NEW PIONEER SOUND 😳 Pioneer Elite Receiver! VSX-LX805 Review

CORRECTION: The Pioneer 805 is NOT THX Certified. The Onkyo RZ50 is THX Certified.
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► PIONEER ELITE REVIEW - VSX-LX805 RECEIVER
NEW PIONEER SOUND 😳 Pioneer Elite Receiver! VSX-LX805 Review

00:00 PIONEER ELITE REVIEW /INTRO VSX-LX805
00:24 PIONEER LX 805 SPECS
01:09 PIONEER HOME THEATER RECEIVER - LX805 VIDEO SPECS
01:33 PIONEER TWO CHANNEL MUSIC SPECS
01:58 PIONEER RECEIVER SPEAKER RECOMMENDATIONS
02:48 VSX LX 805 DESIGN/BUILD
03:30 PIONEER ELITE 805 SET UP: DIRAC vs MCACC
04:34 MANUAL ADJUSTMENTS & PEQ
05:00 PIONEER SOUND - HAS PIONEER SOUND CHANGED?
05:54 PIONEER BASS
06:32 PIONEER MIDRANGE & TREBLE
07:11 PIONEER SOUNDSTAGE
07:44 LX805 DYNAMICS
08:11 PIONEER RECEIVER VIDEO PERFORMANCE
08:38 BLUETOOTH, APP CONTROL AND VINYL PLAYBACK
09:03 PIONEER vs SONY RECEIVER
09:33 MARANTZ vs PIONEER RECEIVER
10:05 PIONEER vs ONKYO
10:48 ANDREW’S FINAL THOUGHTS
11:39 KRISTI’S TAKE
12:14 CLARITY/INTELLIGIBILITY
15:03 MORE ON AUTO CORRECTION & DIALOG ENHANCEMENT FEATURE
17:06 WHAT KRISTI LIKES
17:58 A NEW DIRECTION FOR PIONEER
19:18 THE “ELITE” NAME
21:04 QUESTION OF THE DAY

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[andrewrobinsonreviews]

CORRECTION: The Pioneer 805 is NOT THX CERTIFIED. The NEW Onkyo RZ70 is. Apologies for the mixup.
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[cameronkrause]

Kristi's experience, with her take on how dialogue is heard is a real asset since there are many of us that have a similar issue. I am glad that she points this out so well!!!

[reedmarshall]

I watch almost every review you make and love your content. I bought my 805 about two weeks or so ago and have calibrated first with MCACC, and a week later with Dirac through the Pioneer app; both with the included microphone. I liked the sound a decent bit with MCACC and when I did the quick 3 measurement Dirac calibration through the Pioneer app, I felt like sound quality actually took a step backwards. Once my previously ordered Umik-1 came in I did the full 13 point Dirac Live calibration on my PC, and HOLY COW, what a difference! It just made an absolutely astonishing difference in sound quality in my room!!! I am listening to the best stereo music I've ever had in my room (coming from a Krell S300i integrated amplifier). Also I've had the opposite experience with dialog when I watch movies; the dialog is crystal clear now where as I struggled to hear it as well with the Krell. I wonder if it could be something with the Dirac calibration or her seating position (degrees on/off axis)? In any case, I completely agree with your absolutely neutral assessment and everyone has their preferences based on a multitude of factors. I am especially sensitive to "brightness" and get listening fatigue relatively quickly with tipped up treble in speakers or lesser D/A conversion of a lot of music. This Pioneer receiver is hitting the perfect sweet spot for me and really has a great blend of detail and soundstaging without digital harshness that I have gotten with so many systems over the years. Best sound I've experienced in my own home. Thanks for your honest and informative reviews and I also appreciate Kristi's perspective as well.

[andrewrobinsonreviews]

CORRECTION: Apologies for the slip of the tongue, but the Pioneer reviewed here IS NOT THX Certified, but the Onkyo RZ70 (it's brother) IS THX Certified. Again, apologies for the mix up. The rest of the info in this review is accurate and I am sorry for any confusion this may have caused anyone.

[jimfalco]

Great review! I have the 805 and feel like it is night and day better than the 505, which I came from. The clarity and neutrality really does make it seem like higher end reference equipment. With that said, I couldn’t agree more that everyone has different tastes, and this receiver might not be for everyone. I love Neutral, airy, and clear, hence why I also have my 805 paired with the kef r3 metas and an r6 meta. They work very well together. I also have a psa sub, which is known to have strong mid bass. That may be adding a little of the whoomph for me that you said it was missing. I also agree that you do have to crank the volume a bit. As for what Christi mentioned I’m not having any dialogue issues, but I’m using a center (looks like maybe you guys went with only two channel setups). Anyway, it’s the right sound signature for me and works great with the equipment I have. It’s the same as tvs though, some people like the natural accurate look of cinema mode, but others want to run in vivid. Everybody has their own tastes.

[westcoast]

Love pioneer as I still own the 50-inch kuro elite plasma tv. I hope u guys have a pleasant Sunday )) ...

