Pioneer SC-1222 AVR Review

[LTig]

Perhaps a higher test frequency specifically for jitter testing ? 10Khz ?

Jitter test is done with the JTest signal with a frequency of a quarter of the sample rate.

 

[peng]

The Yamaha basically keeps up with the Crown past the point where I'm ever likely listen (and sometimes I listen loud).

That probably is a good example of the Placebo effects (just saying..), as the Crown 1002 would have much worse measurements in SINAD (the ADC/DAC part) at the very least than the Yamaha at the lower volume when the Yamaha isn't anywhere near its clipping point.

 

[P_M]

Jitter test is done with the JTest signal with a frequency of a quarter of the sample rate.

Right, and I have seen that in other measurements but not in here. Wonder why aamir chose to skip JTest with HDMI for this unit.

 

[vavan]

Before acquiring sc-lx 901 I owned 2022, sibling of 1222. Hope some day Amir will test totl pioneer avr, such as 901 or 904

 

[P_M]

Imagine taking out the original tone (at 1 kHz) and ALL that remains is blended to make the SINAD score. Linearity does not enter the equation directly. Jitter does but as I explained in the measurements, it usually doesn't show up with 1 kHz tone. When it does, yes, it gets included as distortion and reduces SINAD.

Hi @amirm
would you mind expanding on "it usually doesnt show up with 1Khz tone" ? I didnt follow. The jitter sidebands are visible on the 1Khz tone chart so wouldn't that be included in sinad ? in what case they wouldn't show up/be included ?
Would a complex tone be a good test for capturing jitter in sinad itself ?

 

[Pietro]

Did you see the freq response ? The rising response from 5Khz that ends up +3db @ 40Khz ? Thats a horrible amp!

Its typycal output LC filter problem. Just over 1db at the end of the audio band, may not be a problem for most middle-class speakers.
Most other AVRs in this price range have 20 dB higher harmonic components.

 

[Count Biscotti]

Thanks for testing stuff that people can actually afford! You wonder whether the speakers would not be the chief source of problems in most systems and most of what you measured here would be washed away in the undertow. I was surprised that a mass market class D amp would be that good, actually.

 

[infinitesymphony]

Hoping someone will volunteer to have one of Pioneer's last "Advanced Direct Energy MOSFET" class AB giants tested: 49TX, 49TXi, 59TXi.

Amp and DAC specs for all three are identical:

130 WPC @ 8 ohms (0.09% THD)
FR: 5 Hz - 100 KHz (0dB, -3dB)
SNR Short Circuited: 105 dB
SNR 1W @ 1 KHz: 93 dB
33000µF x 2 power capacitors
Burr-Brown PCM1704 R-2R DACs

The last one (59TXi) was made in 2005, so it could be interesting to see as a SOTA AVR baseline from 15 years ago.

 

[KA7NIQ]

I own this AVR, although I retired it last year in favor of a Yamaha TSR-7810 (Costco's rebadge of the RX-V781) that was 4K capable.

When I bought it I felt like I'd snagged just about the best bang-for-the-buck AVR on the market considering the capable Class D amps and the flexibility of pre-outs. I was leery about the switch to Yamaha and it's probably less capable amps.

This is purely subjective - and I never did a direct back-to-back comparison because it was impractical with cables, furniture, etc. - but the newer Yamaha absolutely blows the Pioneer away in terms of sound quality. It seemed like I was getting clean output at higher SPL from both my inefficient SEAS Idunns and very efficient BIC RTR-EV15s. With the Pioneer, bass was always lacking and it would get harsh as I turned it up. The Yamaha just seems smoother and richer all around.

Prior to getting the Yamaha I experimented with using the Pioneer's pre-outs to a Crown XLS1002 and felt there was a significant improvement. The Yamaha basically keeps up with the Crown past the point where I'm ever likely listen (and sometimes I listen loud).

I don't know whether this is due to the actual output capabilities of the Pioneer (they look pretty decent in this review) or some other facet of the sound quality. All of this was with digital sources, by the way. I've never used the analog inputs on either.

A Yamaha TSR 7810 replaced an Onkyo TX NR 820, and I was totally shocked at how much better then the Onkyo the Yamaha is! The Yamaha has a remotely controllably Parametric Equalizer built in, and never ever again will I ever own a receiver w/o it.