Pioneer SC-2022 – Network Features

Connect the SC-2022 to your internet router via Ethernet or the wireless dongle and there’s plenty to get your teeth into. AirPlay support makes it easy to stream music from iTunes, while the DLNA certification allows you to pull files from connected music servers or use a smartphone or tablet to send songs from a server to the Pioneer.

The list of compatible formats includes hi-res FLAC and WAV (96 and 192kHz/24-bit), MP3, WMA and AAC, all of which can be played over a network or from USB devices. (NB The SC-2023 adds AIFF (192kHz/24-bit) and Apple Lossless support).

The SC-2022 also features vTuner internet radio, providing access to thousands of stations from around the world. So if you’re an avid listener of The Pet Shop Boys Radio or Stoke Mandeville Hospital Radio (and let’s face it, who isn’t?) then you’ll find them here.
 
Pioneer’s excellent iControlAV2012 app makes it easy to oversee music playback and control every aspect of the receiver. You can even tweak the sound using the fun Sound Explorer and Finger EQ menus, and view measurement data from the MCACC system. It’s a million times better than using the clunky onscreen menus and remote.

Pioneer SC-2022 – Audio and Video Features

The SC-2022 boasts a formidable home cinema spec. It decodes Dolby True HD, DTS HD Master Audio and all related legacy formats, while Pioneer claims a 170W per channel power output.

There’s a plethora of processing modes too, including Dolby Pro Logic IIz (which generates front height channels) and DTS Neo:6. Pioneer also throws in a bunch of its own modes – 15 to be precise, with names like Action, Sci-Fi, and Drama.

Pioneer’s Front Stage Surround Advance mimics surround sound when using stereo speakers and a sub, while the Virtual Speaker technology adds phantom width, height and surround back channels to create an 11.1 soundstage from 5.1 sources.

And with Pioneer’s usual line-up of innovative audio tech on board, including Standing Wave and Phase Control, Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS), jitter reduction and various Sound Retriever modes, the SC-2022 is geared to up make any source sound as good as possible.

On the video side, the SC-2022 lacks the 4K pass-through found on the step-up models but does handle 3D signals and will also upscale SD sources up to 1080/24p via HDMI output – including images fed into the component and composite inputs.

Pioneer’s Stream Smoother is on hand to clean up low bitrate video from the likes of YouTube, while a full suite of picture settings are available in the Advanced Video Adjust menu, including presets for different types of display and user-defined settings that can be stored in the unit’s memory. These include detail, brightness, contrast, hue and chroma, plus three types of noise reduction.