a bit quirky and its integration with the rest of my setup was plagued by intermittent annoyances.

With features such as room correction off, I doubt I could tell a difference between the two, but I suspect I may be included in the group of individuals who cannot hear differences between various receivers. I haven't found the SC-68 lacking in any way in terms of its sound.

For those who owned both the SC-57 and SC-68 could you please comment on the sound quality/output for Blu-ray movies? Is it sonically of the same sound caliber?

I know in the SC-68 they made improvements in the USB-DAC area for music, slightly improved heat sink,4K ability and some other improvement etc but if one used their SC-57 exclusively for Blu-ray movies and TV programs than an SC-68 would not be an upgrade? Is this correct? I am a current SC-57 owner and just wanted to know what others in the know would have to say.

Thanks everyone.
Edited by Edllguy - 1/27/13 at 3:32pm

Hmmm.

I’ve ran into a few folks who have had problems from their HK receivers. I guess I’ve been lucky. I’ve not had problems. And the 7200 is my second Harmon Kardon.

But yes, I’m going to make a move soon because of the connectivity issues, complete lack of HDMI and maybe a bit of sonic value lacking.

I was seriously considering Parasound separates until I read up on Arcam. Became very interested because I wanted something different. And the AVR600 sounds different. Now comes articles from Home Theater and Home Theater HIFI among others and now I’m all into the SC-68.

Of course at some point I’ve got to s*** or get off the pot!

• My lean is towards the SC-68.
• The Arcam sounds problematic and it’s a whole bunch of $$ cash!
• The Parasound does not have a complimentary processor, preferring to stay analog only.
o However pure the intention, THAT is what got me started in the beginning.

So—two days after this past Christmas I solved the sub problem. Tossed the old AR and installed a new REL T-9—very nice and very smooth. Even with the smoothness, still made me jump when the drone missile blew up the house/cabin with Bourne just exiting. Boom, and then a second level boom!

Receiver is just a few reads away...

I never had any out of phase messages from my Yamaha RX3800 during speaker setup (and I had to move it a few times, so have run the setup more than once). Dropped in the SC-68 with the same speakers and it claimed both rear surrounds were out of phase. I thought, well, maybe I switched wires - so, swapped phase and ran the setup again - now only one is out of phase. Put them back, ran it again and nothing out of phase. Since I was experimenting on setting up some new fronts as either bi-amped fronts or as bi-amped B speakers (to use with music only), I've run the setup several times. now. I get random speakers marked out of phase and just ignore that completely now (right now, it thinks one surround is out of phase, which it had OK'd a time or two before, with no changes in the wiring).

I think there is something wrong with setup. I was directed to plug my sub into the single subwoofer plug on the far left, lower row, #4 (IIRC). Nothing from the sub at all. Then, I checked the PDF instead - all subwoofers are plugged in more in the middle (where Sub1/Sub2 are located). So, I moved the cable there and it works fine.

No setup changes I could make would give me sub out on the original plug that the directed setup tells you to use.

I have it turned on for my TV, since otherwise I could not get a 3D bluray to play (it insists on seeing the passback on audio for 3D - it isn't necessary for non 3D, since that HDMI standard is different.

I used the ARC connector on the TV (only one HDMI plug-in is designated that way on mine), set it up on the receiver and on the TV (I forget the exact setting, but the opposite of the setting when I was using optical back to the Yamaha, before -- it doesn't support ARC, so required that or a special bluray player that let me feed audio out on a secondary HDMI cable).

I've been listening to the Pioneer in stereo on the USB-DAC, and 7.1 over HDMI. My opinion is that they are both sound outstanding, but I just prefer the HDMI with the sub. I have a rectangular 25x14 room with the mains on one end, and I have my main tower speakers bi-amped, but I just prefer the balance over HDMI. I just can't hear any significant jitter or drawbacks pver HDMI from my HTPC to the SC-68, and I hear a lot of detail and stellar imaging with either setup. In layman's terms, what is the audio improvement I should hear with the USB-DAC? Does jitter come across as sibilance? Muddiness? Noise/hiss?

