Sony’s STR-DH770 is one of the least expensive 7-channel receivers you’ll see on store shelves. Despite this, the 770 comes loaded with a substantial list of features such as 4K support, Bluetooth and more.

Sony STR-DH770 Connectivity

The Sony STR-DH770 is a 7.2 channel receiver, which according to the spec sheet, puts out about 145 watts per channel. To connect all of your components, the 770 has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 output. If you have a 4K TV or plan on getting one, then the STR-DH770 should play nice with it. All of its HDMI inputs and outputs support HDCP 2.2, 4K at 60p 4:4:4 and HDR (High Dynamic Range). The receiver will pass through a 4K signal, but it won’t upscale regular HD Video to 4K quality.

If you need a few legacy connections, the 770 also supplies 4 analog audio inputs and 2 digital inputs (1 coaxial and 1 optical). The front of the amp includes a headphone connection so you can listen to your music without disturbing others in your house. A USB input rounds out the 770’s list of connections.

The 770 does not include built-in WiFi, however it does support Bluetooth. With Bluetooth, you can wirelessly stream audio from your smartphone, computer or tablet directly to the AV receiver.

Audio Formats

The Sony STR-DH770 is capable of decoding Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. The amp won’t decode Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. On the music front, MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV 192k, FLAC 192k, ALAC and AIFF are all supported by the 770. Simply plug your drive into the front USB port and the receiver will do the rest.

Other Features

To assist with maximizing the sound quality of your system, the Sony STR-DH770 includes an auto calibration suite. Plug in the included microphone and the receiver will send out a series of test tones which it uses to set the appropriate frequency crossovers and speaker levels for your home theater. If you’re facing speaker placement challenges, the Sony 770 can also approximate surround sound with only two front speakers. Other manufacturers also employ similar features on their amps and it’s usually hit or miss. However, it does typically create a wider and more dynamic sound stage

Sony has given the STR-DH770 an extremely competitive price point. In fact, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more affordable 7-channel amp. However, don’t let the low price fool you. If the 770 sounds nearly as good as its more expensive brethren then its well worth a look.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Sony STR-DH770 Preview appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

The Denon AVR-S720W is one of Denon’s most recent batch of amps. After spending several weeks with the receiver, I can honestly say that it sounds as good as any in its price range. If you consider that it also includes many sought after features that home theater enthusiasts are looking for such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and 4K support it ranks near the top of the mid-range receiver list.

RELATED: Denon AVR-S920W Review

Denon AVR-S720W Design & Appearance

AV makers loath to change the exterior designs of their amps so it wasn’t shocking to see that the 720 looks nearly identical to its predecessor the S710W.  The receiver overall has a clean uncluttered look with a set of input quick select and sound mode buttons on the face. USB, HDMI inputs and a headphone jack round out the connection options on the front.

The remote bundled with the S720W is serviceable. It’s not as simplified as some of the remotes we’ve seen from Pioneer, Onkyo and Sony this year, but it’s not overly complicated. The buttons are large and well organized so navigating  through the amps features are a cinch.

As an alternative, Denon has iOS and Android apps which can control most of the features on the 720. I wish I could say that the app worked perfectly, but the most recent iteration had a few stability issues. On occasion it did freeze-up requiring me to restart the app.

Connectivity

The rear of the Denon AVR-S720W has fewer connection options than its bigger brother, the Denon AVR-S920W. The amp only has two analog audio inputs and 3 digital (1 coaxial and 2 optical). If you have a lot of legacy components to hook-up, the 720 could be a little limiting.

On the other hand, the importance of HDMI is becoming a focal point of all manufacturers especially where 4K video is concerned. Luckily Denon’s made sure that the 720 is well positioned for this burgeoning format. In total, the 720 includes 6 HDMI inputs (including the 1 on the front) and 1 output. The kicker here is that all of the inputs are 4K video compatible. High Dynamic Range (HDR), 4:4:4 Pure Color sub-sampling, HDCP 2.2 and BT.2020 are all supported by the 720. The 720 will pass through a 4K signal, but it won’t upscale. Most modern 4K TVs are capable of upscaling to UHD quality so in my opinion having this feature on an av receiver is unnecessary.

Sound Formats

To stream music to the Denon AVR-S720W you have a handful of options at your fingertips. The receiver includes both built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Pandora, SiriusXM, Spotify Connect as well as Internet Radio are featured on the 720. If you have an iOS device you can also use Apple AirPlay to deliver music to the AV receiver. One omission from the 720 is multi-room playback. Unlike Yamaha’s batch of receivers this year which are MusicCast compatible, Denon has left multi-room capabilities out of the Denon 720. The receiver does support Multi-zone functions, so its possible to play stereo audio in a second location if you choose.

Besides internet streaming, the Denon AVR-S720W can also handle a variety of high resolution audio files such as DSD, FLAC, ALAC, and AIFF. Unlike some manufactures (ahem…Onkyo), Denon has conveniently placed the USB port on the front of the unit which makes it a snap to connect a USB drive or external hard drive and stream hi-res tunes. If you prefer to stream music over your network, you can do that as well since the receiver is also DLNA compatible.

In addition to music formats, the Denon 720 also incorporates Dolby’s and DTS’s newest audio formats, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. My review unit was already equipped to handle Dolby Atmos right out of the box. Once I had the 720 on my network, the 20 minute DTS:X update was ready to be downloaded. The 7-channel 720 can support a 5.1.2 Atmos/DTS:X speaker arrangement.

Denon AVR-S720W Setup

Getting the 720 up and running is a painless process thanks to Denon’s AV Quick Start Guide. As soon as you start-up the amp, the on screen prompts walk you through the entire setup process from connecting your speakers to network setup and calibration. Denon color codes all of the speaker terminals, so making the proper speaker connections is a simple process. The guide will also assist you with connecting components such as DVD/Blu-ray players and game systems.

Calibration is done using Audyssey’s Bronze package. Denon, like its sister company Marantz, includes a cardboard mic stand. Attach the included microphone to the top of the stand and the receiver does the rest. The Denon AVR-S720W sends out a series of test tones that it uses to set the appropriate distances, speaker levels and crossover settings for your system. If you’re using Atmos enabled speakers, the 720 will also set the appropriate settings for them as well. You can expect the entire calibration process to take you about 15-20 minutes, but once you do, you’re pretty much done unless you throw a new speaker into the mix.

It only takes a couple clicks to pair a Bluetooth device with the 720. During my time with the unit the Bluetooth connection was strong and stable for the most part. I had the 720 for over a month and during many hours of music listening there were only a couple instances of disruption in the Bluetooth signal. Not bad in my book. If you have an iOS device, getting the Denon  720 on your WiFi network is incredibly simple since you can share the WiFi settings of your device with the receiver. This eliminates the need to type in your password.

Sound Quality

Having just recently listened to the Denon AVR-S920W, the 720’s sound quality is nearly identical.  The 7-channel amp outputs about 75 watts of power at 8 ohms with 2 channels driven. At first glance this doesn’t sound like much, but unless you have power hungry speakers or a large room you’re trying to fill with sound it’s more than enough. During listening tests I managed to push the volume of the receiver pretty hard and the 720 handled it well with little distortion.

Warcraft is one of a growing list of Dolby Atmos movies on the market, so it seemed like a good test for the Denon AVR-S720W. It didn’t disappoint.  Battle scenes were expansive and encompassing. One thing that became instantly apparent with the Denon AVR-S720W, is that it doesn’t hold back in the low-end. Bass was thunderous coming from the amp. Initially, I felt the 720’s overhead effects were slightly restrained so I bumped up the sound levels of the Atmos modules which amped up the overhead effects.

The Denon 720 made short work of Gods of Egypt’s DTS:X sound track. The amp impressively reproduced the on screen action with sound panning around the room and, on occasion, appearing above my listening spot. Near the end of the movie when the Sphinx confronts the heroes, its voice boomed and reverberated throughout the room. The DTS:X sound track created a 360 degree sound bubble making for an enthralling listening experience. Quiet moments were also conveyed well by the 720 with dialogue sounding crisp and clear.

The Verdict

The Denon AVR-S720W is a good choice for anyone looking for a solid sub $500 AV Receiver. Great sound quality, 4K compatibility and Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support make it a complete home theater package. On the negative side, the 720 doesn’t come loaded with a ton of connection choices. Because of this, if you have numerous pieces of equipment in your setup you may find yourself quickly running out of input options.  The 720 usually runs about $100 less than its big brother, the Denon AVR-S920W. All things being equal, unless you need the extra connectivity options afforded by the 920 I would suggest that you save a few a bucks and pick-up the 720 instead.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Denon AVR-S720W Review appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

In 2016 Dolby Atmos and DTS:X were surprisingly missing from Sony’s mid-tier AV receivers.  The Sony STR-DN1070 was one of our favorite sounding receivers, but the lack of Atmos and DTS:X meant it lagged behind the competition. Thankfully, that will change soon. Sony revealed one of their first amps for 2017, the STR-DN1080, and guess what…..it has Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

Sony STR-DN1080

The 7.2 Channel STR-DN1080 looks a lot like last year’s 1070. If it sounds as good, the inclusion of Atmos and DTS:X could make it a must buy for 2017. Along with Atmos and DTS:X, the amp supports the old standbys Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

The 1080 also employs what Sony is calling “Phantom Surround Back”. If you’re running a five channel setup, this feature will create the illusion that you have two back speakers. According to Sony, it will sound as if you’re running a 7 channel arrangement.  If you’re really speaker placement challenged, the STR-DN1080 has a feature called S-Force PRO Front Surround. Much like Yamaha’s Virtual Cinema Front, the 1080 is able to replicate a surround sound experience with only the use of two front channels.

As far as hook-ups, the 1080 is a little stingy in the HDMI department with a mere 6 available. On the other hand, all the inputs are fully 4K compatible and support HDCP 2.2 and HDR.

The Sony STR-DN1080 is also no slouch in the high-res audio department. According to the spec sheet, the amp can process DSD 5.6 MHz, AIFF, WAV, FLAC and ALAC. It also has a number of streaming protocols built-in such as Spotify and Google Cast which also means it’s Google Home friendly.

It’s expected that the Sony STR-DN1080 will be available this Spring. Pricing has yet to be announced.

The post Sony’s New STR-DN1080 Will Come Armed With Dolby Atmos & DTS:X appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

In most ways the 7.2 Channel Onkyo TX-NR555 is identical to last year’s 545. Both amps have built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. Both handle a variety of hi-resolution audio files including Dolby Atmos. And both are well equipped to tackle 4K video.  However, this year Onkyo has placed added emphasis on ease of use. The 555 has received a revamped and simplified remote. The control app is also a beneficiary of an overhaul making it more intuitive than ever.

