Onkyo's new flagship AVR brings 'studio-grade audio' to the home

By Joe Svetlik
published

Along with a plethora of AV technologies

Onkyo's new AVR brings 'studio-grade audio' to the home
(Image credit: Onkyo)

Onkyo's new AV receiver promises to bring studio-grade audio processing to your home. The TX-RZ70 is one of Onkyo's first products since the brand was acquired by Premium Audio Company (PAC) in 2021. As such, all eyes are on it. Thankfully, this flagship AVR looks great, on paper at least.

It boasts 11.2 channels, with 140 watts per channel. HDMI 2.1, 8K (and 4K) resolution and 40GPS speeds come as standard. It also has full bandwidth functionality for the fastest refresh rates to keep up with the likes of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.

Audio performance is aided by the 24-bit ESS Sabre DACs which provide ultra-low distortion. The sound is optimised for your room thanks to the Dirac Live Room Correction, while you can also upgrade to Dirac Live Bass Control, which harnesses the power of AI and machine learning to optimise bass performance for your surroundings.

Voice controls come courtesy of Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple's Siri. Roon Ready certification will land in September of this year via a firmware update, letting you access your entire high-resolution music library digitally. 

aptX Bluetooth is onboard too, so you can listen to music in a higher-quality codec using a pair of compatible wireless headphones. And the rest of its spec list reads ticks a large number of tech boxes: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Surround, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced, AirPlay 2, Chromecast built-in, THX Certified for Theatre Reference Sound and Klipsch Optimized Mode for optimum performance with Klipsch's Reference Premiere speakers all come as standard. Talk about being fully featured.

The Onkyo TX-RZ70 AVR will go on sale in the spring for £3099 (€3299 / $2799).

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Joe Svetlik
Joe Svetlik

Joe has been writing about tech for 17 years, first on staff at T3 magazine, then in a freelance capacity for Stuff, The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, Men's Health, GQ, The Mirror, Trusted Reviews, TechRadar and many more (including What Hi-Fi?). His specialities include all things mobile, headphones and speakers that he can't justifying spending money on.

1 Comment Comment from the forums
  • DisasterArea
    What Hi-Fi? said:
    The Onkyo TX-RZ70 isn't cheap, but it looks like a do-it-all AV solution for all your home cinema and listening needs.

    Onkyo's new AVR brings 'studio-grade audio' to the home : Read more
    OK so where to start after buying one of these?
    Man it's a heavy beast, and very very long.. I had to literally cut the back out of my cabinet and it still sticks out at both ends, but at least I have great access the the enormous amount of cabling.
    Dirac LIVE setup was easy using the app, and if I belive the graphs it has ironed out response frequency issues with my middle of the road Yamaha 555/444/333 speakers.

    BUT.
    I got this to run a home theatre 4k/120hz from an xbox, with an Epson LS12000 projector on MAIN, and Zone2 has a pair of stereo speakers at a desk for my PC and gaming needs when I'm not using the "big screen".
    This is where I hit hiccup number 1. The amp does not accept/process 1440P (2560x1440) signals which are perfectly standard to PC users on 27 or 32" screens, and the same for Xbox, but apparently not known to the movie crowd. It supports 720P / 1920P/120 , skips 1440P, and supports 4k/120.

    I did reach out to Onkyo support, and the response was frankly terrible "we've spoken to the engineering team and the unit does not support this resolution, you should have done your research before buying".

    I have been flamed posting about this in other places, but as I HAD done my research and found literally nothing anywhere indicating this would be an issue, I felt I should make some posts so that anyone in my position knows about this ?limitation? / "feature". 4k/60 will work with my screen , albeit needing to scale down and causing some lag.. so I've been using 1080P/120. Surviveable.

    What is upsetting is 14 days into ownership (and about 4 days of use) the internal fans started making a clacking noise like they're catching on an internal wire. So, $4300 AUD for this unit and it does look like I'll have to lug it back to the store, who will most likely try to palm me off with a repair (i.e. someone is going to poke about inside my brand new unit and give it me back, hopefully fixed). I've not decided what to do about that yet, but I am wishing I'd bought the Yamaha Aventage instead...

    I hate to say this but I had the Yamaha RX-V6A before at $899 off amazon , and it sounded much much better for music than this onkyo does. Perhaps this was just a better match for my midrange speakers but that's an area I can upgrade in the future and perhaps end up with a better result.
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