It has all the bells and whistles, but this is also a convincingly musical network amplifier

For many years, there’s been a belief that hi-fi is hi-fi, home cinema is home cinema, and ne’er the twain shall meet.

The logic was that all the extra ‘bells and whistles’ required of a home cinema product – video switching, scaling and processing, multichannel amplification and so on – meant that compromises on pure sound quality were inevitable: such products may impress when crashing out an action film soundtrack, but ask them to handle the subtleties of music and they’d be found wanting.

Indeed, it’s not unknown for the well-heeled to set aside one room for video, and another purely for music, while the real-world solution has been to retain a stereo amplifier, and connect to it the front-channel preamplifier-level output of a surround receiver. That way it acts as a power amplifier when watching video content, but when the TV is off and music is on the agenda, all the home cinema stuff is switched out.

However, the first of those courses is only open to those fortunate to live somewhere with sufficient space to have a room dedicated to music aside from the home cinema space – which is more often than not the main family room – , while the second is all a bit of a faff, and can prove inconvenient for those family members not ‘in the know’.

I’ve lost count of the times when I’ve been travelling, and had frantic phone calls or texts asking how ‘back home’ can get sound from the TV.

Fortunately for all concerned, the AV/hi-fi divide has been closing: surround sound receivers have improved, and introduced modes to make them even better with music.

That’s certainly the case with the latest Onkyo receivers: for several years now the company has been tuning and improving their audio performance, and at its recent launch event in Japan the concentration was very much on music, both of the stereo and surround varieties.

High-resolution downloads
Not only is the company making great play of the ability of its latest products when playing music – and that’s as relevant to its handling of Blu-ray soundtracks, given the opera, concert and recital discs now available, as it is to network music playback – , it’s also running its own hi-resolution download service, on its e-Onkyo platform.

There’s some doubt about the viability of that service outside Japan – Onkyo has the will, but is at the mercy of the labels – but the receiver we have here is fully ready for whatever the foreseeable future of surround sound may throw at it.

The TX-NR818, which sells for £1000, is a big, muscular hunk of an AV receiver, although the latest Onkyo styling work makes it bit less menacing and bluff than earlier models, going back to the company’s ‘-05’ series.

Massive specification
It offers seven channels of amplification, each delivering around 135W, has automatic set-up and equalisation using Audyssey’s MultEQ XT32 room correction, and can handle all the current high-definition audio formats including both DSD and Dolby True HD from a disc, USB-connected memory device or even a streaming source.

There are eight HDMI inputs, including one on the front for portable devices, front and rear USB inputs among a raft of further inputs and outputs including the ability to drive two remote zones in addition to the main listening area, and has video processing not only able to upscale DVD to near-HD quality, but also to upscale Blu-ray to the 4K standard much-heralded as the next generation HD TV.

True, there aren’t many displays able to handle this resolution, which has double the number of pixels (picture elements) of the current 1080p standard in both horizontal and vertical dimensions, but the provision is all part of the future-proofing.

Other features include improved on-screen set-up and adjustment menus, connectivity for streaming services such as Last.fm and Spotify, and InstaPrevue to show thumbnails of all HDMI-connected sources – which could be handy if you wanted to keep an eye on the news or a sports event which watching a Blu-ray disc, I guess.

On the audio side, there are improvements to the power supply, the amplification – separating preamp and power amp blocks, having discrete power amp channels and using an inverted three-stage Darlington circuit for lower noise – and even the volume control.

In addition, a new version of Onkyo's remote control software for iPod and iPhone, the Onkyo Remote 2 App, allows music to be streamed from those devices over a wireless home network to the TX-NR818 (and other 2012 Onkyo networked components), while a similar app is available for Android/Kindle devices.

What's more, if you don't have one of those handhelds but have a computer, phone or tablet with Bluetooth capability, there's an add-on Bluetooth plug-in for the network receivers, the £50 UBT-1, to give similar functionality.

 

PERFORMANCE
Given the enormous capability of this receiver, set-up and operation can be as simple or as complex as you like. You can plug it in, hook up sources, network and speakers, and let the Audyssey system do all the work, then stick to Quick Setup for operation; or you can go deep into the menus and adjust just about any parameter you wish.

It even has access to a range of video calibrations designed for use by those accredited by the Imaging Science Foundation, allowing a professional installer to get deep into the video set-up and optimise it for both the display and the sources in use.