Onkyo TX-NR555 Design and Appearance

The black box which is the Onkyo TX-NR555 has your typical AV receiver design elements. Its utilitarian appearance shows a preference for function over form. Its face has the normal array of buttons and knobs. Volume, input select, and listening modes can all be selected on the front panel.

The remote of the Onkyo TX-NR555 has a surprisingly simple design. You won’t find an extraneous button anywhere on the slender stick. The design mirrors what we’ve seen from other manufacturers this year. The buttons are large and well placed. Some may feel that Onkyo’s simplified the design too much, but I think they’ve nailed it.

The design changes have also carried over to Onkyo’s app which is free to grab from the iOS and Google Play stores. The app is much improved over previous iterations. The interface is smooth, clean and intuitive. Between the revamped remote and the updated app it’s readily apparent that Onkyo put a larger emphasis on user experience this year.

Connections

At this price point, you don’t expect receivers like the Onkyo TX-NR555 to come loaded with input options. However, Onkyo is well known for going above and beyond in this arena.  The 555 comes stocked with a healthy selection of connection choices. In all, it has a total of 6 stereo RCA inputs, 1 phono input, 2 component inputs, 3 digital (2 optical and 1 coaxial), 1 USB and 1 Ethernet input. The front of the unit also has auxiliary and headphone jacks.

The aforementioned USB input is located on the back of the receiver which left me a little perplexed. Having the USB port in the rear makes it difficult to access. Especially if you have the receiver housed in a cabinet or entertainment center. They’ve done this with nearly every receiver they’ve produced the past couple years so this isn’t unique to the Onkyo TX-NR555.

On the back of the receiver is a row of 6 HDMI inputs and 1 output. The amp is fully 4K compatible and supports Ultra HD video at 60 Hz, 4:4:4 color space, and HDR with BT.2020. Curiously, only the first 3 HDMIs support HDCP 2.2 copy protection which is needed to watch encrypted 4K content. Some of Onkyo’s competition enable HDCP 2.2 on all their HDMI inputs, so it’s a little odd that Onkyo only does this with the first three. Despite this, the Onkyo 555 is still well equipped to tackle 4K video. Even if you’re not planning on buying a 4K TV in the near future, it’s good to know that your AV receiver will be ready if and when the time comes.

Streaming and Multi-Room Audio

Wireless audio has slowly crept into nearly every aspect of our daily lives. A few years ago it was rare to find an AV receiver that included Bluetooth or WiFi. Nowadays, both features have become standard on most receivers. The Onkyo TX-NR555 is no different. It includes both WiFi and Bluetooth, plus it’s DLNA compliant which means you can stream music over your network from a PC or network attached storage device.

Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, and TuneIn are all viable streaming options on the 555. Google Cast is expected to become available with a future firmware update.

In addition to its streaming functions, the Onkyo TX-NR555 also supports a powered zone 2 with a dedicated digital to analog converter (DAC). Onkyo this year has also cooked up its own flavor of multi-room audio called FireConnect. FireConnect is a lot like Yamaha’s MusicCast. Essentially, if you have a group of FireConnect compatible speakers in your house you can send audio from the AV receiver to any of those speakers. The caveat here is that they must be FireConnect compatible and currently there are very few FireConnect compatible speakers on the market. In a year or two that may change, but until it does, this feature on the Onkyo 555 won’t be useful for most.

Audio Formats

The Onkyo TX-NR555 uses its Asahi Kasei 384 kHz/32-bit Hi-Grade DAC  to handle both compressed and uncompressed audio files. MP3, WMA, WMA Lossless, FLAC, WAV, OggVorbis, AAC, Apple Lossless, DSD 5.6 MHz and LPCM can all be decoded by the amp. As expected, the Onkyo 555 can handle both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. However, it can also decode Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Since both of these formats allow for the addition of overhead channels it’s possible to set the 7-channel TX-NR555 in a 5.1.2 Atmos/DTS:X speaker arrangement.

Setup

Like other Onkyo amps we’ve tested, the TX-NR555 does a good job walking you through the initial setup from start to finish. Onkyo has improved their graphical interface making it vastly superior to what they had in place on their amps a few years ago. If you’ve setup an AV receiver before you can probably skip most of the initial setup instructions. However, first timers will find the on-screen prompts intuitive and helpful.

For calibration, the Onkyo TX-NR555 uses AccuEQ. Onkyo previously used Audyssey to calibrate their amps, however a few years ago Onkyo dumped Audyssey in favor of their own calibration system. For the most part, I’ve received good results with AccuEQ except for one peculiar issue that’s popped-up this year on some Onkyo amps. I’ll touch upon this a little further down.

Plug in the included calibration microphone and the amp blasts out a series of test tones through the speakers. The NR555 then sets the appropriate crossover settings, speaker distances and levels for your system. If you’re using Dolby Atmos modules, the Onkyo 555 can also account for sound delays that are a result of reflected audio waves. This feature which Onkyo calls Reflex Optimizer makes sure that sound from the Atmos modules reaches your ears simultaneously with the audio from your other speakers.

The anomaly that I encountered during calibration of the 555 is that it incorrectly set all of my speaker crossovers to 200Hz. I had the same issue with the TX-NR757. While this wasn’t the end of the world, this did require me to go in to the settings and adjust the crossovers manually. This doesn’t appear to be a wide spread issue, however if you do a quick search online you’ll find others who have experienced the same problem. In the case of the 757 when I consulted Onkyo’s tech support they were a little stumped by the issue. The bottom line is that if you get this amp, check the calibration settings after you run the AccuEQ setup and adjust as needed.

Sound Quality

One of the first Blu-rays I tested on the Onkyo TX-NR555 was Guardians of the Galaxy with its DTS-HD Master Audio sound track.  The 555 has a very similar sound to the TX-NR656 that I just demoed. Like its big brother, its aggressive and visceral low frequency performance added volume and depth to audio tracks. The final battle in the skies of Xandar was all encompassing as the ships whizzed from front to rear with ease. The TX-NR555 also includes a DTS:Neural X up-mixer. Essentially, this takes non-DTS:X sound tracks and up-mixes them so that they take advantage of height channels if you have them as part of your system.

With Neural:X, I immediately noticed a level boost in the Atmos speaker modules. The end result is that the additional height information created a taller sound field. It wasn’t as convincing as a native DTS:X mix, but the additional layer of sound made the Guardians of the Galaxy track sound more expansive.

The Dolby Atmos mix in Terminator Genisys proved to be equally engaging on the Onkyo TX-NR555.  The 555 immediately made its presence known. It handled the Atmos track with flair and ease never submitting to the brutal frenetic pace of the movie. Turning up the volume really let the 555 unleash its low frequency power, however it also displayed one of the amps weaknesses. Rated at 80 watts/channel at 8 Ohms, the amp began to show some tell-tale signs of distortion with some higher frequencies losing detail and sounding sharp and harsh.

As far as musical performance, the Onkyo TX-NR555 won’t deliver the same musical quality as a dedicated 2 channel amp, but the receiver performs better than you’d expect. Hi-res music sounded crisp and clear coming from the amp. The 555’s mid-range was surprisingly smooth and rich. At medium-high volumes the amp had no problem reproducing a bevy of classical instruments with it easily replicating the distinct sound of each. It wasn’t until I pushed the amp to its breaking point that it struggled to produce the unique tonal quality of each instrument.

The Verdict

The Onkyo TX-NR555 is a solid option for anyone who wants a full featured AV receiver that won’t break the bank. Its audio quality for movies and music is on par with other amps in this price range. If cranked up, higher frequencies do suffer from some loss of detail meaning this may not be the ideal amp for large rooms. However, for small or medium sized rooms you’ll find it to be a solid performer.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Onkyo TX-NR555 Review appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

If you’re looking for a good 2 channel receiver, but your AV rack is tight on space, Pioneer may have the solution for you. Their new Elite SX-S30 stereo receiver, at about 3 inches tall, is short enough to fit in the tightest of AV racks.

According to the spec sheet, the Pioneer SX-S30 uses a Class-D amplifier to put out 85 watts/channel (4 ohms, 1 kHz, THD 1.0% with 1 channel driven).  The back of the amp has a solid array of connection choices with a handful of analog audio inputs as well as two digital (coaxial and optical). An ethernet input is included for wired connections. If you prefer to cut the cord, the SX-S30 has dual band WiFi and built-in Bluetooth. The front of the unit includes a USB and headphone input.

The SX-S30s WiFi antennas aren’t just for show. The stereo amp also happens to be pretty stout in the streaming department. Pandora, Spotify, TIDAL, TuneIn,  and Deezer round out its list of streaming choices.  In the UK and Australia, the receiver also includes DAB radio. For Multi-room playback the SX-S30 has Chromecast built-in, DTS Play-Fi and FireConnect as options.

Hi-res audio can be streamed via an attached USB drive or hard drive. You can also transmit high-resolution audio over your network.  FLAC, 5.6 MHz DSD, WAV up to 192 kHz/24-bit, AIFF, and Apple Lossless files can all be decoded.

Surprisingly, the Pioneer Elite SX-S30 has the wherewithal to handle Ultra HD video.  It has four 4K/60p HDMI inputs which support HDR and HDCP 2.2 copy protection. Its lone HDMI output supports Audio Return Channel with CEC/CEC Multilink.

The Elite SX-S30 is available now at select retailers. More info can also be found on Pioneer’s website.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Pioneer Reveals Slim New Elite SX-S30 Stereo Receiver appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

In 2015 Onkyo unveiled their RZ line-up of amps. If you’re the type that likes to spend hours tweaking and adjusting every minor detail of your audio experience, then Onkyo had you in mind when they designed the RZ series. The baby in the line is the Onkyo TX-RZ610. Now, when I say baby, the RZ610 has more than enough power and features for the average home theater owner, however being the entry level unit in the RZ range it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that the more expensive units bring to the table.

Onkyo TX-RZ610 Design

The tank-like chassis of the 610 differs little from previous AV receivers that Onkyo’s put out. The front is clean and uncluttered with most of the buttons being small and unobtrusive. The large volume knob on the right side dominates the face of the Onkyo TX-RZ610. A row of input select buttons are tucked underneath the large display. On the far left a tone button and knob allows you to manually control treble and bass while a listening mode knob & dial lets you roll thru the listening mode settings.

