And if you're really looking for peace of mind, Marantz's NR1403 and NR1603 feature three-year warranties.ģD pass-through, audio return channel, standby pass-through: The VSX-1022-K supports all three of these HDMI features (each of which is explained in more detail here), but while they're all useful, you can largely ignore them when making a buying decision, since almost every newer receiver supports them.

While I haven't seen many reports of Pioneer receivers having reliability problems, it's not encouraging that the company isn't willing to stand behind its receivers for more than a single year. One-year warranty: Pioneer's one-year warranty is puzzling considering that every other manufacturer offers at least two years. If you're not sure whether you should pick a receiver with built-in AirPlay, check out our rundown of the advantages and disadvantages of built-in AirPlay versus buying a separate Apple TV box. You're better off using a separate Wi-Fi alternative to get the VSX-1022-K on your home network if you don't have Ethernet in your living room.īuilt-in AirPlay: If you own an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, the Pioneer VSX-1022-K's built-in AirPlay is a nice bonus, although it's not essential since you can always add AirPlay later with a $100 Apple TV. Note that Pioneer does offer a Wi-Fi accessory ( AS-W元00), but it's prohibitively expensive at $150. The VSX-1022-K's set of streaming-audio apps is very limited compared with competitors', so if you won't be using a separate media streamer or iOS device (with AirPlay), you'll get more options, like Spotify, from Onkyo's network receivers.

I still don't think networking is an absolutely essential AV receiver feature (largely because AV receivers shouldn't be media streamers), but it's a nice bonus. It's a frustrating limitation that other network-connected AV receivers don't suffer from. Shockingly, the VSX-1022-K cannot perform firmware upgrades over its network connection you need to download the firmware from Pioneer's Web site to a USB drive instead. Built-in networking: The VSX-1022-K's Ethernet port allows for all kinds of networking functionality, including AirPlay, smartphone control, and media streaming via Pandora, DLNA and Internet radio.

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