Pioneer SC-LX901 Review and Specs

Pioneer SC-LX901 The description of Pioneer SC-LX901 specs on the company portal begins with the phrase that the SC-LX901 is the best AV receiver in the history of Pioneer. We will not argue with the creators of the new generation of elite models of the legendary brand until we get to know the device better with this Pioneer SC-LX901 review.

Pioneer SC-LX901 review

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Features

It is a 11.2-channel receiver with Class D amplifier, Air Studios certification, 4K Ultra HD upscaling / backhaul, Dolby Atmos, DTS: X and a full set of equipment for high-resolution audio streaming. It became the first, and so far the only 11.2-channel receiver in the Pioneer catalog, whose main task is the scoring of home cinema halls adapted for the new object-oriented formats Dolby Atmos and DTS: X. Accordingly, it will most likely have to work in the acoustic configuration 7.2.4, although, of course, options with an additional zone or connecting front speakers via bi-amping are also possible.

Design and build

The overall dimensions of the device are impressive: it weighs 18.3 kg with a body depth of 44 cm, which is 6 mm more than the width of the front panel. The front panel is made of plastic, more precisely molded under pressure from a polymer of high hardness. Its “polished” texture looks great from any angle, and looking a little ahead, I’ll say that blaming the SC-LX901 developers for saving on metal is completely unreasonable.

Pioneer SC-LX901

Connectivity

Among other things, there are seven HDMI inputs, five of which meet the requirements of the HDMI 2.0a standard, that is, they are capable of working with 4K video streams at a frame frequency of up to 60 Hz with HDR support and in the BT.2020 color space, which dramatically exceeds the widespread now BT.709 format. Once you reach the vast global network, you can get to the services of Spotify, Pandora, Deezer and even Tidal, or listen to Internet radio using TuneIn.

Setup

To interact with mobile gadgets, Pioneer offers a convenient and well-designed iControlAV5 application. It not only helps to configure the system, but also visualizes all the stages of calibration up to the display of the current phase characteristics of all channels in real time.

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • The sound is amazing but much prefer the Pure Direct mode to the calibrated MCACC. Much richer sound and better bass
  • The 7.2.4 effect beats the experience in movie theaters

Cons

  • I had issues getting it to recognize the ARC connection from the TV until I ran the firmware update

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Common features

Product

Pioneer SC-LX901

Model

SC-LX901

Brand

Pioneer

Reviews

90

Amplifier

Channels

11.2

Stereo power (RMS), W/Ohm

140/8, 200/6

Output impedance, Ohm

8, 6

Frequency response

20Hz-20KHz

THD in stereo, %

0.08

Audio features

Digital to analog converter (DAC)

ESS SABRE32 Ultra 192 KHz/32-bit

Bi-amping

Pure direct (straight)

Auto speaker calibration

MCACC Pro

Speaker A/B switching

Other audio features

Advanced Sound Retriever, Hi-Res audio

Connectivity

Wi-Fi

2.4/5GHz

USB

1 (USB 2.0)

Bluetooth

Ethernet (RJ45)

1

DLNA

MHL

Streaming services

Apple Music (AirPlay)

AirPlay

Amazon Music

Spotify

Other streaming services

Deezer, TIDAL, Pandora, TuneIn Radio

Extensive connection

HDMI input/output

8/2

HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel)

HDMI eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel)

HDMI CEC

Digital content protection (HDCP)

HDCP 2.2

Subwoofer output (LFE)

2

Headphone output

1 x 6.3

Optical digital input

3

Coaxial digital input

2

Composite input

2

Component input/output

2/1

Phono (MM) input

Front panel connectors

USB, HDMI, phones, setup mic

Multi channel preamp output

Video features

HDR (High Dynamic Range)

4K signal pass-through

4K/60Hz

8K signal pass-through

HDMI signal pass-through

3D signal pass-through

HDMI pass-through in standby mode

Video conversion

analog to HDMI

Analog to HDMI scaling

HDMI to HDMI scaling

Dolby Vision

Other video features

DeepColor, x.v.Color, BT.2020

Additional features

Voice control

App control

iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android

Display

colour OSD

Tuner

AM, FM

Sleep timer

Auto power off

ECO mode

Graphical user interface (GUI)

Setup assistant

Firmware update

network, USB

Other additional features

IP Control

Multi-room

Multi-room zones

3

Zone audio output

speaker, preout

Zone HDMI output

Multi-room control

Pioneer Control App, FlareConnect

RS-232

1

Remote control input/output (IR)

2/1

DC trigger output (12V)

2

Multichannel surround

Dolby Atmos

Dolby TrueHD

Dolby Surround

Dolby (other)

Dolby Digital Plus

DTS:X

DTS HD Master

DTS Virtual:X

DTS Neural:X

DTS (other)

DTS-ES, DTS 96/24, DTS-EXPRESS

Auro-3D

IMAX Enhanced

Multichannel stereo

Audio file formats

MP3

WMA

AAC

WAV

FLAC

ALAC

Other audio file formats

AIFF

Power

Operational power consumption, W

340

Standby consumption, W

0.15

Removable power cord

User manual

Manual

Dimensions

Size W x H x D, cm/inches

43.5 x 18.5 x 44.1/17 x 7 x 17.3

Weight, kg/lbs

18/39.7

Other

Release year

2016
Pioneer SC-LX901
Pioneer SC-LX901

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