Pioneer DV-563A

I'm very new to this "Hi-Rez" world so If you are looking for details on how the SACD playback sounds converted to pcm, you're looking at the wrong guy .

The Unit
Silver...nice looking thin, not heavy

Remote
Very simple and easy to use....not universal

Set-up
So many cord and wires..... @:
Once that was done I followed the on-screen instructions
And in just a few minutes I was confused...
But I think I had It figured out soon enough

SACD playback

Well since this my first SACD player I have nothing to compare it to....1st disc was The Stranger-Billy Joel. I like my music in 5:1 and boy did this sound sweet....next up was Let it Bleed-Stones...
Now my jaw is hitting my chest, It sounds so raw and fresh
Then I took a time out to get the proper "head" for DSOTM
Now I'm sitting there in stunned disbelief, this can't be my equipment, it sounds too good.


DVD-A playback

At first I wasn't that impressed...I had in Everything Must Go-Steely Dan and it didn't sound like I thought it would. But I did some adjusting and it sounded a bit better. But I'll probably wind up getting an ICBM unit...


DVD playback

Looked fine to me... I bought this Unit for the audio so I didn't really test it out with many DVD's

Other Features...

I don't have any MP3's handy so I can't tell you how it works
but I did have a CD-R of jpegs and that really worked well..looks great on my Wega.

Sorry I'm not that technical but I'm sure someone will judge this player a bit better than me.

Well worth the 180$ I paid but as in all my "tech" purchases I'll wind up spending more on hardware and software in the weeks to come.

Where did you get the 563 ? I've yet to see one in a store or for sale on the internet yet.

bear said:

Where did you get the 563 ? I've yet to see one in a store or for sale on the internet yet.

Click to expand...

I got It from here

Hello, does anyone know if this player has a native DSD decoder, or does it convert it to PCM before sending to the outs?

For the price, it seems too good to be true

Thanks

I was at my local Best Buy over the weekend and they have the new DV-563 in stock for $179. Unfortunately they didn't have one hooked up.

I went to Best Buy tonight and picked up their last boxed unit. I figured I could try it out and if I didn't like it just return it.

On first look I think it's a keeper! Video quality is excellent. I have the Sony NV550 which is not progressive scan. The 563 is PS and what a beautiful picture. I am using a 55" Mitsubishi 16x9 Projection TV

After some initial setup (which was extremely easy). I put it through a quick test of every kind of disc I had. They all played flawlessly.

DVD playback is just like every other DVD player I have. You can choose audio, angle and all the other features most DVD players have.

DVD-A sounds amazing. I loved DD5.1 and DTS but actual DVD-A is even more crisp and clear. I checked out Donald Fagen (48/24), Chicago (96/24) and the stereo group for Hotel California (192/24). They all sounded beautiful. Great bass too.

SACD... again incredible! I popped in the Joe Satriani disc "Strange Beautiful Music" and all I can say is WOW. A great disc by the way! SACD defaults to 2ch which can be changed in the setup.

VCDs play with ease. My Sony sometimes had problems readfing some of these discs. Could be my discs, I don't know. But they played great in the Pioneer.

Mp3 shows a menu to choose the folder you want to go to then if you leave it with the folder highlighted it begins to play the folder from the beginning. Or you can highlight a song, press enter and it starts to play.

JPEG discs (for pictures) can be browsed with thumbnails or slide show style. Quality again is excellent.

The only problem I did have was if there were jpegs on the same disc as mp3s. The player reads the jpegs first and then I could not access the mp3s. Not a huge problem but it's the only one I found in my short testing.

Setup screens are easy to follow. You can adjust for room size and realtionship between front and back. You can also adjust volume output of each channel though I believe the fronts are grouped (they adjust together).

For $179.00 I can't believe how great this player sounds and looks. As I use it mor I will update here. Me likeee!

Well it's been a couple of days of playing with my 563. I don't know anything about a chip being used for SACD but this is one great sounding machine. Everything I play sounds crisp and warm. The DVD-A's I have all sound better than ever (I was only using DD5.1 or DTS up until now). The SACD's play with ease and sound, to me, as good as my Sony NV500. And the picture quality from the 563 is just plain excellent! I can't believe how happy I am with this purchase considering I was just going to check it out and if I wasn't 110% satisfied I was going to return it. I am sure there are probably many better universal players out there but for the money you cannot beat this one.

If you have photos burned to a cd-rom disc check them out on your TV with this player. They look great!

MP3s play flawlessly too. Even variable bit ones.

I love my 563! (I think there’s a Beach Boys song in there somewhere…) It’s played everything I’ve thrown at it with no difficulties, it sounds great, and since I only have one set of 5.1 inputs on my main receiver I can now play all my discs in one part of the house. Plus, since I’ve now only got one slim DVD player in the entertainment center, I can increase the size of my TV to fill up the extra space!

Getting a little closer to nirvana here, with the DV 563A.

I retrieved my RS SPL meter from the guy who borrowed it, and just happen to have the day off work sick today (cough, cough).

My preferred setup volume level on the Denon AVR 1802 receiver (for DD & DTS) is -10 db, so that's where I left it. However instead of the target 70 db, with the Pioneer (in 5.1 analog), I ended up with 61 (+ - 0.5) db, at these settings in the players bass management:

LF: -4 db
C: -2
RF: -5
LS: +6
RS: +6
Sub: +4

The results were immediately evident. On DSOM (SCAD): at the end of Breathe, the running footsteps go quite nicely from LF to RF to RS to LS.

