It handles 3D and surround sound, but network audio makes this Onkyo attractive for music, too, says Andrew Everard

One of audio’s great myths is that receivers designed to deliver surround sound are pretty poor when it comes to playing music in stereo. You can see where that belief comes from: in the past it was true in many cases, and of course the inclusion of all the other stuff required by an AV receiver does have an effect on the amount of budget available for the designers to spend on the ‘pure audio’ stuff.

After all, if such a product requires the provision of video processing, including upscaling and upconversion, not to mention surround sound decoding and multiple channels of power amplification, then it stands to reason that each element is likely to be less expensively implemented than in a basic stereo amplifier at the same price.

Add to that the fact that all those extra sections – and in particular video processing – are fairly noisy (in the electrical sense), and you can see the origins of the myth, which has grown in stature to the point where some would advise you to avoid anything multichannel if you’re at all interested in the quality of music reproduction.

There are several layers of ‘yes, but’ in response to that, not least of which is the obvious one that of course you need to pay a bit more if you’re to get good audio quality from an AV receiver – after all, look at all the extra things it does.

Oh, and it’s worth adding that increasing amounts of classical music actually come in surround format, whether on DVD, SA-CD or Blu-ray. Right now, it makes a lot of sense to at least consider a multichannel amplifier for music listening, even if you won’t use all its capabilities all of the time.

What’s more, the quality of audio available from the modern crop of surround-sound receivers is, in many cases, better than that on offer from earlier examples of the breed.

Greater integration of the components needed to handle all that video and surround processing has made it simpler and less expensive to implement, and manufacturers have realised that few of us have the luxury of separate rooms for music and home cinema use: we need to buy one product to suit all needs.

The Onkyo TX-NR609 is an exemplar of this new breed: selling for £500, it offers all the current home cinema must-haves, including 3D video pass-through from a suitable player or set-top box to a 3D-capable TV, decoding for all the current ‘HD’ audio formats, THX Select2 certification, and a generous range of inputs and outputs, both audio and visual.

However, it also has facilities not so long ago reserved for top-end products, not least of which is network audio capability, able to play music over a home network from computers or network storage devices, or stream internet radio stations. It can even access paid-for music-streaming services such as Last.fm, Napster and Spotify (subject to availability and subscription), the connection being via wired Ethernet as standard, with a wireless ‘dongle’ adapter available as an option.

And if all that wasn’t enough, you can also play music through it from USB memory devices, or make a direct digital connection via the front-panel USB to iPods, iPhones and iPads for music playback.

On the audio front alone that makes the Onkyo extremely interesting: the ‘how does it compare with a basic stereo amplifier?’ question becomes irrelevant, simply because I don’t know of any audio-only amplifiers at this kind of price offering so much in the computer-stored music department.

To a great extent, it’s a trick missed by the majority of hi-fi manufacturers: with the exception of a few all-in-one systems such as the Denon RCD-N7 CEOL and Marantz M-CR603, there’s not much available in the pure stereo streaming amplifier solution market until you get to the likes of the new Cyrus Streamline and Naim’s UnitiQute.

This sector of the market has been largely left for the surround receiver sector to fill, and – should the Onkyo prove to be competent in stereo – it’s likely to plug a rather significant gap.

PERFORMANCE
The TX-NR609 certainly has the wherewithal to deliver music well: along with the company’s well-developed Wide Range Amplifier Technology and a hefty power supply section, with a large transformer designed to deliver generous amounts of current, it has a healthy output – although not the 160W per channel claimed, using very lenient parameters; the 100W figure at 0.08% distortion across a range of 20Hz-20kHz is more indicative.

In addition, the receiver has a Direct mode, which bypasses all of its audio processing, and plays audio in its native form, and a Pure Audio mode: selecting this will turn off both the video processing and the display – either of which can, as mentioned above, be a source of electrical noise.

Finally, for those lucky to have a universal player able to play SA-CD discs, or even a dedicated SA-CD machine, the Onkyo can take the format’s core DSD directly over an HDMI connection for multichannel sound or, if your player doesn’t have a suitable HDMI output, can also be connected via conventional stereo analogue cables. Other digital and analogue sources can also be accommodated.

It may seem strange to review a product such as this and all but ignore its home cinema capabilities, but I really wanted to hear what it could do in stereo, even though I did try it for a day or two with a selection of concert and opera DVD and Blu-ray titles, and found it slotted in well in place of my current, and now rather well-used, receiver.

However, the performance in stereo came as a welcome, and pleasant, surprise: the Onkyo is a very long way from the old ‘crash and bang’ stereotype of multichannel amplifiers. It has a poise and smoothness that wouldn’t go amiss in a much more simply-equipped stereo amplifier at this kind of price, with a firm grip on the music giving it a clean, dynamic sound without any excessive sting in the treble or boom in the bass.

Agreed, it’s worth spending some time experimenting with the huge range of adjustments available if you want to make use of all the processing on offer here, but used in Pure Audio mode with as much turned off as possible it sounds really rather impressive by any standards, and as good as any receiver I’ve encountered this side of a four-figure price-tag.

Operation of the receiver, whether with conventional sources or streaming content, is simple and smooth, helped no end by the availability of a free iPod/iPhone/iPad control ‘app’, which accesses the receiver over the home network. While this isn’t quite as intuitive as some apps of its kind – too many pages, rather than smooth scrolls through long lists of artists or titles, for example – it works well.

But there is a hitch with the Onkyo, and while it’s not uncommon in receivers of this kind, it could be a deal-breaker for some buyers. Where a work has a section split across several tracks – an act of an opera, for example – there’s a gap in the music of a couple of seconds at the track-change.

That could be very annoying for some listeners – to get round it you have to edit your music into a single long track per act or whatever – but to be fair to the Onkyo, very few streaming clients of this kind do offer fully gapless playback. It’s a bit of a fly in the ointment, that one, but if it doesn’t have you recoiling in horror, the TX-NR609 has much to commend it.

This is an exceptional flexible and capable component for the money, and well worth a serious audition.

Onkyo TX-NR609
Type Network-capable multichannel receiver
Price £500
Principal audio formats handled Dolby Digital/TruHD/Pro-Logic IIz, DTS-HD Master Audio/Neo:6; stereo, multichannel DSD and LPCM, MP3, WMA/WMA Lossless, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC
Power output 7x100W
HDMI connections 5 inputs, 1 output
Audio inputs 6 line, two optical digital, two electrical digital
Audio outputs 7 speakers, Zone 2 speakers/preouts, two subwoofer preouts, tape, headphones
Video inputs 2 component, four composite video
Video outputs component and composite monitor output
Other connections FM/AM antenna inputs, Ethernet port, USB input with direct digital connectivity for iPod/iPhone/iPad, universal port for DAB radio and iPod dock add-ons
Accessories supplied FM/AM antennae, set-up microphone, remote handset
Dimensions (WxHxD) 435x173.5x328mm
www.eu.onkyo.com