I purchased this receiver here a few weeks ago and am VERY pleased with it!!
Lots of connection and streaming options, but most importantly, it sounds great. In fact, it replaced a tube amp with no regrets (tube amp went on eBay a few days later).
Does anybody know whether the phono hookup includes a built-in pre-amp or is it just a normal input labeled Phono?
It has a built in pre-amp (moving magnet).
Still really liking this unit (playing some morning tunes right now).
It arrived today by fed ex, just a few days after ordering-- despite the excessively long ( end of Feb) estimated delivery date in my confirmation …so that was a nice surprise. It’s a good looking unit and it sounds warm and clear. I hooked it up with really old speaker wire just to get it set up and it sounds terrific so I probably didn’t need to buy the fancier wire and banana plugs that are on order. I used bare wire and it seems fine.
The only quibble, so far, is I had some trouble getting the network connection with my wifi - I use a dual band router and although it saw the 2.4ghz wifi name, when I tried to connect via iPhone or to log in after letting the receiver scan and then add password… nothing happened. About 6 times. Finally, I checked the router settings and saw that my 2.4 band ( which is all the pioneer can use) was set for 802.11n only . There’s nothing in the documentation that says it needs b/g compatibility, but I reset the router and the pioneer eventually picked it up. The 2.4 band is a lot slower than my 5g connection, but so far internet radio has been great and the Spotify connect is basically controlled by phone or iPad, so the slower connection speed is less of a problem than I’d feared. Airplay seems to be working now as well. The sxn30 controller app is convenient – it’s lost its way once or twice and forgot how to connect to the receiver-- not sure if it needs to be on the same wifi once you’ve established the connection, but I will experiment. The regular remote is very nice and well thought out. I was going to change how I output sound from tv to receiver, and most of my other peripherals feed into the tv, so I probably won’t be switching inputs that often. I did try my CD player and it sounds spectacular. I tend to use Spotify now for convenience, but I may dust off some CDs! Surprisingly, the digital music sounds warmer and less harsh than with my old set up. Not sure why. But I can barely distinguish “internet radio” from fm now. I like how the pioneer remembers where you were last, so for example, internet radio station stays where it was – you don’t have to reselect. Only one audio out, which is now going to a DVD recorder - so I guess I may relegate my old tape deck to “listen only” status, if I plug it in. Honestly, I haven’t used it in years, but it might give me a chance to salvage ( record to cd or DVD) some old music before the tapes disintegrate.
My only cons, so far, are the headphone jack switches off audio to speakers when the adapter is inserted ( without headphones) . I used to store the adapter in my old one so it was always locatable, but I will have to attach it to headphones instead. And it’s a little slow making network connection, but that’s probably due to the use of 2.4 ghz instead of 5g wifi. Haven’t tried using Ethernet yet, but I may relocate my router and test that out. For now, the wifi is fine. Havent tried phono yet.
I can update when I have more time to test it, but for now – it seems like a really well thought out and well constructed piece of audio equipment at an affordable price, and I’m glad I got it.