New IOTAVX 17-Channel Home-Cinema AV Processor

[rccarguy]

Is this processor any good?

I have a clone of it the tonewinner at-300. Good sound quality from it.

Generally happy with it. A few things that could be improved or added it's basic in configuration, but generally it's good for the money , reliable. UI is basic but I prefer it this way rather than ott graphical intensive, large imposing menus. I

Auto room EQ is bad. But if you're able and willing to do umik/rew plots, you can enter in values manually. It has grapp showing before , after EQ with actual response after EQ so pretty good in that way.


The iota has four sub out all with XLR so benefit of that

I don't think iota have released any firmware updates? Tonewinner have released quite a few. Latest one added seperate crossover for side and surrounds, before it was universal crossover.

I paid about £1000 so for that I'm happy however price is now £1500 so it's a bit much so you could get second hand anthem avm60 which has better room EQ and profiles etc and pc arc setup something far better.

 

[Dillen]

Is this processor any good?

Yes, i like it very much so far. Good if you are into manual calibration. I have read in another forum thread about firmware updates, yes they have released updates.

 

[rccarguy]

Yes, i like it very much so far. Good if you are into manual calibration. I have read in another forum thread about firmware updates, yes they have released updates.

Yeah checking version it actually seems newer than the AT-300 firmware

AVX-17_v4_03_0313_20221118

 

[Dillen]

New firmware is out!
AVX-17_v4_03_0511_20230323

Anyone updated?

 

[Sal1950]

I have a clone of it the tonewinner at-300. Good sound quality from it.

Tonewinner AT-300, IOTA VX-17, Emotiva Mc-1 ???
I sure would like to see measurements of at least one or two of these devices.
I'm not at all comfortable with claims of X being a clone of Y, etc. As we've seen before,
implementation can make all the difference and without getting any of these guys on @amirm bench,
everything else is just guesswork.
A sub $2k processor that can deliver great sound w/ low noise & distortion could be a gamechanger for
those of us without deep pockets. We need to find a way to get a couple of these in for testing.
I was also hoping to see something come out of Topping, their history has shown they seem to get the
best implementaions of various designs when they look into it.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

Any idea what room correction the ToneWinner uses? Claimed SNR is “>98db”. The Onkyo RZ50 was benched by Amir @ 97db SINAD, and it includes a multichannel Dirac license. I’m using mine as a Processor with external Hypex NCx500 amps.

I think RZ50’s go for $1,500?

I’m with you though, I want there to be a vibrant <$2,000 AVP market, there stubbornly isn’t..

 

[rccarguy]

Any idea what room correction the ToneWinner uses? Claimed SNR is “>98db”. The Onkyo RZ50 was benched by Amir @ 97db SINAD, and it includes a multichannel Dirac license. I’m using mine as a Processor with external Hypex NCx500 amps.

I think RZ50’s go for $1,500?

I’m with you though, I want there to be a vibrant <$2,000 AVP market, there stubbornly isn’t..

It's their own type, I found auto to be absolute rubbish. Best method would be to plot responses in REW and manually enter them. It's a bit of a pain.

If you've ever used Yamaha manual entry PEQ its' basically the same as that. Frequency, dB reduction/boost, and Q width.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

It's their own type, I found auto to be absolute rubbish. Best method would be to plot responses in REW and manually enter them. It's a bit of a pain.

If you've ever used Yamaha manual entry PEQ its' basically the same as that. Frequency, dB reduction/boost, and Q width.

Who’s interested in that in 2023?

 

[rccarguy]

Who’s interested in that in 2023?

Me. Because other AV pre cost 4x as much

 

[Dougey_Jones]

But it’s the same price of an AVR with Dirac? Balanced outputs are nice but..

If you could pay for a Dirac license I’d be all in.

 

[Sal1950]

I’m with you though, I want there to be a vibrant <$2,000 AVP market, there stubbornly isn’t..

I grabbed up my Denon X4700H after @amirm measured one and found it to have excellent SINAD in the pre-amp mode. I use mine in full pre-amp mode with a stack of 5 Adcom power amps and figured I was all set for a while. Till I found out in the interim Denon had to switch DAC's after the AKM fire and tech performance wise I was back to where I was with my Marantz AV7703. Grrrr.

 

[rccarguy]

But it’s the same price of an AVR with Dirac? Balanced outputs are nice but..

If you could pay for a Dirac license I’d be all in.

3800 base price (not the Dirac license ontop) is same price I paid for the AT300.

I didn't want a AVR, to use it as a AV pre. The 3800 wasn't out at the time I purchased the AT300- the 3600/3700 was. The Denon has the features of the AT300 which could be useful

Zone 2
Phono stage
Pure direct mode
Four sub outs
Speaker profiles
Network/streaming functions
App control, room EQ app control
Better Room Correction
One extra HDMI output
More analogue inputs

but
Lacks Front Wide support
Runs hot
Bulky

 

[pras1011]

You could buy the x3800h for £800 and give it a go?

 

[rccarguy]

You could buy the x3800h for £800 and give it a go?

Don't have the income to "give things a go"
Would have to get 6700/6800 to get front wide support.

AV pre which meet my needs would be AVM90 (I have three subs) not spending £7000 on a av pre that is absurd.

 

[Sal1950]

You could buy the x3800h for £800 and give it a go?

The whole point is we are looking for something better. The original x3700h was a very nice option but after the AKM fire when Denon was forced to substitute a different DAC, things went to hell for that blue collar option, and the x3800h continued down that same undesirable road, bummer.
Sorry I don't mean to offend any owners here, but I'm in the same boat with my late build x3700h.

"I had high hopes going into this review thinking the company had seen the advantage its superior objective measurements in the past and would try to capitalize on them. Sadly, the reverse seems to be true with the DAC section taking a large step backward."
@amirm

 

[pras1011]

Is the different DACs even audiable?

 

[Sal1950]

Is the different DACs even audiable?

In these particular cases, maybe, maybe not.
But sadly, expectation bias can work both ways.
Once you know, you know.