[joeykitty]

I believe Andrew just saved a bunch of people from disappointment. His review is definitely from a place of expertise. I too, prefer a 'fuller' more present soundfield. Great review!

[gman]

Grateful for Pioneer in keeping their line alive. Excellent review, you both!

[joaquinrubio]

Thank you for keeping the review honest. You will never see me buy a receiver ever again. I have a sound bar, and I am happy and have my two channel stereo.

[aceface]

Great review! I have the Integra DRX-8.4 sibling AVR to the 805. Running KEF R11s, R2c, R3 surrounds, and KF92 subwoofer. Sources are an NVIDIA Shield Pro for 4K video, PS5, and a Technics SL-1200MK7 turntable plugged into the phono preamp with an Ortofon Black cartridge. I'm using Dirac Live and DLBC (Single-sub). I haven't had issues with dialog intelligibility, but one solution for that would be to set a curve in Dirac with a bit of a boost around 250 Hz and save that to one of the three dedicated calibration Slots. Then you can change on the fly using the mobile app depending upon whether you're watching a movie, listening to music, etc. I use all 3 slots for different listening positions (focused single listener, couch, ambient music) and I find the ability to switch between them almost instantaneously to be a killer feature -- one that really helped me dial-in the calibration in a way that I've not been able to achieve before with the likes of Audyssey MultEQ-X (the software is too slow to effectively A/B and you only get two slots).

Now the real killer feature is coming in June -- Roon Ready. When it drops, this will be one of the only AVR/AVPs to support Roon out of the box, and to my knowledge the only truly modern AVR to do so with HDMI 2.1. Even with the Marantz AV10, you're limited to AirPlay 2 (16-bit/48 Hz) or you need to plug in an outboard streamer like a Bluesound Node (my old solution).

I agree also that PAC should find a way to draw a line under these new products, and the Elite moniker is a good way to do that. The rumor is that a DRC-9.4/905/RZ90 pre-processor is on the way and I will be very interested to see how that plays out as the 805/8.4/RZ70 is already among the most featureful AVRs on the market.

Cheers!

[syanhc]

It’s good to see that Pioneer is still in the game!

[angkurbarua]

Dear Andrew,
I simply just love the way you explain about every single gadget in your immersively detailed way!!

Feels, so touchy and absolutely informative to make one listening to all the pinpoint argues come from you in comparison to different comparing units head to head 😊

I just astonishingly wonder about why do You've so inferior subscribers to your Channel, following another such lively critic as Christie!? 😥

Both of you guys, just ROCK!!!
LOVE to both of you fine people 😍

I personally feel like, your channel should’ve millions of subscribers...

Lots of love,
From Bangladesh....
🥰

[DominicBeyers]

Pioneer has always been a household Favourite in my home. ❤

[Caleb_Denison]

Hi. My name is Caleb. I enjoy unflavored steel-cut oats, my favorite ice cream flavor is milk, I do not enjoy emotions, and the new Pioneer LX-805 was made for me.

[pj]

How dare you make so much sense in your reviews! I mean, to say that the ONLY person who has to like the sound of my system is me. How dare you! I HAVE to have it measure well, test well, and be highly regarded in forums! (Totally joking.) Seriously, you both are really great at this now and your production is light years ahead of others. (Side note: just went with GE SuperSat 60s to round out my current setup with a GE SuperSub X hidden in a gutted iKea cabinet with a Denon X4700H "open box" I got on the cheap. 5.1.2 never sounded so good - to me. (Retiring from the Navy soon and everything is in storage until I start my next job. Then, Kef Reference 5 Metas with Technics SU-R1000. Some get motorcycles/watches for retirement, I'm getting a KILLER 2 channel setup.)
 
QUESTION: you think that Eames chair would be good for my spine fusion?? (Lumbar issues. Reason 1 why no motorcycle...)

[leo]

Best thing to enhance dialog is to elevate just the center channel level on a whole by a couple of DBs until you are satisfied.

[rafacq]

Another great review. From listening to you and Kristi, I continue to enjoy my STR-AZ5000ES, which I bought after watching your 7000ES review. Thanks for the great and honest reviews. 🎉

[satwatchers]

At the 11:20 mark is where you got my attention. You commented on the quality of the Pioneer should give us years of service, well, if it’s anything like my twenty plus years service of my Pioneer VSX-82TXS then I would be incredibly impressed. Because my VSX82 still is in service today and almost everyday in my living room and friends and acquaintances still remark at is beautiful look and sound. Just sayin!

[alessandrobenedetto]

I recently bought this new flagship Pioneer AV receiver. Sonically speaking is really a nice step forward from my previous (very old) Pioneer SC-LX82 (class D amplifier, good for movie, but not so much for music playback). However I found some issues with fans noise in this new LX805. After 30 minutes of use the fans that cool video board became really noisy (not a problem with movie, but not so good for music reproduction). Their noise can be heard in my listening position.. The old SC-LX82 was dead silent in comparison.

[frank]

Hi Andrew, Frank from the Netherlands here. This was the best video you both made. Bringing high End in to perspective. Bravo