As the main purpose of this review was to assess the Onkyo as an amplifier for audio purposes, I paid more attention to fine-tuning the sound than the video, though both Blu-rays and DVDs looked excellent when sourced from my trusty  Cambridge Audio Blu-ray player and shown on my elderly but still excellent 50in Fujitsu plasma display.

But it’s the sound that sets this Onkyo apart: it’s wonderfully powerful, smooth, controlled and highly detailed with a range of content from SACDs to Blu-ray audio discs, and from streamed radio and music files.

Onkyo provided a few Dolby TruHD audio selections on a USB stick, but should such content become available for download beyond the e-Onkyo service in Japan, it can also be stored on a computer or NAS drive and then streamed at will to the receiver over the home network.

And the sound remains as reliable whether you’re using all seven channels of the receiver for surround tracks or just two for stereo – incidentally, if you’re ‘only’ running a 5.1- or 5.2-channel set-up, you can also use the ‘spare’ amplifier channels to biamplify suitable front left and right speakers.

Pure Audio
There are various features designed to maximise audio quality when playing music, including both Direct and Pure Audio. Yes, you can use any of the multiple sound processing modes on offer here to create a wide range of surround effects from stereo sources, but ‘Direct’ mode handles the incoming signal exactly as it is presented to the amp, without any additional processing, while Pure Audio kills the receiver’s display and analogue video circuitry to reduce the chances of interference.

In Direct/Pure Audio mode, the Onkyo is highly convincing, keeping my usual PMC speakers firmly under control and yet capable of driving them hard and cleanly when the demands of a big orchestral piece require, while at the same time having suitable delicacy with simple, detailed recordings.

There’s none of that stereotypical ‘AV receiver’ brightness or brashness here – instead there’s real finesse to please the music-lover,plus all the flexibility and features demanded by the home cinema enthusiast.

It’s a big old bruiser, the TX-NR818, and will need a good solid shelf to support its 18+kg weight, plus some breathing space around its casework for airflow.

But if you need a ‘one box does it all’ amplifier for both music listening and video sound, this receiver makes a sensible case for itself, being both thoroughly futureproof – well, until the home cinema industry dreams up another wheeze to part enthusiasts from their money – and capable of very fine performance.

DESIGN NOTES

Norimasa Kitagawa, Senior Engineer, Onkyo, on Japanese folk-songs, vintage audio and the importance of 
hi-res in the revival of listening

Norimasa Kitagawa is part of the engineering team responsible for the audio quality of Onkyo’s products, and he says his earliest exposure to music was ‘my mother’s vinyl discs when I was about four years old, mostly popular Japanese folk songs.’

And his audio tweaking started early: ‘I recognised even then that changing the needle pressure or speaker position could make the sound better or worse. Not bad for a toddler!’

As a university student he worked part-time in a vintage hi-fi shop: I’ll never forget hearing JBL’s SG520 and SE400 (pre/power amps) for the first time, or 1960s Harman/Kardon Citation kit, Altec Lansing’s 620A, and the Tannoy Westminsters… they were truly amazing-sounding, and utterly different to most other audio kit of that generation.’

When tuning he often returns to Pictures at an Exhibition – the Munich Philharmonic/Celibidache recording – and on his travels seeks out classical concerts.

He says it’s gratifying that after the home cinema boom, so many people are coming back to listening to music, adding that ‘digital devices have huge potential to be even higher grade sources than CD if you use formats like 192kHz/24-bit FLAC etc.

‘I believe this is the one of the most important missions, to get consumers switched on to high quality digital audio.’

SPECIFICATION
Price £1000
Power output 7x135W
HDMI Eight inputs, two outputs
Digital audio inputs Three optical, three electrical, two USB
Analogue audio inputs Seven stereo
Analogue video inputs Two component, four composite, RGB for PC
Analogue audio outputs 11 speakers, 11.1-channel preamplifier outputs, Zone 2/3, headphones
Analogue video out Component and composite monitors
Processing/audio modes Stereo, DTS-HD Master Audio, DTS-HD/Neo:X, Dolby TrueHD/Digital/Pro-Logic IIz, Audyssey DSX, DSD and multichannel PCM
Accessories supplied Remote handset, Audyssey set-up microphone
Finishes Silver or black
Dimensions (WxHxD) 43.5x19.9x43.6cm