Pioneer Rolls Out Two New Audiophile-Enticing Networked Audio Players

Posted 01/04/2012 at 11:52am | by Brad Chacos

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Listening to music over your computer’s stock speakers usually leaves a lot to be desired (at best). Today, Pioneer launched a pair of new audiophile-enticing networked audio players designed to wirelessly stream your digital tunes via Bluetooth A2DP, DLNA 1.5 and Apple’s AirPlay technology.

The N-30 and N-50 networked audio players could function as stand-alone streaming music makers, but they only includes stereo analog ports, so you might want to consider using the digital optical and coaxial out connections to tap into fuller surround sound speaker setups. The players support MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, FLAC and Apple Lossless formats, and if you get sick of your stash of tunes, there’s also vTuner Internet Radio, which lets you listen in on over 16,000 stations from around the globe. Album art and song information is displayed on a 2.5-inch LCD screen on the front of the players, while Pioneer’s ControlApp for iOS and select Android devices lets you manage the music from your phone.

The N-50 includes components and technology designed to make music sound even better, such as twin EL transformers, a Hi-Bit 32-Bit conversion processor, gold RCA connections, an armored chassis and the Advanced Sound Retriever and Sound Retriever AIR audio technologies. It also sports digital inputs to match the optical/coaxial outputs.

Both the N-30 and the N-50 are available now for $500 and $700, respectively, although you’ll need to pony up an extra $150 for an additional Wi-Fi network adapter and $100 for a Bluetooth adapter if you want to stream music wirelessly using either of those connections. If wireless isn't your thing, the players include USB and Ethernet ports.