The first surprise was discovering just how much better the system sounds with reflective Dolby-enabled speakers delivering the height ambiance, compared to dedicated in-ceilings. Admittedly not a lot to go on, but these are early days. However it contains all the various theatrical idents used in Atmos cinemas (including Amaze, Leaf and Conductor), in addition to a short Red Bull F1 promo and Bailando, a dance track from Enrique Iglisias. Indeed, for this audition we had only a Dolby demonstration disc to play with.
In practice, though, a number of issues become apparent.ĭolby Atmos-encoded software is, unsurprisingly, rather thin on the ground at present. On paper at least, it’s a relatively straightforward task to repurpose two in-ceilings to accommodate the 5.1.2 output of the TX-NR838.
My own home theatre happens to be a dedicated room with in-wall and in-ceiling loudspeakers arranged in a traditional 7.2 configuration. Much depends on your existing home cinema layout. Long story short: for serious home cinemaphiles there are issues to address. But implementing it successfully is no cakewalk. Short story long: Atmos is the most significant development in home theatre since the introduction of Dolby Digital 5.1, elevating the listening experience (literally) to a new level and relegating previous height and width adventures with Pro-Logic IIz and Audyssey DSX to interesting diversions. However, it’s the Dolby Atmos performance which is of prime interest.
The TX-NR838 managed the usual selection of WAV, MP3 and FLAC codecs plus DSD. In addition to wired Ethernet, the receiver has integrated Wi-Fi (evidenced by the two aerials on the back panel), so getting online should not prove problematic. In addition to Bluetooth, there’s Spotify with Connect, Deezer, Aupeo!, internet radio and local LAN media playback (audio only). Consequently, it’s not possible to implement a dual seven-channel and Atmos home cinema layout. As this model only offers seven channels of amplification, not all can be driven at the same time it’s up to you to choose your preferred configuration. In addition to the standard L/C/R terminals you’ll find Surround and Surround Back options, plus Height and Width. When you get to the loudspeaker binding posts, things get even more intriguing. This would seem to be a sensible futureproofing provision by Onkyo. Beneath the lid lurks a Silicon Image SiL9679 HDCP 2.2 chipset which supports 2160p up to 60 fps with 4.2.0.
The receiver is 4K-friendly, courtesy of four HDMI 2.0 inputs, and offers HDCP 2.2 (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) support on Input 3 (labelled STR/DVR), although this couldn’t be checked during the review for obvious reasons. The secondary Sub HDMI output can duplicate the main output for multi-zone or TV/projector use. The TX-NR838 offers six rear-placed HDMI inputs and two outputs, one of which is ARC compatible, augmented by a front-facing HDMI input. We rate it meaty enough to drive the average room well beyond the comfort threshold. Onkyo rates the power output at 150W ‘Dynamic’ into 8 Ohms, or 130W with all channels driven. It’s a seven-channel WRAT (Wide Range Amplifier Technology) design capable of delivering either extended 7.1 surround or a 5.1.2 Atmos soundstage (the last two numbers refer to the Atmos channels).Īs befits its price tag, the overall specification is comprehensive and it’s not short of muscle. The £1,000 TX-NR838 is an upper-class proposition, strategically positioned above the brand’s TX-NR737 and entry-level Atmos-ready TX-NR636 models. With apologies to Tom Cruise, welcome to the edge of tomorrow.ĭolby Atmos, the sound system which has taken theatrical audio to another level courtesy of object-based design and metadata-driven image placement, has migrated to the home, and nothing will ever sound quite the same again.īy the end of 2014, you can expect to see Dolby Atmos-ready AV receivers from the majority of AV audio brands, but significantly the first to arrive comes from Onkyo.