Onkyo TX-8270 Review: A Powerful Combination of Classic Stereo and Modern Streaming
A new generation of stereo receivers is upon us, and the Onkyo TX-8270 Stereo Receiver is one of its first heralds. This new genre masterfully combines the features of modern AV receivers with the classic virtues and familiar simplicity of traditional stereo equipment.
Some might call it a surround receiver stripped down to stereo. Looked at another way, it’s a triumphant return for the stereo receiver, a format that has unjustly gone out of fashion, now enhanced with an extra portion of modern features.
Even classic stereo receivers were the central interface for all sources, though back in the 70s and 90s, the focus was mainly on tape and phono. The Onkyo TX-8270 does the same today. At its core, it is a classic analog stereo amplifier with powerful output stages, an FM receiver, a phono input, and two high-level inputs.
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The brave new world is reflected in its modern DAB+ tuner and a digital circuit board packed with digital audio inputs, the latest HDMI standards, and a digital streaming player for virtually all common services. This digital section is inherited directly from its AV receiver siblings, which is a good thing it’s fully equipped, state-of-the-art, and well-supported with firmware updates.
A cool bonus: this board also decodes high-resolution audio formats from the video world, such as DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD, which you find on concert Blu-ray discs.
Setup and User Experience
The legacy from the AV receiver world brings other benefits, like a clear and easy-to-navigate on-screen display. During initial installation, the menu guides you through the complete setup with clear text and graphics. Even if you don’t use a video source, you’ll quickly appreciate the video output for its simple operation of the integrated streaming and media services.
The integrated player is also excellent. It navigated large libraries on our server with almost no delay, playing everything up to 192kHz and DSD128 without issue. WAV, FLAC, and DSD playback was gapless, making it perfect for classical, live, and concept albums. While you can’t search within a track using the remote, this was easily done using the Onkyo Control App by scrolling the timeline.
Connectivity: Where Vintage Meets Modern
The Onkyo TX-8270 perfectly blends traditional and modern connections on its back panel.
- Digital Audio: Optical and coaxial digital inputs are available for pure digital-to-analog conversion.
- Wireless: Prominent antennas for WLAN (2.4GHz and 5GHz) and Bluetooth ensure optimal reception.
- Radio: Antenna connections for both FM and DAB+ radio. The digital DAB+ reception was impressive and clean, in contrast to the noisy FM reception.
- USB: Front and rear USB ports allow for direct connection of memory sticks or hard drives full of music.
- HDMI: Four HDMI inputs are routed to an ARC-capable HDMI output, allowing you to get sound from your TV digitally. It also masters the crucial auto-lipsync function to ensure perfect audio-video synchronicity, with options for manual correction.
Streaming, Control, and a World of Music
This receiver can be controlled and fed music using practically every common protocol. You can connect via LAN cable or Wi-Fi. It also features:
- Bluetooth for direct streaming from mobile devices.
- Apple AirPlay
- DTS Play-Fi
- Google Chromecast
- DLNA/UPnP for playing files over your local network.
- FireConnect by Blackfire for multi-room audio.
Built-in streaming services include TuneIn internet radio and popular subscription services like Tidal, Spotify, Pandora, and Deezer. With this many options, you will never have a shortage of music.
Sound Quality: Bright, Powerful, and Precise
So, how does it sound? In our listening test, the Onkyo TX-8270 sonically tends to play on the bright side of the spectrum. This isn’t to say it sounds thin or powerless, quite the opposite. The power amplifiers have real grunt and plenty of party-level endurance without running hot. Tonally, however, the receiver sounds shinier than velvety.
The three-dimensional image doesn’t present with extreme depth, but is extremely sharply staggered across the panorama. We confirmed with Onkyo’s product manager that this manageable depth was a deliberate design choice by the Japanese developers, who prioritized an exact, clear panoramic image over an exaggerated one. It’s a legitimate approach that works because it’s believable.
While the transparent presentation doesn’t come at the expense of musicality, I still wish for a larger palette of rich, dark tones.
What’s truly fun about the Onkyo TX-8270 is its power reserves. Regardless of the genre—pop, jazz, or classical it makes a full orchestra sound authentic and well-recorded drums feel real, reproducing them with full dynamics and “speed.”
Pros & Cons Summary
| Pros 👍 | Cons 👎 |
| Huge array of features and connectivity (HDMI, Phono, Digital, etc.) | Sound signature is on the brighter side |
| Powerful amplifier with plenty of dynamic headroom | Soundstage is wide but not overly deep |
| Excellent streaming and multi-room capabilities | FM reception quality could be better |
| Fast, gapless high-resolution media player (up to DSD128) | |
| Clear on-screen display and easy setup | |
| Great value for the price |
Conclusion:
The Onkyo TX-8270 is a worthy representative of the new genre of hybrid analog/digital stereo receivers. It gets along with practically every signal source from the last half-century, from phono to HDMI, and offers so many digital services that everyone can use their favorite devices and streaming subscriptions.
The integrated media player is fast, high-resolution, and gapless. It offers complete bass management for perfect subwoofer integration and pushes powerful sound suitable for parties or speakers with low efficiency. In terms of character, it appears very transparent with a crisp, sharp stage panorama. For its price of 679 euros, the Onkyo TX-8270 is a fat total package.