I’ve reviewed numerous Onkyo amps this year and it’s no secret that I like what they’ve done with their remotes. Onkyo has stripped away all of the button clutter that’s plagued previous models. Onkyo used the extra real estate wisely by making the buttons bigger and more accessible. If I have any gripe at all with the remote, it’s that the buttons aren’t back lit. In the larger scheme of things this omission is nearly inconsequential.

The on-screen GUI has also received a face lift. You’ll still see the text driven interface that Onkyo is known for, but this year Onkyo has spiced up the graphics. Underneath the visual updates, hides a well designed and intuitive menu. If you’re looking for more visual flair you can download the iOS and Android app from their respective stores. Open the app on a phone or tablet and it’s relatively easy to navigate through features of the amp. For me, the simplified remote felt easier to use. With the app I found myself swiping through multiple windows just to access the feature I wanted. With the remote I could access the same feature with just a button click.

Onkyo 610 Connections

Looking at the back of the Onkyo TX-RZ610 it’s easy to see that the 610 has a solid array of connection choices.  The amp offers up an impressive amount of analog audio inputs as well as a couple of component ports. It also has 3 digital (2 optical and 1 coaxial).  For custom installs, the unit comes with 12-volt trigger, IR, and RS-232 inputs. If you’re a vinyl junkie, you can use the phono input to hook-up your favorite turntable.

The volume of HDMI inputs conjoined with the Onkyo 610 will be more than enough for most users. In all, the amp comes with 8 which includes 1 on the front and 7 on the rear. It also includes 2 outputs with the main including ARC. The 610 also has a dedicated digital to analog converter (DAC) to supply audio to a 2nd zone.

The 610 supports 4K video at 60Hz, 4:4:4 color space, HDCP 2.2, HDR and BT.2020. If you have 4K components, you’ll want to use the first 3 HDMI ports since these are the only ones on the amp that are fully UHD compatible. The Onkyo TX-NR610 will also upscale 1080p video to near 4K quality. Personally, I’m not a big fan of this since most 4K TVs are capable of upscaling so I don’t see this feature being very helpful on AV receivers. However, from a marketing stand point, its another “bonus” feature that AV makers can tout.

Wireless & Streaming Capabilities

Dual band WiFi and Bluetooth are built inside the Onkyo 610. Getting the amp on your WiFi is straightforward. If you have an iOS device it’s even easier since you can just copy the WiFi settings from your device over to the amp. The Bluetooth connection is also simple to initiate and perform.

As far as performance, Bluetooth has the same drawbacks that it always has with music sounding less dynamic and thin. This isn’t a knock against the receiver, its just that this is a common issue with Bluetooth and something that you’ll hear even on $3,000 receivers.

The 610’s built-in music optimizer is designed to re-invigorate compressed audio files by replacing information that was lost during the compression process. The optimizer does improve the audio quality of MP3s, however don’t expect miracles. What you will hear is music that has slightly more body and dynamics.

Internet streaming choices are pretty abundant on the amp. Spotify, Pandora, TuneIn, Deezer and Tidal are all currently accessible on the 610. The one feature we’re still waiting for is Google Cast. According to Onkyo, a future update will bring the feature to their amps, but until then we can only wait. Apple users can also use AirPlay to fling music to the receiver. If you prefer to transmit audio over your network, the Onkyo TX-RZ610 is DLNA certified so it’s possible to send audio to it from a network attached storage device or a PC.

Onkyo is also beginning to dabble in multi-room audio. This used to be an area that was dominated by Sonos, however nearly every mainstream AV manufacturer is offering some type of multi-room solution. Onkyo’s multi-room choice is FireConnect. Similar to Yamaha’s MusicCast, it allows you to blast the audio of anything connected to the receiver to a compatible FireConnect speaker. However, good luck trying to find a FireConnect speaker. They’re few and far between so we’ll have to wait and see how this relatively new format pans out.

Audio Formats

Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are a given on modern amps. However, the two “it” formats are Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. These two formats allow for the placement of sounds in 3-dimensional space. This is chiefly achieved thru the use of over head speakers or specially designed speaker modules which reflect sound off of ceilings. The 610 can be setup in a 5.1.2 speaker arrangement. If you want more speakers you’ll need to upgrade to a 9 or 11 channel receiver.

Music lovers will also find a lot to be happy about. Not only does the Onkyo TX-RZ610 have a phono connection for vinyl turntables, but it also decodes WMA, WAV, AIFF, AAC, FLAC, DSD and Apple Lossless digital files.

Setup and Calibration

Onkyo has done a solid job making their amps easy to setup. Once you boot-up the receiver it will walk you through the initial setup with easy to follow instructions. If this is your first receiver you shouldn’t have too much of a problem getting up and running. Of course if you’ve setup an amp before you can simply skip the instructions and just dive right into the fun stuff.

Calibration is done with Onkyo’s own AccuEQ. Unlike Audyssey which required multiple locations to take calibration measurements, AccuEQ only requires one. Tradition tells us that multiple positions are better than one, however after using AccuEQ on multiple amps I haven’t noticed a huge difference. On the Onkyo TX-NR757 I did have an issue where it set my crossovers to 200Hz, however that didn’t occur with the 610. The only issue I did encounter with calibration is that it set my front mains to large. I was easily able to correct that in the settings menu after the 610 was done calibrating.

Audio Quality

Onkyo’s have always struck a balance between features and sound quality. The Onkyo TX-RZ610 carries on that tradition. The 7.2 channel amp has a rating of about 100 watts per channel with two channels driven. Once you’re powering all your speakers, you can expect the power output to be greatly diminished from this lofty number. However, after pushing the Onkyo pretty hard I found that the amp had plenty of head room. Dialogue was crisp and accurate coming from the 610. At low levels dialogue was easily intelligible. Boosting the volume the amp rarely showed signs of distortion.

I used Warcraft on Blu-ray for one of my listening sessions and the Onkyo 610 handled the Dolby Atmos track with relative ease. Warcraft is an action filled romp which gives AV receivers plenty of opportunities to fail. Turning up the volume during one of the heavy action scenes I expected the dynamic sound track to fall apart, but the 610 refused to surrender under the onslaught. Dialogue was never over powered. Atmos on the Onkyo TX-RZ610 opened up the sound stage even more with sound effects sweeping overhead.

God’s of Egypt on Blu-ray uses a DTS:X sound track and the sound stage was on par with what I experienced with Atmos. The sound was expansive and wide. With DTS:X I didn’t quite feel the same level of immersion that I did with Atmos, but it’s still pretty good. The Onkyo 610 also proved to be a heavyweight in the low frequency department with it delivering thunderous bass when needed. Overhead sound effects aside, the rear channels in my setup also received a good work out with the amp easily panning sound around the room.

Curious to see how the Onkyo TX-RZ610 handled a video game sound track, I decided to try out one of the creepiest games in my collection, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on the PS4. Yeah…that was a mistake. Between the game’s sound track and the 610’s active surround channels, I quickly became paranoid. Voices appeared at various locations around the room which definitely enhanced the intense fear that the game generates. Ambient squeaks, creeks and groans made the game incredibly unnerving. In other words, it was quite enjoyable.

Conclusion

The Onkyo TX-RZ610 is a fantastic receiver that has plenty of power for most home theater rooms. The amp also shows a great deal of agility and finesse. With its combination of acoustic prowess and impressive features, the 610 is one of the better mid-range receivers on the market.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Onkyo TX-RZ610 Review appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Receivers have been stuck in an incremental upgrade cycle the past few years. The newest batch of receivers may finally give folks a real reason to upgrade. Thanks to new technologies like 4K video and Dolby Atmos it’s become more important to have a receiver that’s up to speed. The 7.2 channel Yamaha RX-V681 is one of the latest amps to support the latest tech trends making it one of the most future proof options available.

Design

The Yamaha RX-V681 doesn’t break new ground in the looks department. It’s basically identical to last year’s Yamaha 679 and the 677 before that. If you lose the remote or don’t have it handy, you can control most of the features of the receiver with the buttons and knobs on its face.

RELATED: Yamaha YAS-106 Soundbar Review

The remote of the 681 feels a bit cluttered. Whereas many manufacturers have managed to simplify their remotes, Yamaha’s has a dizzying array of small buttons.  If you’ve never used a Yamaha receiver before be prepared to take some time to familiarize yourself with the remote. Yamaha has a control app that’s a free download from the iOS and Android store. It does a good job of letting you control the receiver through your smartphone or tablet and is a solid alternative to the remote.

After spending some time with several of Yamaha’s competitors this year, namely Onkyo, Denon and Pioneer, the user interface of the Yamaha 681 comes up a little short by comparison and suffers from an overall lack of intuitiveness. Like the remote, it will take a little while to get used to.

Connectivity

Connection wise, the Yamaha RX-V681 comes with a respectable 6 HDMI hookups. All of these inputs support HDCP 2.2, HDR and BT.2020 so the amp is well prepared to handle 4K video.  The HDMIs are complimented by a healthy grouping of component, analog and digital inputs that are on par for A/V receivers in this price range.

If you prefer to sling your music to the receiver wirelessly, the 681 gives you the option to use WiFi, Bluetooth or AirPlay. A few years ago Bluetooth and WiFi would have required the use of an add-on dongle, however the Yamaha 681 has these features built-in. Both WiFi and Bluetooth were stable during my testing. I had the Yamaha RX-V681 a substantial distance from my wireless router and never experienced any signal loss.  I only experienced one brief hiccup in the Bluetooth signal so overall, the 681 performed well in this department. The  681’s Bluetooth transmission also works both ways. You can send Bluetooth music to the amp or, if you have a set of Bluetooth headphones, its capable of pushing Bluetooth audio to them as well.

Along with these wireless streaming options, the 681 also has built-in MusicCast. Yamaha’s been aggressively incorporating its home grown multi-room system on many of its devices. With the 681 you have the ability to transmit audio from the amp to other MusicCast compatible products such as speakers and sound bars. The separate MusicCast app lets you control the audio playing in multiple zones in your house.

Sound Formats

The number of audio formats the 681 decodes reads like a who’s who list for audiophiles. For music, the amp can handle MP3, FLAC, DSD, AIFF, WAV, ALAC and WMA. If you have a flash drive or portable hard drive, you can use the front USB port to easily attach your music device. The Yamaha 681 is also DLNA certified which means you can stream music over your network as well. Dolby and DTS decoding are the norm on all modern receivers. However, their newest object based formats, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are popping up on more and more amps. Both of these formats make an appearance on the Yamaha RX-V681.

