| Pioneer Announces a Pair of Elite Networked Audio Players |
| Home Theater News Audio Sources News | |
| Written by Dick Ward | |
| Thursday, 05 January 2012 | |
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One of the big problems with music streaming is the lack of support for lossless audio files like FLAC and WAV, but Pioneer's new networked audio players can handle both. They also offer compatibility with Apple's lossless format through AirPlay as well as the usual assortment of formats - MP3, WMA and AAC. They can even stream from online audio sources like Pandora and iHeartRadio.
Pioneer has announced two of these networked audio players, each capable of 192kHz/24 playback. The $499 N-30 gives you all this, but the $699 N-50 steps it up in the hardware department. It adds in a pair of EL transformers and a Hi-Bit 32-Bit conversion processor. It even adds a DAC Only mode for those that lack sufficient DACs in their own home theater setup. Of course there's one annoying thing that Pioneer is so very fond of. If you want Wi-Fi or Bluetooth capabilities you'll have to buy those attachments separately. |
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