Summary: I haven't had much time to really play with this beast yet to give a better review, but I wanted to write up my experience so far so people wondering if its good or not will know while its at this low price. I also bought the Wifi adapter and it worked out of the box with no issue. Ok, if your thinking about buying this, do not hesitate and buy it. I've been watching the price of this thing from day one, and as soon as I saw it went on sale, I bought it, I'm still shocked at how much I got this for. I also have a Onkyo 708 from 2010 that's now in my bedroom. Never had one single issue with it. I guess I'm lucky cause I see the 708 doesn't have many great reviews.
The first thing I did once I set this up, was plugged the Wifi adapter in the USB port on the back of the unit so it can update the FW. I read some complaints that the update takes a while, so I wanted to get it out of the way first. Well, the update seriously took 2 min to download from the net, then another 4 min to the receiver. A total of no more than 8 min max. I do get about 16 mps, so maybe the people having the longer download times has slower speeds.
The first thing I noticed though was how much better the sound was compared to the 708. Its also much louder, but it should be since theirs more watts per channel then the 708. The other thing I noticed is I don't get any of the handshake issues like I do sometimes with my older model. Everything just comes on now. I haven't really played around with the video processor yet, but from I can see, my HD cable does look better. I set it to upscale the signal to 1080p and so far it looks amazing. The picture looks sharper and very clear on my 65" Samsung ES8K LED. When I watched something on my Apple TV, things looked even better. I could actually see the actors strands of hair and their imperfections on their face standing about 12 feet away, where before I had to be closer.
I was planning on upgrading my speakers before I bought this reciever, but now I don't think I have to. This reciever is really bringing my speakers to life. Everything sounds much fuller, and cleaner with no distortion. I also find myself listening to the THX modes now where before on my 708, I probably used THX twice in 2 years. Again though, I've only been using this now for a few days so I really haven't tweaked anything. I don't think I need to tweak the sound though because it did a great job using the Audyssey MultEQ XT32 room correction.
This is my 3rd Onkyo in a row within 4 years and I've never had one issue with any of them. My 1st one was a HTIB from 2008 and its still going. Not once had I have to take it in for repair. I read a lot of others that theirs failed after a year or two which really surprises me. I always have mine hooked up to a good UPS and power conditioner though. Maybe this is why I never had issues. Having this hooked up to a really good UPS/Surge protector is very important. Its the second thing you should buy after this reciever.. Or even before.
The app for ios and android works very well. I can now turn on my TV and my reciever and control it anywhere in the house, which is great when I have other family members that want to watch TV, but dont know how to turn it on. I will update this when I have more time with it, but I will say this, there is no other reciever out there right now with all these features at this price point. You really get a lot for your money with Onkyo's recievers and I have no buyers remorse whatsoever.
For best price of this receiver I suggest check at: Network-avreceivers.blogspot.com/p/onkyo-tx-nr818.html
I hope this helps.
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3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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