Setup

Getting the Yamaha 681 up and running is pretty straightforward. Yamaha uses their own proprietary calibration system called YPAO. Unlike Audyssey, it only requires you to place the calibration microphone at only one location in your room. Results from YPAO were solid. My only gripe with it, and I’ve had this problem with most calibration systems (including Audyssey), is that it set my front mains and rears to “large” when they should have been set to “small”. This required me to manually go in and adjust the crossover settings. This isn’t a big issue, but I recommend that after you run YPAO, you double check the calibration settings.

Yamaha RX-V681 Sound Quality

So, the big question is – how does the Yamaha RX-V681 sound? In a word – fantastic. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a good test for the amp with its frenetic actions sequences. The 681 displayed good spacial performance with Tie-Fighters zipping easily from left to right and from front to rear. Dialogue was also clean and clear. Turning up the volume, the 681 maintained its composure and showed very few signs of distortion.

The 681’s good audio performance continued with The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The dragon’s deep rumbling voice echoed around the room thanks to the low frequencies pumped out by the Yamaha 681. The amp also gave my surround channels a good workout by creating a wide expansive sound field.

Wanting to change things up a bit, I cued up Ex Machina. Since the movie takes place in a secluded hi-tech mansion it uses subtle audio cues to convey a sense of claustrophobia. The 681’s ability to reproduce these subtleties created a heightened since of suspense and atmosphere.

Adele’s vocals from her latest album sounded smooth and natural on Yamaha RX-V681. Having Yamaha’s Aventage RX-A1060 on hand I wanted to compare the two. The 1060 displayed better transparency than the 681 and when it came to movies, greater power reserves. However, this receiver also costs twice as much as the Yamaha 681.

Yamaha RX-V681 vs RX-V581

Both of these amps have 7.2 channels and are very similar in sound quality. In fact, when it comes to sound, you’ll be hard pressed to tell the two apart. On the other hand, the RX-V681 does have some notable advantages over the RX-V581. The 681 has a little more power, a dedicated phono input, an extra HDMI input, 4K upscaling, and powered zone 2. Between the two, the 581 has the better remote and is easier to pick-up and use. The RX-V581 typically costs less than the 681, so if your main focus is sound quality, you may want to save the extra dough and grab the 581. On the other hand, if any of the features outlined above are must-haves for you, then the 681 may be the way to go.

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The Verdict

It’s hard to knock the 681. For a mid-range receiver it does just about everything right. It has impressive sound quality and a solid compliment of features. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support gives it an edge over last year’s 679 and MusicCast means it can be the centerpiece of your multi-room audio. Its biggest drawbacks are its user interface and cluttered remote which can be easily overlooked.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Yamaha RX-V681 Review appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Yamaha RX-A1060 Design

Once you get to Yamaha’s Aventage line, you can tell Yamaha means business. The bodies of all the amps in this line have a tank-like construction. The innards of the Yamaha RX-A1060 are designed to stonewall items that degrade audio quality such as electronic interference and vibrations. The front of the Yamaha 1060 looks clean and uncluttered thanks to the trap door on the front of the amp that hides the various pre-set buttons and controls. The trap door is flanked on either side by silky smooth volume and input select knobs.

While Onkyo, Pioneer and Denon have made strides to make their GUIs more user friendly, Yamaha’s still lags behind. Like the user interface, the remote bundled with the Yamaha Aventage RX-A1060 can also use a refresh.  The 1060’s remote has a half dozen too many buttons and they’re pretty small to boot. As an alternative, Yamaha has a control app that’s a free download from the iOS and Google Play stores. The prettier interface on the app is less intimidating than the amps built-in interface and is a good alternative. Better yet, pick-up a good universal remote from Logitech and your life will be much easier.

Oodles of Connections

The 1060 gives you a wealth of connection choices. From analog, to component and digital inputs the 1060 is pretty well stocked. It also has a dedicated phono input for vinyl junkies. For custom installs the amp includes an RS232 input, dual 12V triggers and an IR input/output. Let’s face it though, HDMI has become the king of home theater audio. In total, the Yamaha RX-A1060 has 8 HDMI  inputs and 2 outputs. If you’ve recently upgraded your TV to a 4K unit, the 1060 won’t have any compatibility issues. It’s HDMIs support HDCP 2.2 copy protection, HDR and BT.2020. The Yamaha 1060 will also upscale content to near 4K quality, however most 4K TVs can also do this so the importance of this feature on an amp is negligible in my opinion.

Networking

Both WiFi and Bluetooth are built-in to the Yamaha RX-A1060 so you can wirelessly push your music to the receiver. You can also use Bluetooth on the 1060 to send audio to a set of wireless Bluetooth headphones or speakers. If you’re a fan of cables you can use a wired network connection via the 1060’s ethernet input. Apple product users have the option to sling music to the amp via AirPlay.  DLNA certification also lets you send music from a NAS drive or PC that resides on your network. If you have a hard drive or USB drive, the front USB port becomes a handy way to play music. If you use music streaming services, the Yamaha 1060 has several built-in including – Pandora, Spotify, Rhapsody, Sirius XM Internet Radio, vTuner.

Yamaha has jumped into the multi-room arena with MusicCast. Thus far, Yamaha has done an impressive job incorporating MusicCast on many of their recent devices. From AV receivers, to speakers and soundbars – Yamaha has a wide variety of equipment that supports MusicCast. In a nut shell, MusicCast lets you stream audio from any device connected to the receiver, to another MusicCast device on your network. For instance, if you’re playing music from a hard drive connected to the 1060 in your family room, you can sling the audio from the 1060 to a wireless Yamaha WX-030 speaker in the kitchen. All of this is controlled through the intuitive MusicCast app that’s a free download from the iOS and Google Play stores.

Yamaha Aventage RX-A1060 Audio Formats

Since audio is the primary focus of the Yamaha RX-A1060, it’s safe to say that this AV receiver is no slouch in the audio format department. Yamaha uses a SABRE 9006A Premier Audio DAC from ESS Technology to handle digital to analog conversions. The amp can handle a boatload of audio formats some of which include MP3, DSD, AIFF, FLAC, WAV and Apple Lossless. For compressed audio formats, Yamaha has an enhanced music enhancer which is designed to restore frequencies that are lost during the compression process. When in use MP3s do get a noticeable boost in overall depth, but temper your expectations. The results won’t blow you away.

Looking at home theater formats, the 1060 handles Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, but that’s not all. Both Dolby and DTS have their new object based formats called Atmos and DTS:X. The Yamaha RX-A1060 can process both formats. With it’s 7.2 channels of amplification you can run a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos or DTS:X speaker arrangement. If you want to use more speakers in your setup you’ll need to upgrade to one of the 1060’s bigger brothers, the Yamaha RX-A2060 or the RX-A3060.

The Yamaha Aventage RX-A1060’s 7.2 channels of amplification is capable of pumping out about 110 watts per channel with 2 channels driven. With that amount of power, the 1060 should be more than capable for most home theater uses.

Setup

Yamaha has long used their own calibration solution called YPAO. Calibrating the amp is as simple as placing the supplied microphone in the middle of your listening area and following the on screen prompts. The receiver gives you the option to measure from a single location in your room or you can take measurements from multiple points for greater accuracy. The 1060 will blast out a series of test tones that it will use to dial-in your speakers. It accounts for your room’ s acoustic qualities and establishes the correct crossover frequencies, distances and channel levels.

During calibration, the 1060 will also ask you the type of speaker layout you’re using. For instance, if you’re using Atmos speakers the amp will ask you if you have them placed at the front of your room, in the rear or in ceiling. Knowing this helps the receiver make sure that audio from the Atmos speakers is in sync with the rest of your system.

The entire process takes only a couple minutes. YPAO did well, however per usual it incorrectly designated my fronts and rears as full band speakers. After calibration, I set the crossovers to a THX recommended 80 Hz which allowed my subwoofer to handle the majority of the low frequencies.

Sound Quality

Yamaha’s amps have historically been among the best so when I get my eager mitts one of their Aventage AV receivers I become a little giddy. Wanting to see what the Yamaha RX-A1060 was made of, I picked-up a movie that I believe has one of the most brutal sound tracks – Mad Max: Fury Road.

The 1060 proved that it was more than capable of handling the dynamic soundtrack of Fury Road.  The newest entry in the Mad Max series never stops its assault on your ears. The Yamaha 1060 easily produced the savage grunting, growling engines of the patchwork vehicles that constantly race around on screen. The Atmos soundtrack takes everything to a new level giving the sound stage more height, depth and width.  Early in the film, the vehicles plow through a massive whirling sandstorm tornado. The sand and wind savagely wooshed by overhead thanks to the Dolby Atmos sound track.

Jurassic World was next-up on the list. The 1060’s sound stage was wide and open. When the on screen action picked-up the Yamaha 1060 didn’t hold back. Racing through the forest with the raptors was exhilarating with the 1060 in complete control. Wanting to see how the RX-A1060 performed in a larger space I packed it up and took it to a larger area. Surprisingly, the amp had more than enough power on reserve to handle the larger space.

The Yamaha RX-A1060 was also a solid performer for stereo music. The amp provided excellent stereo separation that was nearly on par with a good 2 channel receiver. Instruments were detailed and distinct while vocals were rich and expressive. Traditionally, Bluetooth audio comes up a little short, however on the 1060 it sounded far better than I expected.

Verdict

The Yamaha RX-A1060 is another great addition to Yamaha’s family of amps. I had the chance to listen to the RX-A2060 a while back and they’re so close in sound quality it’s not worth mentioning. If you’re trying to decide between these two amps the biggest thing to consider is the number of channels. The 2060 has nine total and if you’re running an Atmos or DTS:X setup, those two additional channels can come in handy. However, if you don’t think you need the extra speakers, I suggest you save the extra cash and give the 1060 consideration.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Yamaha Aventage RX-A1060 Review appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Denon is one of the first AV manufacturers to unveil their new wares for 2017 with three new entries in their “S” line-up. The three new amps are the Denon AVR-S530BT, S730H and the S930H.

Denon AVR-S530BT

The 5.2 channel Denon AVR-S530BT is this year’s entry-level unit, but don’t let the term “entry-level” fool you. Overall, this amp appears to be pretty well stocked. In total the S530BT has (5) 4K ready HDMI inputs that support HDCP 2.2, HDR, BT.2020 and 4:4:4 Pure Color sub-sampling.

