Specifications, Pricing and Availability

Even though we are mainly focusing on the DLNA media streaming capabilities today, the Pioneer Music Tap products are designed like mini receivers with several sources available. An iPod / iPhone dock is built into the front of the unit and the included remote control acts as the control device for the iPod. In the specifications you can see a list of supported Apple products which includes IPhone's. If Apple products aren't your thing, a single USB port is also located on the front of the Media Tap and you can play your audio directly from a USB drive or thumb drive. Other options include internet radio, FM Radio, Bluetooth (optional on the lower end SMC3), Air Play and of course DLNA streaming.

Sound is pumped out of two 66mm full range speakers, one on each side. Two 76.2mm passive radiators are also nestled on each side and stretch the lower frequencies down low to areas a 66mm speaker would never be able to reach. The internal amplifier is rated for 2x 20 watts RMS at 8 ohms. Pioneer included bass and treble controls that range from -5 to +5. They also included some audio enhancement features as well, virtual surround, advanced sound retriever and a dynamic range control. In our article we'll give you the settings we found worked best for MP3's off the iPod and FLAC files from our DLNA-capable NAS.

Then there is the price. We've already stated that the EU model would of cost us around 285 British Pounds, the best price we were able to find online. The Elite X-SMC4-K that I purchased has an MSRP of $479 and the X-SCM3-S has an MSRP of $399. I ended up paying right around $175 for my X-SMC4-K, but I had to wait for a sale which I found using Google's shopping feature.

To be honest, if I couldn't find a super deal on this unit, this review wouldn't have taken place. Nearly $500 for a media player to put in my kitchen is a little over board, even for me. Less than $200 though, well as you see this review is online so I was comfortable with that.

Now, let's see if I like the unit enough to put one in my bedroom, dining room and outside patio.