Pioneer Introduces VSX-535 And VSX-835 AVRs – First Look

All Image Credit: Pioneer

Pioneer have just introduced two well featured AV receivers aimed at home theater enthusiasts who are on a budget. The new 7.2-channel VSX-835 and 5.2-channel VSX-535 delivering flexibility in the form of multiple surround processing options for movies and music, including the immersive Dolby Atmos capabilities in addition to support for 8K and 4K/60p content with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, or standard HDR10 high dynamic range (HDR), HLG and wide color gamut (BT.2020). Both AVR’s also include Pioneers proprietary MCACC Auto Room Tuning software.

Both models feature a large range of common features, these include:

• 80 watts (20-20kHz, 0.08% THD, 2ch @ 8 ohms – FTC) – Class AB
• Dolby Surround processing and Dolby’s height virtualization
• Four HDCP 2.2 compliant HDMI ports and one eARC-enabled HDMI port
• HDMI 2.1 features that support low-lag gaming
• One digital optical and one coaxial input and three stereo analog RCA inputs
• Two subwoofer pre-outputs
• Pioneer’s proprietary MCACC (Multi-Channel Acoustic Calibration) automated room tuning system with custom microphone
• Bluetooth streaming
• FM Tuner & AM radio
• Advanced Sound Retriever technology, for improving the sound quality of compressed audio by restoring sonic details lost during the compression process.
• IR Remote included

Now a little more on the specific differences between the models. The VSX-535 supports 5.2 having five power amplifiers. It can provide 5.2 or 3.2.2 channel speaker layouts and instead of a powered Zone 2 it uses line-level outputs for setting up a second listening zone.

The VSX-835 supports 7.2 or 5.2.2 channel immersive speaker setups with the option of a powered second zone. It features IMAX Enhanced certification with an IMAX Enhanced playback mode that is optimized for Hollywood-approved performance standards to include; color, brightness, contrast and audio fidelity. Additional audio processing modes include: DTS:X, DTS Virtual:X, and Neural:X surround processing, the last two support speaker arrangements that don’t have rear surround speakers or overhead height-channel speakers.