The 530BT doesn’t include WiFi, but it does have Bluetooth so you can stream audio wirelessly from a variety of portable devices.  The 530BT is also compatible with the HEOS Link, so if you have HEOS multi-room products in your home, the 530 should fit right in with your existing ecosystem.  To accommodate wired connections, the Denon AVR-S530BT has a conveniently located front USB input and it supports a variety audio formats including MP3, WMA, FLAC and MPEG-4/AAC.

Denon AVR-S730H

Next in line is the Denon AVR-S730H. The 730H ups the number of channels to 7.2 and according to Denon, has a generous maximum power output of 165 watts per channel. The 730 puts the two extra channels to good use as it’s able to decode both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio formats. These two formats allow for the use of ceiling speakers or specially designed elevation speakers. The audio produced by these two formats provides a “3D-like” listening experience.

The S730H also has a few more notable upgrades over its smaller sibling. It has a total of 6 HDMI inputs which are 4K compatible. The receiver supports all sorts of 4K goodies such as HDCP 2.2, HDR, BT.2020, and 4:4:4 Pure Color sub-sampling. With an eye towards the future, the amp is also Dolby Vision and HLG ready.

On the music front, the Denon AVR-S730H has WiFi and Bluetooth. AirPlay is also supported by the amp. HEOS is built into the 730H which means its ready to join your HEOS ecosystem right out of the box.  Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn Internet radio, Amazon Prime Music, iHeart Radio, Sirius XM, Sound Cloud, Tidal, Rhapsody and Deezer are some of the streaming music options available via the HEOS app. Like the 530BT, the 730H has a front USB port which allows you to hook-up a USB drive or portable music device.

Denon AVR-S930H

The 930H sits at the top of the heap for this group of AVs.  It takes the features of the 730H and simply adds-on to them. The 7.2 channel 930 has more power than the 730H with a maximum output of 185 watts per channel. With 7 channels, the amp is also capable of decoding both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

The 930H has (8) 4K ready HDMI inputs. When it comes to UHD video, the Denon AVR-S930H has the same capabilities as the 730, plus it can also upscale low resolution video to 4K. A second HDMI output also lets you enjoy AV sources in a another room.

Just like the 730H, the Denon AVR-S930H has built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. HEOS comes pre-installed on the amp, so you also get access to its slew of online music streaming services.

All three receivers are expected to be available in April. The 530BT will have an MSRP of $279, the 730H $479 and the 930H $579.

The post Denon Announces Three New S-Series Receivers appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

It’s hip to be square. At least that’s what AV makers want you to believe. Aside from Denon’s new HEOS AVR, AV receivers have clung to their rectangular boxy form factor for years. Although it maintains the status quo, the Denon AVR-X4300H is an attractive amp by AV receiver standards. The front of the amp has a brushed aluminum treatment. Most of the button clutter is concealed by a trap door on the face of the X4300H. A large easy to read display is stationed above the trap door with large volume and input select knobs on the far right and left of the receiver’s face.

The remote that comes with the Denon AVR-X4300H is a big, thick, blocky chunk of plastic. Whereas other AV makers are making their remotes sleeker and smaller, Denon’s is in your face big, but I like it. The remote feels weighty and substantial in your hand. Like the remote of the Yamaha RX-A1060, the 4300H’s is overloaded with buttons. However, the buttons on the 4300 are relatively large and easy to press. The remote does need to be simplified a bit, but it’s not bad.

As an alternative, Denon has an AVR remote app which is a free download from the iOS and Android stores. It has the same functionality of the regular remote except you can use your smartphone or tablet to control the amp.

Connections

The 4300H gives you ample connection choices with its 8 HDMIs (including one on the front). The 7 assignable HDMIs on the rear offer full 4K support with HDCP 2.2, HDR, BT.2020, and 4:4:4 Pure Color. The amp can also upscale standard and HD video to 4K quality. If you have a 4K TV it most likely does this as well so this feature on the 4300H may not be as important as it sounds.

Besides the HDMIs, the Denon AVR-X4300H has copious amounts of analog audio and component inputs. Four digital coaxial and optical inputs are also included. For the serious home theater owner, the 4300H has an infrared remote control input and a remote output. For home automation it also has a RS-232C serial port and two 12V triggers.

The Denon AVR-X4300H supports multiple zones thanks to its speaker connections and pre-amp outputs that can be utilized in 2nd and 3rd zones. The amps 2nd HDMI output can be used to carry audio and video to a 2nd zone as well.

Wireless and Multi-Room Connectivity

Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay and WiFi come pre-installed on the Denon AVR-X4300H. Jumping on your WiFi network with the receiver is painless and fast if you have a newer Apple device. You only need to share your WiFi setting with the 4300H and it’ll be on your wireless network in a matter of seconds. Alternatively, you can manually setup your WiFi network on the amp. Bluetooth and WiFi worked as expected without any noticeable hiccups. Both were reliable and stable during my testing.

Denon’s HEOS multi-room system also comes part and parcel with the Denon X4300H. Download the HEOS app on your smart device and you can blast audio from the receiver to any other HEOS compatible device on your network. Denon’s been pumping out a steady stream of HEOS devices the past few years including sound bars, speakers and AVRs so if you’ve gone all-in on the HEOS ecosystem, the 4300H will make a fine addition.

Dolby Atmos and DTS:X

In total, the Denon AVR-X4300H provides 9.2 channels of amplification with an estimated 125 watts of power per channel. This is a generous estimate on Denon’s part, but we’ll roll with it. If you hook-up an external amplifier, the receiver can actually process up to 11.2 channels. The 9 channels of the 4300 give you a little more flexibility with your speaker layout, especially if you’re setting up a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X configuration. With the extra channels you can setup either a 7.1.2 arrangement or a 5.1.4 Atmos/DTS:X layout.

Both of these next gen formats are object based, which means sound designers can orient sounds at  specific points in space. This usually manifests itself as overhead sound effects. Ceiling speakers or specially designed speaker modules which reflect sound off of ceilings are needed to enjoy these formats. An Auro 3D firmware update is also available on the 4300H. Unlike Atmos and DTS:X you’ll need to pay a fee to install and use it.

Music

Denons have traditionally been strong music performers and the 4300H is no different. The amp can handle an impressive set of music formats. MP3s are easy for the receiver to digest, however it can also handle a variety of high-resolution audio files such as ALAC, FLAC, WAV and 2.8/5.6-MHz DSD. For online streaming the Denon AVR-X4300H supports Internet Radio, Spotify Connect, Pandora, Amazon Music, Napster, iHeart Radio, Soundcloud, Tidal and Deezer. There is one caveat. These services aren’t available directly on the amp. You’ll need to access them through the HEOS app on your smart device. Alternatively, if you have any of these services installed on your phone you can stream directly to the receiver via Bluetooth.

Denon AVR-X4300H Setup

Denon has put increased emphasis on making their AV receivers easy to setup. The X4300H, despite its substantial feature set, is one of the easier amps to get up and running. As soon as you turn on the receiver, it will take you through the setup process step-by-step. Something that I really like about the Denon AVR-X4300H, is that all of the speaker binding posts are aligned in a single row along the back of the receiver. Most amps have the posts arranged in rows of two which makes hooking up speakers cables a little difficult. Denon’s arrangement gives you plenty of room to work.

The X4300H uses Audyssey’s X32 calibration system. Once you get to this point, the receiver will prompt you to place the included microphone at 8 locations in your listening area. Denon, like its sister company Marantz, includes a cardboard stand to place the microphone into. The entire calibration process takes about 15 minutes to complete. After calibration was done, I went back into the settings to check out what Audyssey had prescribed for my setup. The only discrepancy was that it set my front mains and rears to large. I was able to quickly and easily change them to small. Every calibration system on nearly every amp I’ve tested has made the same mistake, so I recommend you always double check the settings after you complete calibration.

Sound Quality

Dynamic, nimble and powerful are three words that came to mind after I wrapped up my time with the Denon AVR-X4300H. Some AV receivers are masters of brute force but lack nuance and subtlety. Others have plenty of detail and grace, but lack the power to deliver the forceful impact that’s needed for a proper home theater. When you find an AV receiver that manages to do all of these things you lock it up in your AV rack and never let go. The Denon AVR-X4300H is such a receiver.

With a stack of Blu-rays on hand I hunkered down to see exactly what the Denon AVR-X4300H had to offer. First up was Warcraft on Blu-ray. Right of the bat, the 4300 displayed a wide and open sound stage. When the Orcs and Humans engage in their first on screen battle the palpable moans and grunts easily bounced around the room creating a 3D sense of space. The amp also displayed impressive low frequency performance. Bass was detailed yet deep and powerful.

The Poltergeist re-make on Blu-ray, gave the Denon AVR-X4300H a slightly different challenge. This movie is heavier on dialog than the aforementioned Warcraft, but the sonic character of the movie can change rapidly depending on what’s taking place on screen. Dialogue was pristine and lifelike coming from the 4300H. Like I mentioned, the sound in this type of movie can change in a heartbeat and the 4300 had no problem keeping up. The amp made the movie a heart pounding thrill ride. Eerie sounds smoothly crept around the room. The amps astute use of low frequencies added even more intensity to the flick.

I’ve listened to dozens of AV receivers over the years and I can only think of a handful where I can say I truly loved their musical performance. The Denon AVR-X4300H is now among them. Vocals were dynamic and clear coming from the amp. Instruments sounded almost lifelike. If I were to nitpick, I noted that on a couple occasions the 4300’s treble response seemed slightly over accentuated. For most this won’t be a problem, however if you have bright speakers it may be more noticeable.

The Verdict

The Denon AVR-X4300H is an excellent receiver. With its 9 channels of amplification you have plenty of speaker layout options. Bluetooth, WiFi, HEOS, Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and 4k support make the 4300 second to none in the features department. Throw in amazing sound quality and you have a receiver that should plant itself on your AV rack for years to come.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Denon AVR-X4300H Review appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

This is the period where AV makers start showing off their gear for the upcoming year. Onkyo has given us a peak at their new entry-level model, the TX-SR373. Expensive amps usually get all the good features, however given enough time some of that tech trickles down to entry-level units. This is the case with the Onkyo TX-SR373.

The 5.2 channel Onkyo TX-SR373 doesn’t include Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, however it does include a ton of useful features nonetheless. Based on the stats released by Onkyo, the SR373 can deliver about 80 watts into 8 ohms (0.08% THD). In total the amp has 4 HDMI inputs which are 4K ready. HDCP2.2 and HDR10 passthrough are both supported by the receiver. Along with HDMI, the Onkyo TX-SR373 also includes two digital inputs (one coaxial and one optical). For older equipment, the receiver also has three analog inputs. DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD can both be decoded by the amp.