Wondering if anyone compared audio quality between USB-DAC, USB, HDMI, and AirPlay?

I know the saying "garbage in, garbage out", but I have a desktop with BX8a speakers and a Audigy 2zs sound card, and I feel that Rhapsody music service sounds around 2x better over USB to the pioneer - so if you want to use the USB-DAC with a laptop etc., it's a major upgrade in my opinion.

Before I give my opinions I would like to say that although I prefer the sound of my Mapleshade adapter to the USB-DAC, my suspicion is that the USB-DAC is not working optimally with my setup. Whether this is due to some problem with my computer, the Pioneer driver or the USB-DAC itself I don’t know. However, Pioneer have been informed of my dissatisfaction and my case has been referred to the quality team in Japan. I am hopeful that at some point they will be able to improve things (PC driver update or firmware update?) such that I will be able to switch over to using the USB-DAC as my preferred two-channel playback device.

Just from reading the posts to this thread, clearly there are a number of very happy customers, so I am really hoping that Pioneer can help improve the sound of the USB-DAC for my setup, after all I did pay extra just to have this feature. Hopefully Pioneer will make me happy and a USB-DAC fan eventually.

Well, I can’t claim to know what ‘jitter sounds like’, however I can tell you about my listening experience of the USB-DAC, compared to my Mapleshade USB-S/PDIF adapter. I don’t know if the difference is due to jitter, some other issue with the interface, or because of a problem with the current Pioneer driver (which they are supposedly investigating at the moment – Note, this maybe XP specific, so may not affect you if you are using Win7).

With the Mapleshade the sound is more ‘precise’ and more natural sounding, characteristics which I would say contribute to this experience are:

1. Vocals (particularly or the ‘airy’ female type) sound more lifelike
2. Acoustic guitar sounds clearer, you can almost picture the musician striking the string with his finger/plectrum. You can hear the musician sliding his/her fingers across the strings as he/she switches from playing each note.
3. There is generally more sense ‘attack’, more ‘impact’, this being especially noticeable with instruments such as cymbals and steel guitars
4. Subtle sounds like drum brushes are more evident with the Mapleshade, and are almost lost with the USB-DAC.
5. When the music gets very ‘busy’, the Mapleshade is able to hold the image (soundstage?) together better

Working in the field of digital video and digital audio design I can appreciate that all the above could be attributable to jitter, although it could also be due to other issues (such as Windows mixer not being properly bypassed and therefore the stream being resampled to 48Khz). However, IF the problem is jitter then I can appreciate it contributing to these sort of sonic differences.

For best reproduction of the original digital source, an accurate extraction of the sample clock from the bitstream is critical. With the aim being to recreate as accurately as possible the original sample clock which was used to lay down the recording. Any jitter present will to some extend modify the reconstructed waveform.

Huge amounts of jitter would sound awful, but very small amounts of jitter would show up as slight inaccuracies in the edges of the reconstructed waveform. Transients would lose their ‘edge’, and this in itself could explain all the things I mentioned in 1-5 above.

I read a very good, but lengthy paper on the subject of jitter in digital audio, I posted the link earlier in this thread but I will provide it again here for your convenience:

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diginterf1_e.html

Not sure if anyone posted this yet but the new firmware update for apple lossless, AIFF files, and gapless play is now available on pioneers website. The update is only available on their website. Its kind of hidden and pioneer has mentioned nothing about it.

Please note pioneer doesnt mention anything about the new UPDATE you have to click on firmware/software update and click on firmware change change history to see its available, Hit update to process the update


PIONEER SC 65, 67, and 68 Apple lossless, AIFF and gapless playback update NOW available on Pioneer website!

Not sure why Pioneer is being so secretive. I tested out the ALAC (apple lossless) and AIFF and they sound amazing!


