Pioneer N-50

Following my earlier review, the intermittent wifi app for N50 finally packed up completely, confirming it as a very shoddy piece of equipment.

I received some excellent advice however (in Sevenoaks Hifi Chorleywood), whereby it is NOT necessary to buy the Pioneer App, and for HALF the price you can buy a HomePlug technology device from any PC store, which creates a significantly stronger and secure connection. I have since had no issues.

Sevenoaks was also recommending Sonos device which is HALF the price of Pioneer and supposedly equally as good, unless you really want to the HD music, which is difficult to locate.

Very confusing comments here, when considering the 5 star award winning status of the Pioneer N-50. Sadly the same also applies to the Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6, fantastic review but users opinions and frustrations clearly evident. This inconsistency has made me question the validity of the reviews within What Hi-fi, something I've never previously done. This publication has been my personal bible for the past 10 years. A 5 star review generally meant I had complete peace of mind when considering or making that all important final decision on a new purchase. Some of us aren't made of money and getting it right first time around is all important. I've opted for a Pioneer N-50 (the compettative price being the deal clincher), delivery is due this coming week but I now find myself wondering if I've simply purchased one of the best of a poor bunch of products that weren't quite ready to go onto the market. I was seriously tempted by the Cambride Audio but wasn't prepared to gamble with the price being double of what I'm paying for the Pioneer N-50. Fingers crossed!

I bought brand new silver model and pleased with the aesthetics, but disappointed with the controlapp which means you have to view the small screen to be able to use it.

I have had huge problems with the wifi app which continually cuts out whether its airplay, from NAS drive, or using N50's own internet radio function.

This was explained as 'probably your wireless telephone' when being denied a replacement. So seems have to have phone silence to enjoy this player.

Another point is that CD's downloaded to NAS drive for media streaming rarely have media tags, so it has taken me over two months to tag all CD's before the N50 will recognise, as prior to that N50 shows 200 unknown albums only.

The unit looks and sounds great with all the right digital inputs. However there are 2 very clear areas where improvements can be made:

1. Asynchronous USB does not not work even after downloading firmware on to laptop running windows 7. The second unit has gone back to retailer for the next replacement.

>>> Following on from the above, after testing with retailer problem is traced to the output cable, using a digital coax there is no sound on amp yet with analogue cable the digital USB works fine. All other types of outputs work fine with digital coax.

2. The icontrol app is very basic and needs a major overhaul. How is it Pioneer can deveop such a good streamer and yet create an app a trainee software engineer could easily better.

I tried this player at home for the weekend and the sound quality is good. I like it, and I've been comparing it to Cambridge Audio Stream Magic 6.

What I like with it is that it has got AirPlay, but thera are far too many things that are not right at the moment.

#1. The controll app. This is a joke. First of all, the whole iOS screen is note used when scrolling/browsing. You get 4 rows at the time. The same rows showing up on the player.

#2. Don't expect to fast farward because ther is none. If you have a 20:00 minute long song and you just want the last 2:00 minutes you are going the have to wait 18:00 minutes.. This is not acceptable.

#3. Did I say there was a bug? Firmware is not solid. You cant even pause in a track. Not on the controll app, not on the remote controll and not even on the fysical play/pause button on the player. But hey, you can always press Stop and fast forward... No wait, you cant fast forward..! (see #2)

Other then that the player delivers good quality music. But far to many bugs at the moment. I'm hoping that Cambridge Audio will add Fast Forward in the firmware of Stream Magic 6 ASAP, then it's a clean cut. The CA player is solid besides missing fast forward at the moment.

Pioneer N-50: 3/5 stars

Given some of the negative comments in the review surprised to see it got 5 stars......

i tend to favour pio,even prob. biased favour,admittedly. But can they even make an average piece at the moment? They are on a serious roll!