Switching to Fleetwood Mac's - Say You Will (DVD-A), Stevie Nicks voice on Illume flowed from the center, which was not too hot at these settings.

I'd guess that on this very small test, DVD-A was maybe +2 db compared to SACD, and overall the analog feed through the receivers “External In” connections is –9 db from the surround section. I did back off on the sub setting so that the SVS remained invisible, so there is room to adjust.

So what does all this mean to me? The important result was the footsteps and their proper placement, not the fact that I might have to adjust the volume dial between formats.

On a related note: My Denon’s manual states that the 6 channel analog outputs are for “future” audio formats.

The “future” has arrived, for Bob R

Is an on screen display required to adjust the level settings? Does the unit have enough of a front panel display to make the adjustments?

tcdriver said:

Is an on screen display required to adjust the level settings? Does the unit have enough of a front panel display to make the adjustments?

Click to expand...

It seems you need to use the onscreen display. In fact I had to navigate several menus to determine how to play my "Machine Head" DVD-A in surround when I first got the unit (stereo was the default mode). Not that it was a huge deal, and definitely worth it when "Highway Star" came blasting out of my Yorkvilles!

bizmopeen said:

It seems you need to use the onscreen display. In fact I had to navigate several menus to determine how to play my "Machine Head" DVD-A in surround when I first got the unit (stereo was the default mode). Not that it was a huge deal, and definitely worth it when "Highway Star" came blasting out of my Yorkvilles!

Click to expand...

Thank you the informative reply.

I dislike the idea that I will have to get a television monitor just to run a piece of audio equipment in my listening room. I suppose that it is too much to ask that such a player be self contained.

Thanks again.

Sincerely yours,

tcdriver

tcdriver said:

Thank you the informative reply.

I dislike the idea that I will have to get a television monitor just to run a piece of audio equipment in my listening room. I suppose that it is too much to ask that such a player be self contained.

Thanks again.

Sincerely yours,

tcdriver

Click to expand...

But FYI, you can pick up a compact, B&W 5" display for about $25 at your local best buy, target, or circuit city. Just make sure it has an input jack. The one I have takes up less than a cubic foot of space.

ssully said:

But FYI, you can pick up a compact, B&W 5" display for about $25 at your local best buy, target, or circuit city. Just make sure it has an input jack. The one I have takes up less than a cubic foot of space.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the good idea. I will look into it.

tcdriver

Here is the best user review I've seen for the 563a on the net. I thought some of you might care to read it. - Barry

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?&postid=1726263#post1726263

I haven't auditioned the 563 yet, but I have the DV-45a. I'm not sure what that guy was talking about. Now, I just also ordered a Marantz SA-8260 SACD/CD dedicated machine, so the 45a will no longer be doing SACD (I'm a purist that way; I've always had a dedicated CD player and mine died recently).

That said, I've had no real issues with the 45a and its sonic capabilities. I liked the Burr Brown converters, and I'm sure the 563 sounrds good, but I doubt it's the Burr Brown's. I tend to like the Marantz Cirrus converter sound, but DVD-A on the 45a is always good.

So take this for what it's worth. I would have preferred a $200 all-in-one 6 months ago, but now I'll have a kick-ass SACD solution and a very good DVD-A solution. A $200 box won't deliver that.

For getting all the formats through the door, the 563 seems like a great way to get the masses to buy in ...

FenderP said:

I haven't auditioned the 563 yet, but I have the DV-45a. I'm not sure what that guy was talking about. Now, I just also ordered a Marantz SA-8260 SACD/CD dedicated machine, so the 45a will no longer be doing SACD (I'm a purist that way; I've always had a dedicated CD player and mine died recently).

That said, I've had no real issues with the 45a and its sonic capabilities. I liked the Burr Brown converters, and I'm sure the 563 sounrds good, but I doubt it's the Burr Brown's. I tend to like the Marantz Cirrus converter sound, but DVD-A on the 45a is always good.

So take this for what it's worth. I would have preferred a $200 all-in-one 6 months ago, but now I'll have a kick-ass SACD solution and a very good DVD-A solution. A $200 box won't deliver that.

Click to expand...

The DV-45a has a Sony DSD chip for SACD decoding. Does the 563 have the same or analogous chip? If so, then it should deliver as well as the 45a (and as well as most SACD-only players). UNless there's been lots of compromising in the output stages.

ssully said:

The DV-45a has a Sony DSD chip for SACD decoding. Does the 563 have the same or analogous chip? If so, then it should deliver as well as the 45a (and as well as most SACD-only players). UNless there's been lots of compromising in the output stages.

Click to expand...

From my understanding, one of the differentiators of the $179 563 and the 45/47s is the Burr Browns, which are involved in the D/A stage for 6-channel audio. The Sony DSD chip has nothing to do with anything other than the conversion/non-conversion from DSD to PCM.

FenderP said:

From my understanding, one of the differentiators of the $179 563 and the 45/47s is the Burr Browns, which are involved in the D/A stage for 6-channel audio. The Sony DSD chip has nothing to do with anything other than the conversion/non-conversion from DSD to PCM.

Click to expand...

The 563 uses the same Burr Brown DACs (I've checked) as the 45/47s but has a Philips DSD instead of a Sony chip.