So would a $99 Blu-ray player, apparently, right? So then why spend 10x the money for a fancy box? That’s my point.
If that’s what you think of it, I suggest YOU don't buy one. My point is that I don’t (yet) see evidence that this is nothing more than a fancy box.
I would agree that the LX500 for $999 is a bit steep when the Oppo 203 was $549 and with much better features. But with Oppo Digital out of the player market companies like Pioneer are seizing on the universal player market. With that companies don't have to worry about pricing as much as there is such a limited amount of new universal players being produced. So the LX500 might be the "bargain" universal player at the present time.
Based on the recent history of Oppo Digital, I wouldn’t say the Pioneer is over priced, but that the Oppo was under priced.
Trust me, I’m not buying one. If I were you, I would not be so eager to buy one either, but it’s your money. If this machine were $399, it would potentially be a good value, but at $1099 MSRP ($999 rumored street price), it’s just not worth it. That seems to be the consensus of the online scuttlebutt.
My issue with the Pioneer 500 is the single, switching power supply. If I were using only digital outputs and didn't care about the internal DAC or analogue functions, then I'd spend a lot less than the $999 for the Pioneer and instead get a decently built Blu-Ray/universal player like maybe the Sony X800 or 1000. If, on the other hand, I did want an internal DAC and therefore a built-in analogue section, then I don't think I'd be too enthused about paying $999 for a unit with a switching power supply for the analogue section (and one shared with the digital - and therefore video - circuitry at that). In that case I guess I'd see if I could nab a 203 for maybe $800. I stress that I mean no disrespect to anyone else, and I am not trying to tell anyone what they should or should not buy or enjoy. I'm just saying that for me personally, this Pioneer 500 seems like neither fish nor flesh - it's either over-featured or overpriced, depending on what my needs would be.
Well, don’t blindly trust me. I’m just saying that in terms of the BOM, I just don’t see what justifies a $999 price. I will wait and see how the player looks and sounds (and to a lesser extent, measures), of course. I’m not in the market for a new player right now, either, but I have a vested interest in seeing a new player to take over the Oppo mantle for other reasons.
After the Massdrop on the LX500 fell through, I'm even more upset that I didn't just order the 203 when I could.
Yikes, this is quite the revelation to me, since I've been using Anthem Room Correction with my MRX 710 for a few years now. I took it on faith that the sound was better because ARC was doing its job. I had no idea that there was this downside to it. Is this something that you're only experiencing with multi-channel music or are you also getting this with 2-channel music? Considering that ARC was one of the reasons you chose the AVM 60, are you regretting your purchase or do you still like it for all of its other qualities? I was considering getting one.
It's about time you had a look under the lid of a few more hifi items then Billy... plenty more where that came from! See Bryston's older BDA-1 DAC for starters:- Google Image Result for https://cdn.head-fi.org/a/2910563.gif
When I got my Marantz AV8801, I ran room calibration multiple times, trying different mic positions, mic heights, etc., before finding the best sound for me. I then do a little manual tweaks like crossover points, adjust my sub a little louder, etc. It was the same with my Pioneer SC95. There is only so much room eq program could do. Playing with mic positions, mic heights, etc, could change the final outcome. Then user are free to make further manual adjustments. I wonder Cliff already played with multiple instances of measurements or he only did the ARC thing once.
I have no experience with Anthem's ARC room correction. But I've read quite a few positive reviews about it. I do have experience with Audyssey and Dirac. I found Audyssey XT32 was good with multichannel music but Dirac is much better IMO. I recently compared the 5.1 analog output of my Oppo 205 to HDMI with Dirac on my Emotiva XMC-1. I compared a few multichannel titles and much prefer Dirac over 5.1 analog. Of course that's in my room with my gear and might not be the same results or opinions in other rooms and systems.
As @Bill Mac stated, there are many positive reviews about ARC and the AVM60 everywhere. There are also many who don't what room EQs (from any manufacturer) do to the sound. Let you be the judge of that. But to be clear, I do not regret buying the AVM60. I bought an Nvidia Shield TV and I've been streaming a lot lately and I think - even without ARC, it sounds great for movies and shows. I really like the newer surround codecs. A lot. I won't go into much about the AVM60 with 2-channel music. I'll just say it is very underwhelming. But I have a Parasound Halo P6 so I didn't buy the Anthem for 2-channel music anyway.
I've been an ARC user since it came out. It works great but like all room correction with the possible exceptions of Lake and the full blown Trinnov which both have dedicated boxes, it has it's limitations. You do need to follow the instructions explicitly especially regarding the mic placement and positions. A common mistake with ARC is that since it is adjustable in the frequencies you can select, is that people think correcting for the entire spectrum is desirable. It's not and it will make the sound worse and cause horrible anomalies. 500hz is the max you should correct for and is most cases 300hz. ARC-2 became available with the AVM-60 I believe and is more powerful that ARC. I'm seriously considering the Anthem STR pre-amp for my 2-channel system.
The BOM for that product must not be very high, either. However, the cost of Canadian labor goes towards that higher price as does the 20 year warranty. As a whole, though, I find Bryston gear to be extremely overpriced.
Feeling inspired, I took some time today to compare the AVM60 with the P6. After carefully matching levels and turning everything off in the AVM60 to make it as 'pure direct' as I could, I have to say it sounded very close to the P6. The P6 had a touch more midrange sweetness and the AVM60 had more lower treble which made it sound a little brighter. But I could easily live with the AVM60 for 2-channel (digital).
That says a lot for the Anthem AVM60. I have a Parasound 2100 and it's a nice preamp. But the P6 is a step up in all aspects over the 2100.
I've said this before that $1099 or $999 USD the price is way too high a quote for the LX500. If you can't find one for around $799 you need to find another dealer maybe when Pioneer starts getting more into the market.
Thanks for the heads-up on the PM-2 being available. They somehow showed up at my front door yesterday. And I'm sitting at the coffee shop now listening to them balanced from a Pono.
So i just saw this thread and don't have time to go over 178 pages and counting and was wondering if someone could point me in the direction of an answer to my question. With OPPO hi-end audio/video department closed, has there been any talk of a company coming in and buying there IP and "picking up the mantle" per say, and making a clone of the OPPO Blu-ray players??