The SR-373 doesn’t include an ethernet connection or WiFi, but that doesn’t mean you can’t send your music to it wirelessly. The receiver includes Bluetooth with aptX.  This allows you to easily sync your phone or smart device with the unit and stream audio to the amp without a wired connection.

For the first time ever, Onkyo’s ACCUEQ calibration system makes an appearance on one of their entry-level receivers. ACCUEQ essentially calculates the correct crossover frequencies, speaker distances and speaker levels for your system based on your room’s acoustics. While room calibration isn’t a necessity with an amp, it does help you get the most out of your AV receiver and speakers.

The wait time to pick up this little entry-level receiver should be short lived. The 373 is starting to pop-up on retailer shelves now.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Onkyo’s New Entry-Level TX-SR373 Receiver Has a Few New Tricks appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Yamaha has been feverishly adding MusicCast supporting products to their AV line. It doesn’t appear that they plan on stopping anytime soon. Based on the info that we have on the four new amps in their RX-V line, MusicCast is alive and strong. The new additions will consist of two 7-channel receivers – the RX-V583 and the RX-V683 and two new 5-channel receivers, the RX-V383 and RX-V483.

4K video is here to stay and all of these amps are staunch supporters of the UHD format. All support 4K passthrough, BT.2020 and High Dynamic Range (HDR) video. HDR currently comes in three common flavors – HDR10, Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log Gamma. HDR10 is supported right out of the box, while Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log Gamma are expected to come with a firmware update.

All 4 receivers include Bluetooth, however the Yamaha RX-V383 is the only one of these new amps that doesn’t include WiFi. The entry-level V383 also lacks MusicCast support. The RX-V483, RX-V583 and RX-V683 all include Yamaha’s multi-room MusicCast system. The multi-room platform allows you to stream audio to a variety of MusicCast compatible products such as sound bars, speakers, home theater in a box systems and other audio components.

The Yamaha RX-V383 includes a USB input which past Yamaha entry-level models lacked. One of the reasons for this is probably to facilitate firmware updates. If you have a vinyl turntable, the Yamaha RX-V683 is the only one of the bunch that has a dedicated phono input.

Since, the RX-V383 and RX-V483 are only 5 channel amps it’s impossible for them to support Dolby Atmos or DTS:X. However, you will find support for both of these object based audio formats inside the 7 channel Yamaha RX-V583 and RX-V683.

As far as power output, the 383 can push about 70 watts per channel, the 483 and 583 – 80 watts, and the 683 has the most power with 90 watts.

The wait will be short lived for all 4 AV receivers. The Yamaha RX-V383 and RX-483 are expected to arrive in April. The RX-V583 and RX-V683 should land in May.

The post Yamaha Unveils a New Batch of Amps for Their RX-V Line appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Pioneer has two new 5 channel receivers ready to hit store shelves. The Pioneer VSX-532 and VSX-832 are very similar to what we’ve seen from other manufacturers this year, however both of these new amps have a couple surprising add-on’s. Let’s take a look at the not so surprising stuff first.

Pioneer VSX-532

The Pioneer VSX-532 is a 5.1 channel AV receiver that’s capable of pushing 80 watts of power to 2 channels at 8 ohms. As far as connectivity, the 532 has 4 HDMI inputs and 1 output. The HDMIs support Ultra HD (4K/60p/4:4:4) and HDR (High Dynamic Range) pass-through with HDCP 2.2. The Pioneer VSX-532 isn’t a network enabled amp, so you can’t get it on your network. However, it does offer wireless music streaming thanks to built-in Bluetooth.

Pioneer VSX-832

The Pioneer VSX-832 is also a 5 channel receiver, and has approximately the same power output of the 532 with 80 watts of power with 2 channels driven at 8 ohms. It also comes with 4 HDMI inputs which support Ultra HD (4K/60p/4:4:4) with HDR (Dolby Vision and HDR10), BT.2020 and HDCP 2.2.

The VSX-832 has built-in Bluetooth, but unlike the 532 it also has an ethernet connection and WiFi.  This makes it possible to access a variety of internet music streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, TIDAL, and Deezer. The Pioneer VSX-832 supports three multi-room music services: Chromecast, DTS Play-Fi and FireConnect.

None of the features mentioned above are that unique among the AV receivers we’ve seen introduced so far this year. However, both amps are bringing something new to the table. For one, the VSX-532 now includes Pioneer’s MCACC calibration suite. This may not sound like a big deal, but Pioneer has not included any type of calibration system in their entry-level models the past couple years. So seeing the entry-level 532 with an auto calibration suite is a welcomed sight.

Pioneer’s 5- channel VSX-832 does something we haven’t seen before. It supports both Atmos and DTS:X. Typically these two formats have been reserved for receivers with 7+ channels. However, the 832 breaks the rules. The 5-channel amp can be setup in a 3.1.2 speaker arrangement which means you’ll need to sacrifice your surround channels, but don’t worry. Pioneer has a solution. The 832 incorporates what they call a surround enhancer. This tech is similar to what you frequently see in today’s sound bars. Essentially, the amp uses digital processing to “trick” our ears into thinking surround speakers are present. If this works as claimed, the 5-channel Pioneer VSX-832 could give a home theater performance on par with a full fledged 7-channel receiver.

Our experience with this type of tech in sound bars has been hit or miss. It does widen the sound stage and surround effects are sometimes convincing, but nothing we’ve heard has worked as well as a true multi-channel setup. We’re eager to see if the Pioneer VSX-832 does a better job.

The Pioneer VSX-532 and Pioneer VSX-832 are expected to both be available this month.

The post Pioneer Unveils Two Dynamic Receivers – the VSX-532 and the VSX-832 appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Audyssey’s room calibration system usually does a pretty good job of extracting the best performance from your sound system. For most people the results are more than adequate. However, for the hard core home theater enthusiast there’s always a couple things here and there that they wish they could tweak. Thanks to Denon, Marantz and Audyssey you now can.

Denon and Marantz have launched a new Audyssey MultiEQ app that will give you complete control over your listening experience. During the normal calibration process Audyssey detects the size, type and configuration of the speakers you’re using. It also measures the response of the speakers in your room and makes adjustments accordingly.

With the new MultiEQ app you can check the exact settings that Audyssey prescribes. If you don’t like them, you can change them. Not only can you adjust the EQ settings, but you can also change the target curve for each channel pair, view before and after results of the Audyssey calibration to identify potential room problems, and enable/disable midrange compensation to make the sound brighter or smoother.

Chris Kyriakakis, Chief Technology Officer, Audyssey Laboratories, Inc., states: “The Audyssey MultEQ Editor app enables users to enjoy reference sound that is free of room acoustics problems and also apply their own listening preferences. We are very pleased to be working closely with Denon and Marantz to deliver this unique capability for fine tuning these AV Receivers.”

The app currently works with only a select grouping of Denon and Marantz AV receivers. Supporting Denon amps include the AVR-X6300H, AVR-X4300H, AVR-X3300W, AVR-X2300W, AVR-X1300W, AVR-S930H, AVR-S730H, AVR-S920W and AVR-S720W. Supporting Marantz models include the AV7703, SR7011, SR6011, SR5011 and NR1607. According to both Marantz and Denon, some of their new AV offerings for 2017 will also support the app. Older receivers not on this list most likely won’t.

The MultiEQ app is available on the iTunes and Google Play stores for a price of $20.

The post Marantz & Denon’s New App Lets You Customize Your Listening Experience appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Integra isn’t as popular as some of the AV brands that you see in your nearest big box stores. Integra is known as Onkyo’s “high-end” line and is mainly found in home theater specialty shops. Their current top-of-the-line model is the 11.2 channel Integra DRX-R1. This beast purportedly has a power output of 140 watts per channel at 8 ohms.  The R1 has the features to match its enviable power output. From 4K video, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X to HDBaseT connections, Integra’s flagship model takes AV receivers to a whole new level.

Pulling the DRX-R1 out of the box you can tell the amp has some heavy duty innards. The thing is big and heavy weighing in at nearly 50lbs.  I imagine if this beast fell out of the sky 65 million years ago it could have wiped out the dinosaurs. Integra threw everything they had into this amps construction and it shows. The DRX-R1 is built with a heavy-duty steel chassis and extruded aluminum heat sinks. The amps over-constructed body is designed specifically to eliminate unwanted vibrations that may harm the audio experience.

The on-screen menu of the DRX-R1 is nearly identical to what you’ll find on Onkyo’s current models. The menu isn’t flashy, but it’s well laid out and intuitive. You’d expect a feature rich receiver like the Integra DRX-R1 to have a big and complicated remote, but it doesn’t. It’s the exact opposite.  The remote is void of extraneous buttons which makes it extremely easy to pick-up and use.

The app is nearly as good. The Integra control app is a free download from the iTunes and Google Play stores. The app, like the remote, is sleek and simple. Put the app on your smartphone or tablet and you can control all the functions of the receiver. The DRX-R1 has an ample list of streaming services that you can pull music from. All of which are easily accessible through the app.

Connectivity

The Integra DRX-R1 has nearly every connection you could need or want for a home theater. The DRX-R1 has a total of 8 HDMI inputs including 1 on the front. The first 5 inputs on the back are fully 4K compatible with HDCP 2.2, 4:4:4 color space, HDR and BT.2020. The amp also upscales standard HD video to 4K quality. Analog audio inputs are plentiful on the DRX-R1 as are digital inputs. Three optical and two coaxial digital inputs are present and accounted for. Of course, the amp also includes a phono input for all of you vinyl lovers out there. An ethernet input is embedded on the back to accommodate wired network connections. If you have a flash drive or external hard drive you can plug it into the supplied USB input on the amps backside. If you want to send audio to another room, the DRX-R1 has connections for a powered zone 2 and 3.

Where the Integra DRX-R1 really shines is with home automation. The unit has an impressive three 12V triggers for home automation. So if you have a projector screen you want to raise or lower at the touch of a button, you can use one the amp’s 12V triggers. In addition to the triggers, the Integra DRX-R1 includes two IR inputs and an output for remote controls as well as an RS232 input for home control systems. If you need more, the receiver also has an HDBaseT IN/OUT jack which is a rarity on AV receivers. The HDBaseT connection lets you transmit audio and video up to 328 feet using a cat5e/cat6 cable. So if you have an especially long run to a projector or 2nd or 3rd audio zone, this input/output comes in handy.

There are only two things missing from the Integra DRX-R1 and that’s Bluetooth and WiFi. As long as you’re OK using a wired connection these two items won’t be missed much; however, considering there are less expensive receivers on the market that include both, it’s a little surprising that the top-of-the-line R1 doesn’t.

