Gadgetory

hey I'm Matthew Muscovy ak from Cena and we're gonna take a look at the onkyo TX NR 525 this is a mid-range 5.2 AV receiver with networking features that's currently selling for $400 as you can see this is a full size AV receiver so it's big its boxy and it takes up a lot of space the front panel has sharp edges and corners and it's also cluttered with buttons so it's not exactly the nicest looking receiver out there the included remote is good as far as AV receiver remotes go the white input buttons are easier to see in a dim home theater and the directional pad and volume rocker are centrally located the big feature on this receiver is it offers six HDMI inputs on the back which is more than most $400 AV receivers it also has built-in networking functionality which includes smart phone control DLNA compatibility in several integrated streaming services including Spotify Pandora Rhapsody slacker and internet radio to use those networking features you do need a wired Ethernet connection as the onkyo doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi but they do sell a USB adapter which lets to get Wi-Fi for 30 dollars there's also an adapter for Bluetooth which costs $50 those adapters are pretty reasonably priced the only issue is Sony's competing strd n8 40 offers built-in Wi-Fi Bluetooth and airplay for four hundred and fifty dollars which isn't that much more when you consider the cost of Aki's adapters in the first place sound quality on me on kia was just a little below average action-movie still sounded impressive over the onkyo but when we switched over to other models they delivered slightly more powerful sound it was the same story with music which sounded just a little more realistic on competing models again listening to the system on its own sounded fine but in head-to-head comparisons we tended to favor its competitors so overall the TX and our 5 to 5 does offer a lot of HDMI connectivity for the money but it's not quite the best value pick if you want wireless audio streaming even though it's adapters are affordable I'm Matthew moscovia and this is the onkyo TX and our 5:25