Ver 1-203-084-513-160
- Support the following features.
1. Support Apple lossless file
2. Support AIFF file
3. Support gapless play feature
- iPod nano connectivity improvement.
- Other improvement.

Note:
- The setting for Favorite, Account information(SiriusXM/Pandora) and Airjam reset to the factory
default after the update. (Receiver which is updated from Ver 1-197-084-512-153 is not initialized.)
Write down these settings before the update as they may need to be set up again.
- This version is not available via the Internet.
Please use an update file which is downloaded from PIONEER website. And please download via USB memory to
update your receiver to the latest version.

Thanks Steve

I tried looking through the thread but with 34 pages it became a bigger task than I thought, Have you tested the AIFF or gapless yet? What are your thoughts?

New to the forum, and just purchased an SC-68 - FABULOUS!! Machine really rocks on the low end, and has great Hi an Mid spectrum

I've got an "11.1" setup (with both FH and FW) using a collection of JBL, Paradigm, Sinclair, and Panasonic speakers
(+Paradigm SW), and can get 9.1 in several modes, but none have both FH and FW on simultaneously... so I guess
a full 11.1 isn't possible - no big deal, but it would be nice at some point :-)

I'm driving video to a Mitsubishi HC3800 DLP projector and the picture quality is also fabulous.

The media server function (using TVMOBiLi) is also fine for music, but I haven't been able to get the SC-68 to do anything
other than music - I'm hoping at some point video and picture content will become available. What I'm using in the interim
is the DLNA client on my Samsung BD-D7000 blu-ray, which can image video and pictures as well as music.

Looking forward to more great discussions on the SC-68!

As I know USD/DAC and Airplay only support 2 channels, HDMI support DTS-HD which mean more than 2 channels...

I had a SC-57 here before I picked up the SC-68. I was thinking of replacing my SC-07 with the SC-57 until I did a head to head shootout. To make things fair , I reset both receivers to factory spec , ran 2 speakers in 2 channel direct only and listened to music I knew very well.
I couldn't find enough reason to upgrade to the SC-57 at that time. When the SC-68 came out , Aside to USB DAC which for me was a huge reason to buy , I done the same shootout with the SC-07 with the SC-68. This time I noticed a smoother more natural sound then when I had the SC-57 here. It stood out more. The mid range and lower end really sounded very controlled and natural over the SC-57. I also noticed a cleaner sound from cymbals and high pitch tones.
The SC-07 is no slouch and is why I have kept it all these years. The SC-68 is a fantastic unit.

I never had the chance to do a side by side with the SC-57/68 which I would love to do. I don't think they are as much the same as stated above. I believe they do sound different , if they have the same amps and DAC's , maybe something in the preamp section was changed or something but they do sound different. I know my SSC-07 inside and out with all kinds of different music. The SC-68 was the first out of all the newer models I felt was a worthy replacement.

Now If I owned the SC-57 would I jump on the SC-68? It really depends , I'm not sure if it's going to be such an upgrade unless your into Computer music. This is where the SC-68 pulls far away from the SC-57. Using the internal DAC to run 24/96 and 24-192 music is so awesome. You already have most of the features the SC-68 provides.

^^^ Thanks ss9001 and Mantis10 for your replys to my question.

ALAC
Can someone correct me if I am wrong? After the Firmware update I seem to have to turn down the volume by 5 decibles. I am now listening at -30 instead of -25 on my 2.1 system. My small sub seems to have reached a new bottom note and gapless is great. Of course all this is in a small room. As I am writing this in another room, the sub sounds phenomenal compared to what I was used to. For this I have my ipod nano connected to the front of the SC-67 and havn't tried dlna yet
Dave

I have ARC Capability on my VT50 via HDMI and I can't stream any audio out tommmy 68 so I can watch netflix.I tried everything. I opened the menu, HDMI settings on the 68 home menu and entered all Every option and nothing seems to work. I even tried HDMI out2 and other HDMI inputs with no luck. I guess you need to be a rocket science to work this reciever.