Pioneer Elite VSX-94TXH Review Thread

[hyperdine]

O.K., so I finally decided to break down and upgrade my receiver. I've gotten to the point where I really need HDMI switching and I want to be able to take advantage of the new High-Def audio formats. With a few of these kinds of receivers on the market now (Denon AVR 4308 CI, Onkyo TX-NR 905, & Pioneer VSX-94TXH, etc.) I was ready to take the plunge and settled on the new Elite 94.



I've only had it for two days, but I'm VERY pleased with my decision. This thing is awesome. I'm by no means a hardcore audiophile purist, but I certainly know quality when I see/hear it and this thing rocks!

Set up was relatively easy. The MCACC automatic calibration was a cinch and did a really thorough job (it took close to 5 minutes to run through all the tests, etc.). The only thing that was slightly off, which I needed to correct manually, was the speaker size. MCACC set my speakers to "Large" (perhaps it was just the default setting) so I had to switch it to "Small". I've got my Paradigm Mini Monitors hooked up to it in a 5.1 configuration. Although this puppy is set up to handle 7.1, I just don't have the space for the extra 2 speakers.

The rest of the set up was very straightforward. I just had to do some tweaking on the input assignments and program the remote for my other components and that was pretty much it. I must say that the remote is the only thing that's disappointing about this receiver. However, I suspect that most people who drop an Elite receiver into their system, probably aren't going to use it as their primary input device.

Like I said, I've only had the receiver for a couple days, so probably not fair to give a comprehensive assessment of the sound quality just yet, but I definitely like what I've heard so far. I played back Depeche Mode's "Violator" SACD via HDMI from my PS3 and it sounded superb. Then I did a quick demo of some uncompressed audio tracks from PoTC: Dead Man's Chest, and 300. Very impressive!

The only downside at the moment, is that the PS3 doesn't pass Dolby TruHD or DTS Master Audio via bitstream, so everything is converted to PCM. Not a huge deal, but I'm anxious for some of the new players that do the onboard processing because I can't wait to see the display light up with "DTS Master Audio"

Anyways, just wanted to give my initial impressions so far. I'm anxious to hear from anyone else who may have picked this receiver up, or it's cousin the VSX-92TXH.