Onkyo TX-NR545 A/V Receiver – Review

Onkyo TX-NR545 7.2 Channel Receiver Review AV receivers are mostly eyed by people who want to enjoy awesome music quality and cinematic experience without leaving their houses. Onkyo AV receivers are popular with such entertainment seekers who want no compromise with audio and visual quality of media they consume. The Onkyo TX-NR545 is the smaller sibling of the company’s TX-NR646 model, aimed at buyers with modest budgets.  However, it would be incorrect to deem it as an entry level AV receiver, since it packs in enough features and delivers impressive performance, albeit at lower price point. The device comes close to the pricier sibling TX-NR646, both in feature and performance fronts.     Design:  Sleek & Stylish The Onkyo NR545 sticks to minimalism and elegance as far as design is concerned. It will not make the guests in your house roll their eyes in wonder, but it is not drab looking either. The blackish glossy exterior will gel with your home décor and other appliances in the bedroom.  Most of the buttons and dial controls are at front while the back part is where ports are located. The master volume, power switch and mic ports are at the front of the device. It looks rather clean and minimalistic. One look at the remote, and you can feel where the Onkyo 545 lags behind the costlier siblings in the lineup.  The remote control looks dated with numeric keypad. However, it is not tedious to use. If you do not like the plain looking remote, there is a better alternative. Download the Onkyo control app and then use the Smartphone or tablet to control the receiver. It supports both android devices and iOS based ones. Connectivity: Ticks Most of The Boxes As far as connectivity goes, the Onkyo TX-NR545 hits the sweet spot. Except finicky buyers, most consumers are bound to be satisfied with available connectivity options in the AV receiver. At the rear side of the 7.1-channel AV receiver, there are 7 RCA inputs, three digitals, two components and an Ethernet port. A USB port is there as well. Like most of the contemporary AV receivers, the Onkyo 545 has plenty of HDMI ports. There are 6 HDMI inputs and all of these are compatible with 4K (UHD) standard. However, three of these and an HDMI output are HDCP 2.2 compliant. The good thing is the receiver also supports 4K HDR content. As a matter of fact, Onkyo was among the leaders in adopting wireless connectivity standards like Bluetooth and WiFi. So, it is only natural that the receiver will have support for both. The icing on the cake is its support for Apple’s AirPlay service. It is a boon if you have iOS devices at home and you want to stream content from those devices to the receiver. Web streaming lovers need not be upset since the Onkyo TX-NR545 supports major service providers like Spotify and Pandora. Features Onkyo makes AV receivers loaded with loads features and the Onkyo 545 has oodles of features. You can think of it as a future proof device, more or less. Audio formats- This AV receiver from Onkyo is capable of playing back most audio and video file formats, from nearly all types of sources. It will lay back files in formats like mp3, FLAC, WMA, WAV, Apple Lossless etc. You may also use a streaming stick like Amazon Fire Stick or Google Chromecast. The AK4458 DAC converter ensures quality loss and distortion does not take place. Dolby Atmos- Audio lovers can vouch for the impact technologies like Dolby Atmos can create. Listening to music or...
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