I chose this unit over the 1250 because it has better electronics (e.g. D/A converters) in it. I was willing to pay for the potentially better sound quality. I never compared it directly to the 1250, but I can say I am very pleased with the sound quality of the 2050 mated with the amazing 920R head (reviewed separately).

The "VC" in the 2050VC stands for voice control. I was intrigued by the possibility of voice control however this played no part in my decision to buy the unit. This is a good thing because the voice control aspect of this changer is most disappointing. The impression I got from Pioneer's information online and in brochures is that you could speak commands and the unit would respond. Sounds good -- except for two things...

1. The type of commands you can memorize is very limited. If you're thinking you can teach it to mute the volume or carry out whatever function can be accomplished by button pushing, you would be wrong. Basically, you can teach it to go to a particular song (if you've pre-programmed it) or a particular radio station.

2. Worst of all, if you are imagining, like I did, that it is constantly listening for its next command you would be wrong. You have to let the voice controller know a command is coming. Guess how. That's right -- by pressing a button. If you're asking why it wouldn't just be easier to go to the head and make your adjustment there, you've reached the same conclusion I did.

This is a great sounding changer. The street price is not likely to be too much higher than the 1250 -- I paid $325 -- so the D/A converter upgrade may be worth the extra cost.

More questionable is the worth of voice control. If you make your own CD's and like to jump around from song to song on various discs, it may be worth it to teach and prerecord the name of every song on every disc to allow one button + one spoken phrase access. If that sounds like more trouble than it's worth then don't spend an extra dollar to get the voice control feature.

Similar Products Used:

The Mobile ES changer that this replaced was largely comparable to this unit. This unit may have an edge in sound quality however the ES unit had a 3 second memory buffer to prevent any skipping and an optical digital out to allow optimal hookup to high-end processors and EQ's.