Top critical review
1.0 out of 5 starsNothing "Elite" About It, a true disappointment.
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2017
I've long owned pioneer receivers. Every ten years or so I upgrade to a newer model. My last model was a VSX-84TXSi and I still have it in my rec room. For 2005 it was rock solid and delivered, and still does. A few months ago I decided to buy a newer model for my main entertainment center and as my main audiophile stereo. This model advertised it was "iPod and iPhone ready."
The first thing I noticed is that this model is lightweight and feels insubstantial. The wood end pieces from the VSX-84TXSi days are gone and this newer model sports a cheap, lightweight, metal case without wood trim. However the real problems lay with what is inside the unit. First of all (and you don't find this out until you have actually read the instructions) "iPod and iPhone ready" means that you may stream the contents of your iPhone via bluetooth only. As and audiophile, I was eager to connect my iPhone to the usb port of this unit and and use it as an outboard DAC for Apple lossless files, like one used to be able to do with older elite models. Bluetooth is poor for audio transmission and this model won't accept a wired connection from an iPhone or iPod. I should have returned the unit at this point, but instead decided to connect my iPod classic using a Pro-Ject Dock Box S for transport and keep the receiver.
After installation I noticed that when one is watching cable television the receiver emits a loud "click" when the audio source switches formats from surround to stereo. Given that many commercials are in stereo and many televisions shows are in surround, an evening of watching television sounds like listening to a metronome with the receiver clicking away numerous times during every commercial break. My old VSX-84TXsi switches between audio formats silently.
This unit also only has one USB port on the the front of the device so if one wished to connect a USB hard drive to it to store and play digital audio files, there's no way to connect the drive to the back of the unit.
So, no wired connections and can't use the receiver for as a D/A converter for high-quality losses playback from iPhone or iPod, loud clicking noises emitted from the receiver during audio format transitions (which are frequent during commercial breaks), only one USB port on the front of the unit, and lightweight, cheap build. For $1,000there is nothing "elite" about they this unit and I regret purchasing it. I'm hoping they restore support for wired iPhone and iPod playback and eliminate the loud clicks emitted during audio format changes with a future firmware update, but feel this is doubtful. This will be the last Pioneer product I will purchase as their quality has declined a long, long, way over the years.