Integra DRX-R1 – Audio Formats Galore

The DRX-R1 has multiple reference grade DACs (digital to analog converters). The amp uses a 384 kHz / 32-bit AK4490 DAC for the front left and right channels and an independent 768 kHz / 32-bit AK4458 DAC for the surround channels. If that’s not enough, the Integra DRX-R1 has two independent 192 kHz / 24-bit AK4388 Stereo DACs for the second and third zones.

So what does all of this mean? Essentially this amp can process a hell of a lot of audio. It can handle nearly every hi-res audio format you can throw at it such as 2.8 or 5.6 MHz DSD, FLAC, WAV, ALAC and WMA files. It can also tackle Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio home theater formats. Dolby Atmos and DTS:X are supported as well by the amp. With its 11 channels, it’s possible to set up a 7.2.4 Atmos/DTS:X speaker arrangement.

I mentioned that the Integra DRX-R1 doesn’t have WiFi or Bluetooth however, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use internet music streaming services. In fact, as long as you can make a wired internet connection you’ll find that the DRX-R1 supports an immense range of music streaming apps including; Pandora, Spotify, Deezer, TuneIn and Tidal. Plus, the amp is also AirPlay compatible. The R1 supports FireConnect for multi-room audio as well. The one caveat with this is that FireConnect thus far doesn’t have the same amount of support that other multi-room systems such as Yamaha’s MusicCast have.  This could change in the near future and if it does, the R1 will be ready.

Setup

Calibration is surprisingly simple with the Integra DRX-R1. After you connect the included microphone, the amp sends out test tones and calibrates your speakers. Calibration only requires the microphone to be placed at one location. Integra, like Onkyo, uses AccuEQ to handle calibration duties. AccuEQ sets the speaker distances, crossover frequencies, and speaker levels.  It also makes adjustments for any weird room acoustics. The calibration results were nearly spot on. The only thing I changed upon completion was the crossover frequency for my front mains. The receiver set the crossover a tad too high for my liking so I dropped it down to a THX recommended 80Hz in the settings menu.

Sound Quality

When I sat down to listen to the Integra DRX-R1, I had no idea what laid in wait for me. The DRX-R1 gave the single best audio performance that I’ve ever had in my modest listening room. The amps spatial performance was off the charts. Atmos and DTS:X never sounded this good.

Mad Max: Fury Road on Blu-ray has a brilliant soundtrack. The sound effects and powerful drum beats are nearly as critical to the storyline as the on-screen action. The DRX-R1 reproduced the ferocity of the growling car engines with more power and force than I had ever experienced in my home theater. I have to say I was a little gobsmacked. The impact of Atmos was immediate upon booting up the movie. As Max desperately attempts to escape the wild boys, their piecemealed vehicles zoom overhead. I’ve watched and listened to this scene many times on a variety of AV receivers and never have the overhead effects been so convincing and all encompassing.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was next on my list and it was just as impressive. The Integra DRX-R1 conjured up all magic that I had experienced in the movie theater. Its soundstage was wide and expansive. Low frequencies that I had never heard before rumbled from my SVS subwoofer. The Integra created a layer cake of sound that washed over me. The amp had plenty of nuance and subtlety too. Dialogue was articulate and pristine coming from the DRX-R1. The overall audio from the receiver was perfectly balanced.

In stereo mode, the receiver was a dynamo. Chuck Mangione’s flugelhorn on “Feels So Good” sounded incredibly life-like and transparent. Rolling over to more modern tracks like the Weeknds Starboy album, the amp continued its impressive performance with vocals sounding detailed, rich and warm. The DRX-R1’s stereo capabilities give any dedicated stereo amp a run for its money.

The Verdict

The Integra DRX-R1 is an amazing sounding receiver. This thing pulls sounds out of audio tracks that I’ve never heard before. It’s a little pricey, but considering its feature set and incredible sound quality I think it’s a bargain. The only thing that would make the R1 a perfect receiver is the inclusion of WiFi and Bluetooth; however, when something sounds this good, who needs it.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post Integra DRX-R1 AV Receiver Review – My Single Best Home Theater Experience to Date appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

It appears that Yamaha’s revered Aventage lineup is getting a few new family members in 2017. In total, Yamaha is introducing 6 new AV receivers; the RX-A670, RX-A770, RX-A870, RX-A1070, RX-A2070, and the RX-A3070. From top to bottom, all of these receivers are locked and loaded and ready to become the focal point of your home theater.

4K Video has replaced HD as the “hot topic” in AV circles and Yamaha made sure that all of these new amps are well equipped to handle the increasingly popular format.  Each receiver in the lineup supports HDCP 2.2 copyright protection which is a baseline requirement needed to handle Ultra-High Definition video. They also support a variety of HDR (high dynamic range) video formats including HDR10, Dolby Vision and Hybrid Log-Gamma.  The latter two are expected to arrive later this year with a firmware update. The bottom line with all of these new HDR formats is that they’ll allow the image on your 4K TV to look brighter, richer and more colorful and these Yamaha receivers appear to be up to the challenge.

On the audio front, all of the receivers from the top-of-the-line RX-A3070 to the entry-level (and I use that term loosely) RX-A670 are capable of decoding Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object based formats. Yamaha’s multiroom audio system MusicCast will also come part and parcel with this gang of receivers along with a host of other streaming services including TIDAL and Deezer. The RX-A1070, RX-A2070 and the RX-A3070 will support TIDAL and Deezer right out the gate. The RX-A670, RX-A770, and RX-A870 will require a future firmware update to unlock both services.

So the real question is – What sets these receivers apart? We’ll start with the RX-A670. The 7.2 channel 670 is the least feature rich of the group, but it still boasts all the features mentioned above plus it includes both WiFi and Bluetooth. In all, the 670 has four HDMI inputs with one output. In addition, it features Yamaha’s Virtual CINEMA FRONT, Virtual Surround Back Speaker, and YPAO sound optimization. Being a member of Aventage line, the amp is also the beneficiary of Yamaha’s heavy-duty construction standards that this group is known for.

The RX-A770 kicks it up a notch with five HDMI inputs and 1 output. The 770 also has pretty substantial multi-zone audio functionality with a preamp and a powered zone 2. Vinyl junkies will find the included phono input useful.

Anyone looking for a little more power will want to step-up to the Yamaha RX-A870. The 870 boasts about 100 watts of power (compared to the 770’s 90 watts). It also ups the HDMI quantity from five to seven, with three of them being HDCP 2.2 compatible and two outputs.

The RX-A1070 mirrors the 870’s seven HDMI inputs and dual outputs, but it also has a little more power with 110 watts per channel.  The 1070’s YPAO room calibration also gets an upgrade with 64-bit precision EQ and subwoofer EQ.

Next up, the Yamaha RX-A2070 increases the number of channels to 9.2. It also has substantial multi-zone support with powered zone 2 and 3 and HDMI zone 4. To handle audio processing, the RX-A2070 has dual SABRE™ Premier DACs.

The RX-A3070 is king of the hill in the Aventage line. It boasts the most power of the group.  The 3070 can push 150 watts of power to its 9.2 channels. The 3070 can expand that total to 11.2 with the assistance of an external amp. It also relies on an ESS ES9026PRO SABRE DAC™ and an SABRE32™ Ultra DAC  to handle audio processing. For secure and stable pro-level signal transmission, the RX-A3070 has XLR-balanced inputs.

The Yamaha RX-A670 and RX-A770 are expected to hit store shelves in May, with the others following in June and July. Check below for the expected MSRP and availability:

• RX-A670 ($599.95; May availability)
• RX-A770 ($699.95; May availability)
• RX-A870 ($999.95; June availability)
• RX-A1070 ($1,299.95; June availability)
• RX-A2070 ($1,699.95; June availability)
• RX-A3070 ($2,199.95; July availability)

The post Yamaha Shows Off Its New RX-A70 AVENTAGE Series appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Onkyo is welcoming three new 7-channel AV receivers to their RZ family. The TX-RZ620, RZ720 and the RZ820 are all expected to be available this June. On paper, all of these receivers look like very capable machines which are more than ready to tackle home theater duties.

Onkyo TX-RZ620

All of the receivers come stocked with 6 HDMI inputs including one on the front panel. The amps support the three flavors of HDR (High Dynamic Range) video; Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma). BT.2020 color space, 4K/60p/4:4:4/24-bit video pass-through, and HDCP 2.2 are also on the list of capabilities for these receivers. The RZ-620 has an HDMI sub-out in case you want to hook-up a secondary TV or projector. The Onkyo RZ-720 and RZ-820 both have zone 2 HDMI outputs.

All three receivers are stout in the sound processing department. All use a 384 kHz/32-bit AK4458 digital to analog converter (DAC) and can handle hi-res audio up to 192 kHz/24-bit resolution as well as DSD 11.2 MHz and 5.6 MHz. If you have a turntable, a phono input is included as well.

Onkyo TX-RZ720

Anyone investing in a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X speaker setup will be glad to hear that each of these new receivers support both object-based formats. WiFi, Bluetooth, and AirPlay are present and accounted for as is Onkyo’s favorite multi-room audio format FireConnect. Chromecast built-in and DTS Play-Fi are also listed on the spec sheet, however, these two features won’t be equipped right out of the box. Both are expected to be available with a future firmware update. Streaming services are available in abundance on all three receivers; Pandora, Tidal, Spotify, TuneIn internet radio, and Deezer are all easily accessible via the Onkyo controller app.

Onkyo TX-RZ820

On the home automation side, each receiver has a 12 V trigger output, IP control and setup over LAN, RS-232 terminal, and IR input. Onkyo also offers an optional rack mount kit to help facilitate installation in an existing rack.

The Onkyo TX-RZ620 is the most affordable of the bunch. It can produce about 100 watts of power per channel while the slightly more expensive TX-RZ720 is rated at about 110 watts per channel. Both the 620 and 720 have a powered zone 2 along with a pre-/line output which has its own DAC to handle network, S/PDIF, and analog sources.

The Onkyo TX-RZ820 is the most powerful of the trio with it producing approximately 130 watts per channel. It has a powered zone 2 and 3, plus 2 pre-/line outputs. For outboard amplifier connections, the 820 also has 7.2 channel pre-outs. To help remove subtle digital noise, the TX-RZ820 uses VLSC filtering on all channels. The 620 and the 720 only use it on the front L/R channels.

Based on what we’ve seen, all three receivers appear to be very capable machines. Stay tuned as we hope to get review samples in the near future.

