Irritating SACD Issue with Pioneer DV-578A

I'd like to know too.

I wouldn't stand with this deck if it's still poppping. Send it back and get something even better later on. You'll thank yourself for not settling.

 

My DV-45a has been hiccup free as well. It's played everything I've thrown at it. It's funny that while it's arguably the 1st generation of universal player, it's still one of the best. I don't regret my $500, although it isn't used for SACD now ...

 

Regarding the click or pop sound that you are experiencing: I have just posted a message concerning the 565 (the European equivalent of the 563) in the "Another Kick In The Groin for Pioneer 563 Owners" thread. This is the page http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=30982&page=6

Message number is 113.


Let me know if this rings a bell with you. Maybe we can push the issue with Pioneer on both sides of the pond. I was the one who got Pioneer, Spain, to do the firmware update for our 565 (your 563) locally. It seems that the more people ask about the issues the easier it is to get them to give us a solution.

A player from such a prestigious brand as Pioneer should not be experiencing these stupid issues.

I can't understand how they pretend to open up the low-end hi-rez market with machines with such flaws. And to hear that it is happening with both the 563 and the 578 is ludicrous. Don't they learn from their previous mistakes?

Any comments on this or my other post?

 

Well, I was going to post on the 563A thread also, but since I'm having the same problems with the popping sound on DVD's and SACD's with my 563A I decided to post here where more people would be likely to read it. My unit worked flawlessly for about 2 months, and then began making the popping sound on what seemed like random occasions on SACD's, then last week I put in the DVD of "Mary Poppins," and I had to turn it off for fear of damaging my speakers. I then tried sending the digital signal to my receiver, and lo and behold, the pops didn't appear, so I figure that it's in the decoder section of the unit somewhere. Additionally, I just purchased the DVD-A of T. Rex "Electric Warrior" and the disk spins up but no sound comes out, I can't even access the DD soundtrack, so I called Pioneer, who informed me that they have a fix for the second problem, but the tech I spoke with wasn't sure if that would fix the first. So this afternoon I took the unit over to my local Pioneer service center. I should have the unit back on Wednesday (the 28th) and I'll post on Thursday to let you all know how things turned out.

 

Joe,

It sounds as if the problem the guy at Pioneer told you they have a fix for is the well known DVD-Audio compatibility firmware update.

As far as I can remember I started hearing the pop or click sound on mine after the firmware update. It is usually quite soft and always at the beginning of the first track on a DVD-Audio. As I mention in my other post, someone experiencing the same problem has tracked it down to the point that he says it is heard solely in the center channel. He has brought this problem to the attention of Pioneer in Spain and says that they have heard it, but that, for the moment, they have no solution to it.

Now, the pops or click while listening to SACDs is something new to me. I have never experienced this on my 565 (the European equivalent of the 563), although it did have the DVD-Audio compatibility issue.

I called the Spanish Pioneer offices today, but was unable to talk to the techs there whom I have had contact with before regarding the firmware issue. I'll keep you posted if I learn anything else. Please also do the same.

 

Got my DV-563A back 5 days early!!

Metoo and other interested parties:

Well, the tech who did the firmware upgrade on my player called me today and said that he had my player ready. When I got it home tonight, I hooked it back up popped in the T. Rex Electric Warrior DVD-A, and it played without a hitch. I then played my DVD of Mary Poppins which was the disc which popped the worst (3 or 4 times per minute, alternating channels), and with the exception of one solitary, very soft pop in the left channel at the start of the movie, it played without a flaw. I tried a few of the SACD's that it had occurred on next, and I feel that the firmware upgrade has solved the problem. My repairman told me that he has only had the upgrade for two weeks, and that my player was the first he used it on. Additionally, it seems to me that the player actually sounds better than it did before (it could be my imagination, but maybe not); music seems to have much more depth to it. I am very pleased. I will let you all know if the pops reappear, but I don't think they will.

 

Joe, Good job of follow through.

 

Thanks Joe! Mine goes out this next week.

 

Thanks for the info, Joe.

Let's just hope that the pops do not happen again, although that pop you mention when you played at the start of a movie sounds quite in line with what I hear when I play DVD-Audios. Have you really paid attention to see if there is something happening (Or is it popping¿) at the beginning of your DVD-As. I am referring to the moment just before it starts playing the first track, right after the moment when you select it and press to play.

In any case, the new information from Spain is that the person's player has been in Pioneers hands for 10 days now. They have been able to hear the problem, but there is still no solution. There seem to be several people who will be contacting Pioneer next week about the issue.

The person who took his machine to Pioneer also mentions that they told him that he was the only one they know with that problem. This is a phrase I know all to well as it was what they told me when they finally got back to me almost a month after I first contacted them on account of the DVD-Audio incompatibility/firmware update issue.

In any case, please keep me posted with any new development. I'll do the same.

 

Metoo,

I have listened carefully, and I've never experienced any kind of noise just before the unit starts playing. The *pop* I heard was seemingly at random and always during the program content (either music or movie) and never on DVD-As, just DVDs and SACDs. I listened for over two hours this afternoon, and have had no recurrences. I will indeed keep everyone posted if I develop further problems, although I am hopeful that the fix worked as it seems so far. The good thing is that these players aren't very expensive, so somehow a few glitches in the new formats (or rather the hardware that plays them) do not bother me very much. Now, if I had paid a couple of thousand dollars for a player I would be royally peeved(I wouldn't, btw, I can't afford such esoteric equipment for one thing, and my wife would have me committed for another.)