Pioneer N50-a returned to dealer, but what to try next?

[GilesM]

Hi GilesM,

 

From your posts on the other threads you seem to be still using the N-50A. Has the 'buffering' issue been resolved? If so, how did you sort it out?

 

John

 

John, so I have reached the end of the road with the Pioneer. Replacing it today with the Marantz NA-6005. I do hope I like this one...

[GilesM]

So, having exchanged my Pioneer N50-a for a Marantz NA6005, I am pleased to say that I now have gapless playback via 3 alternatives;

 

 

1) reading direct from the server, controlled by the Marantz hi-fi app (works so much better than the Pioneer on, and the design is superior).

 

 

2) via iTunes "Airplay" (with the required re sampling to a format acceptable to "Airplay").

 

 

3) via JRiver and Jremote combination in full 24-96 flac or ALAC format.

 

 

2 out of 3 the Pioneer could not do, and the Marantz was £100.00 cheaper, so I have a refund of £100 on my credit card!

 

 

yes, I have lost the colour screen and artwork display, but that is a minor consideration.

 

 

wow, should have bought this one in the first place.

Any one considering the Pioneer, don't get me wrong, that is a fantastic unit, it's just that gapless playback was very important to me.

[Chopsrr]

Giles... I'm waiting to see what you have to say about the overall sound quality of the NA6005.

[GilesM]

Giles... I'm waiting to see what you have to say about the overall sound quality of the NA6005.

 

Chopsrr,

 

I have only had a few hours with it so far, but initial impressions are very good

i really like the sound characteristics so far. It is hard to compare because I changed my mind about keeping the Pioneer as my dealer said he was happy to swap the devices, so I did not have to make an additional purchase. So, I have yet to get to my 'test' albums, but initially, the sound is better than the Pioneer, from memory anyway. If I had to advise anyway about which of the two to buy, well it is easy, Marantz. In the UK the Marantz is £100 cheaper than the Pioneer, which is strange because it is better specified, it sounds better, it has wi-fi built in and it does gapless playback as a DMR device which the Pioneer did not do.

Pioneer have made a major error omitting gapless DMR playback and it seems they made an error with the price as well.

 

The Marantz is prompting me with a software update. Having been let down by recent Apple software updates that only made things worse, have you done the update? Did it have a positive impact? Or did it make no noticeable difference or worse of all did it break anything?

 

I wanted to thank you in regards your earlier input to the thread.

I will update you once I get to my test albums.

 

Giles

[GilesM]

Hi, just listened to one of my 'test' albums in 24-96. This Marantz 6005 is fantastic. I am hearing so much more, loads of extra bass (which I like) but overall the entire sound spectrum is better. I realise how much better when I wanted listen to all sorts of albums just see how it sounds.

Even the headphone amp surpasses my dedicated headphone amp, leaves it for dust.

This machine is a stone cold freaking killer.

In case you have not guessed.... Love it!

[Chopsrr]

Chopsrr,

 

I have only had a few hours with it so far, but initial impressions are very good

i really like the sound characteristics so far. It is hard to compare because I changed my mind about keeping the Pioneer as my dealer said he was happy to swap the devices, so I did not have to make an additional purchase. So, I have yet to get to my 'test' albums, but initially, the sound is better than the Pioneer, from memory anyway. If I had to advise anyway about which of the two to buy, well it is easy, Marantz. In the UK the Marantz is £100 cheaper than the Pioneer, which is strange because it is better specified, it sounds better, it has wi-fi built in and it does gapless playback as a DMR device which the Pioneer did not do.

Pioneer have made a major error omitting gapless DMR playback and it seems they made an error with the price as well.

 

The Marantz is prompting me with a software update. Having been let down by recent Apple software updates that only made things worse, have you done the update? Did it have a positive impact? Or did it make no noticeable difference or worse of all did it break anything?

 

I wanted to thank you in regards your earlier input to the thread.

I will update you once I get to my test albums.

 

Giles

 

Hi, just listened to one of my 'test' albums in 24-96. This Marantz 6005 is fantastic. I am hearing so much more, loads of extra bass (which I like) but overall the entire sound spectrum is better. I realise how much better when I wanted listen to all sorts of albums just see how it sounds.

Even the headphone amp surpasses my dedicated headphone amp, leaves it for dust.

This machine is a stone cold freaking killer.

In case you have not guessed.... Love it!

 

Hello Giles,

 

You're very welcome. I'm glad I was able to help out in your little venture. I'm sure the Pioneer probably costs more due to the color screen more than anything else. That's the only thing I can think of anyways. It seems that most units that come with a color screen like that cost $1000+. I do wish I was as lucky as you though since you are able to get the NA6005 in silver. I would love to have silver but it's not offered over here in the states... Which is typical.

 

As far as firmware updates go, I haven't been prompted for one yet on mine. I checked for an update a couple days ago, but there were none.

 

And just for fun, here's a pic of JRiver streaming Pink Floyd in gapless FLAC to the Marantz, controlled by JRemote. If you ever want to check if a player can stream gapless, Pink Floyd is definitely one way to test it out. :-D

 

[GilesM]

Hello... I am just starting my JRiver test period, so far I like it. Some of my albums were mysteriously missed when JR scanned my itunes library, which is odd.

I also like the Marantz app, which works quite well for me.

The search process is limited of course, but it it way better than the Pioneer one.

Evaluation of JRiver will continue for a few weeks, but if feel I probably will purchase it.

 

One of my radio stations did just stop this morning, but having had 3 different players, that all did this, the problem must be elsewhere in the network or externally, so I am not going to get hung up on that.

 

As long as it does not buffer on my own files, I will be happy.

 

As far as the firmware update, in the end I had no choice as it automatically did the fw update the next time I went in to standby mode. It does not seem to have hurt anything though...

[Chopsrr]

Hello... I am just starting my JRiver test period, so far I like it. Some of my albums were mysteriously missed when JR scanned my itunes library, which is odd.

I also like the Marantz app, which works quite well for me.

The search process is limited of course, but it it way better than the Pioneer one.

Evaluation of JRiver will continue for a few weeks, but if feel I probably will purchase it.

 

One of my radio stations did just stop this morning, but having had 3 different players, that all did this, the problem must be elsewhere in the network or externally, so I am not going to get hung up on that.

 

As long as it does not buffer on my own files, I will be happy.

 

As far as the firmware update, in the end I had no choice as it automatically did the fw update the next time I went in to standby mode. It does not seem to have hurt anything though...

 

JRiver is a pretty competent program and is certainly well thought out and very flexible. There's a lot there to learn, that's for sure. I've been running JRiver for a couple of years now and still don't know all the ins and outs of it.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about one of the radio stations stopping. They do that from time to time. Remember, there's a LOT of servers, network hubs and junctions between you and that station. There's hundreds of things between that station and your NA6005 that could cause the station to stop playing. It doesn't necessarily mean it's the player's fault. I've had the same happen here.

 

As far as streaming my FLAC files from JRiver, not once have I ever had a problem. I don't think you will either.