The post Onkyo Introduces Three New RZ Receivers appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Marantz has been popping out some of the best sounding compact AV receivers for a few years now. And it looks like they don’t plan on stopping in 2017.  Their newly announced NR1508 and NR1608 AV receivers stand only 4.1 inches tall, however, they bundle an excellent set of features inside of their svelte metal frames.

The 5.2 channel Marantz NR1508 is the least expensive of the two, despite this, it still packs in an enviable set of features. The 1508 can pump out about 50 watts of power per channel. At face value, this doesn’t sound like a lot of juice, however, if the NR1508 is anything like Marantz’s past slimline receivers, this amp may surprise us.

Marantz NR1508

This slim receiver has a surprisingly large amount of HDMI inputs with six. All of the inputs support 4K video passthrough at 60fp and HDR in all of its many flavors. HDR10, Dolby Vision, and Hybrid Log Gamma are all supported by the receiver. However, Hybrid Log Gamma won’t be available until Marantz releases a future firmware update. As far as audio formats, the NR1508 decodes both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

The amp also has Bluetooth, WiFi, AirPlay and an ethernet connection. The receiver gives you access to an impressive slate of streaming music services such as; TuneIn, Pandora, Spotify, Amazon Prime Music, iHeart Radio, Sirius XM, Sound Cloud, Tidal, Napster, and Deezer. If you prefer to listen to uncompressed audio, the NR1508 supports hi-res 24bit/192khz and DSD 5.6MHz files. In addition, if you have HEOS speakers in your home, the Marantz NR1508 can acts as a central hub by allowing you to transmit audio to these speakers.

The 7.2 channel Marantz NR 1608 is more expensive than the 1508, but the larger price tag results in more features. It has the same capabilities as the 1508 and then some. To begin with, it has two additional HDMI inputs at eight and it’s capable of upscaling legacy video sources to near 4K resolution. In order to give users more control over video quality, the 1608 is certified by the Imaging Science Foundation and includes an entire suite of video calibration controls.

The NR1608 decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, plus, it can handle Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object based surround sound formats. Like the NR1508, the 1608 uses Audyssey’s MultiEQ suite of tools, but the fun doesn’t stop there. Users who like to control every aspect of their audio experience can use the Audyssey Editor app to fine-tune the sound produced by the receiver. HEOS also gets a slight upgrade on the NR 1608 with the amp being able to handle multiple audio sources simultaneously.

Both the NR1508 and NR1608 are available now at various retailers.

The post Marantz’s Two New Receivers are Short on Size – Big on Features appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

The 5.1 channel Yamaha RX-V383 takes the place of last year’s excellent RX-V381 entry-level receiver. You expect an entry-level amp to be bare bones and have just so-so sound quality. However, Yamaha receivers are usually the exact opposite. After spending some time with the RX-V383 it’s safe to say that it sounds just as good as last year’s model plus it’s received a couple notable upgrades over its predecessor. The 383 includes a USB input on the front panel and it’s also better equipped to handle 4K video.

Yamaha RX-V383 Design & Features

The Yamaha 383 is your typical boxy AV receiver. The front has the normal array of buttons and knobs for volume, input select, and quick selection preset buttons that automatically select the correct input and DSP setting with one click. The remote is well laid out and simple to use. AV remotes are notorious for being over complicated, however, the 383’s is intuitive and free of button clutter.

As far as connections, there aren’t a lot of surprises here. The Yamaha RX-V383 has a couple of analog connections to go along with 3 digital (2 coaxial and 1 optical). Across the top, the 383 has a row of four HDMI inputs and one output. HDCP 2.2, BT .2020 and HDR (High Dynamic Range Video) are all supported.  HDR has become a little complicated now that there are a few different HDR standards. Wisely, Yamaha has built-in support for most of the major ones; HDR10, Dolby Vision, and HLG (Hybrid Log-Gamma). The latter two will be available with an unspecified firmware update. The Yamaha 383 will also upscale video to near 4K quality which is something that last year’s model didn’t do.

The front of the unit has a headphone input and a 3.5 mm auxiliary input. We criticized Yamaha last year for not including a USB port on the RX-V381.  This year we have one less thing to complain about since Yamaha slapped a USB port on the face of the RX-V383. You can use this port to play music from a portable storage device, however, more importantly, you’ll need this USB input to install future firmware updates.

At this price point, the Yamaha RX-V383 doesn’t include ethernet or WiFi network connections. However, Bluetooth is built-in to the 383 so you can easily stream music wirelessly to the amp from various streaming services installed on your smart device. The Bluetooth range of the RX-V383 is excellent. With two floors between me and the receiver, I was able to wirelessly stream music to the amp with just minimal stuttering.

Setup

Getting the Yamaha RX-V383 up and running is straightforward. Unfortunately, when you first boot-up the unit you’re not greeted by a setup wizard. Yamaha does include a quick start manual that will help you in the initial setup or if you have an Android or iOS tablet you can download the Yamaha AV Setup Guide. This app will take you through the setup process from start to finish.

As with all of Yamaha’s entry-level RX receivers, the center and surround channels use spring clips instead of 5-way binding posts. The spring clips are fine, however, if you have thicker speaker cable you may have to work a little to get them in the spring clip holes.

Once you have your speakers connected you can run the YPAO calibration suite. YPAO will blast out a series of test tones and based on the results it will set the proper speaker crossovers and distances. The entire process only takes a few minutes to complete. During my initial setup, YPAO mistakenly thought my front and surround speakers were full range and set my speaker sizes to large. After noticing this I went into the settings menu and changed them to small. This is a common occurrence with automatic calibration systems, so you’ll also want to double check this when you’re setting up your system.

Sound Quality

So I could get a good feel for the capabilities of the Yamaha RX-V383, I whipped out Resident Evil – The Final Chapter on Blu-ray. The amp immediately came to life. The sound was clean, clear and powerful. The active surround channels sent bullets whizzing around the room. As the army of the undead marched towards the hollowed remains of Racoon City, their snarls and grunts echoed throughout the room.

The Yamaha RX-V383 performed well with music. During testing, I played a variety of music on the 383 and the little amp’s soundstage was full of depth and body. The Yamaha 383 was an energetic music performer. Although it lacks the punch and power of more expensive amps, this entry-level receiver can hold its own in a fight.

Testing the limits of the amp, I pushed its volume to near max levels. The 383 still maintained a surprisingly coherent sound field although it did start showing signs of wavering. I detected a slight amount of distortion with high frequencies, but to be honest I had to push the receiver’s volume to unbearable levels before this happened. As with most entry-level receivers, the Yamaha 383 will perform best in small or medium sized spaces.

If you love low frequencies, the 383 has an extra bass feature which increases the receiver’s bass output. If you’re a bassaholic you’ll most likely love this feature, however, I felt the bass was a little heavy handed so I usually left this off during testing. The Yamaha RX-V383 also incorporates a built-in music enhancer designed to restore the audio fidelity of compressed audio. When in use, it’s not a night and day difference, but you do get a slight bump in audio quality with MP3s.

If you’re challenged with your speaker placement, Yamaha incorporates what they call Virtual Cinema Surround on the 383. This is also similar to the system that they use on their sound bars.  It works by bouncing sound off of your walls. The reflected audio gives the illusion that surround channels are present. Virtual Cinema Surround does an impressive job of creating an expansive sound stage. However, for surround sound applications I didn’t find the system to be 100% convincing. But, if you don’t have ideal speaker placement options this feature will provide a better overall audio experience.

The Verdict

I’ve come to expect a lot from Yamaha AV receivers and I’m happy to say that the Yamaha RX-V383 does not disappoint. Its audio quality is on par with last year’s RX-V381 plus it includes a USB input and improved 4K video support. The RX-V383 is the first entry-level receiver we’ve tested this year. If the competition’s models are up to the same level, then I think 2017 is going to be a good year for home theater.

Where to Buy:

See Price on Amazon

The post REVIEW: Yamaha RX-V383 appeared first on AV Tech Reviews - Tech News and Reviews.

Integra has two new 7-channel receivers on the horizon and based on the spec sheet, these two amps don’t skimp on features. The new receivers, which are dubbed the DRX 3.1 & DRX 2.1, are extremely stout in the audio and video department, plus they have extensive custom installation features.

When it comes to hi-res music formats, both of these new receivers can decode DSD 5.6 MHz/2.8 MHz, 192 /24 PCM, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, AIFF, WMA Lossless, MP3 and AAC via a network connection or from a USB drive. On the home theater front, the DRX 2.1 and DRX 3.1 are setup to handle DTS:X and Dolby Atmos object-based audio formats in a 5.2.2 speaker arrangement.

If you enjoy Internet music, these new receivers support a plethora of online music services. Pandora, Spotify, TuneIn, Deezer and Tidal are all easily accessible through both amps. If you have Apple devices, the DRX-2.1 and the 3.1 are both AirPlay compatible.

Multi-room audio is the new “It” feature and Integra isn’t holding back. Like many of the receivers from sister company Onkyo, the DRX-2.1 and 3.1 support FireConnect which allows users to transmit audio from components connected to the receiver to FireConnect compatible speakers. In addition, DTS Play-Fi will be available on both receivers with the help of a future firmware update.

If you want to take controlling the receiver to the next level, you can pick-up a Google Home speaker which will allow you to use voice commands. If you want a more “low-tech” approach, Google Chromecast comes baked into both receivers so you can send music from your smartphone or tablet.

For video, the DRX-2.1 and DRX-3.1 check off all the boxes needed for 4K video. HDCP-2.2, 4K/60 Hz, Dolby Vision, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma), HDR10, WCG (Wide Color Gamut), and BT.2020 are supported by both receivers.

Integra’s receivers are widely known for their custom installation and home automation flexibility and these two new receivers are no different. Both receivers share similar features for custom installers such as –  bi-directional RS232 and Ethernet control port, 2 IR inputs and 1 output, 3 programmable 12V triggers, zone 2 pre/line out, and zone 2 DAC for SPDIF, NET and analog sources (SPDIF for DRX-3.1 only).

As far as major differences between these two units, there aren’t a whole lot. The DRX-3.1 is rated at 100 watts per channel, while the DRX-2.1 pumps out about 80 watts. The 3.1 has a total of eight HDMI inputs compared to the 2.1’s six and the 3.1 also has 7.2 analog pre-outs.

Both receivers should be appearing soon at various home theater specialty shops. The DRX-3.1 is expected cost about $1000 at launch, while the DRX-2.1 will carry a sticker price of $800.

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