Digital Trends

Pioneer DV-563A July 2nd, 2004 | by Tim Price

Audio Testing

The Pioneer DV-563A universal player plays multi-channel high-resolution DVD-Audio and SACD disks, and as is the case with video playback, it does it well. The sound quality of these two formats alone should make the $140.00 price tag worth it for must buyers. We're well aware that high many audiophiles like to keep their audio players separate from their video players, but not everybody has enough money to do so. We ran this player into multiple receivers from a high end McIntosh to a Sony STRDE-895, and the sound quality stayed clear. Of course the higher-end receivers sounded a lot better, but that had nothing to do with the DV-563A.

The DV-563A can be switched to read the multi layer of a SACD or the 2 channel layer which comes in handy if you do not have a receiver with 6 channel inputs. It has Digital coax and optical outputs as well to handle the DTS and Dolby Digital aspects of movies. When it comes to setting up the DV-563A's audio properties you have a lot of control. You can use presets and adjust your speaker size accordingly, or you can adjust the crossover yourself. When we popped in Pink Floyd's SACD The Wall the sound immediately consumed us. Every channel is crystal clear, and you are really drawn into the music.

*Edit: Pink Floyd's The Wall is not currently available on SACD. We used a demo disc which has some samples from this album. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.

Conclusion

Pioneer's DV-653A progressive scan DVD player brings high-end video and audio to the mid-level price range. At under $200 (and even under $150 if you look hard enough), the player really provides a lot punch.

With support for digital audio and even JPEG images, it easily handled every audio and video format that we tried, and we tried them all. True audiophiles may shy away from the DV-563A because of its “low price” alone, but this just might be one of those rare products in which its value far exceeds its cost.