Onkyo TX-RZ30 9.2-Channel AV Receiver - 100 Watts Per Channel, Dirac Live Out of Box, Works with Sonos Certified, THX Certified and More

Amazing receiver, this is an upgrade for an old Denon avr-589 and the sound out of this baby is great! I am using a pair of definitive bp10 towers and a definitive descend DN8 subwoofer (plus a procenter 1000 and two Old Boston rear speakers), and after Dirac live calibration this sounds really well. I mostly listen to music on my turntable and also use TIDAL from the proprietary app, so far so great! Would totally recommend this unit to anyone looking for an affordable option that can be used with Dirac Live

The RZ30 was purchased as a replacement for an Onkyo NR7100 primarily for independently controlled subwoofer and full line outs for future upgrades to external amplification, but it ended up being a lot more than that considering the performance of this AV receiver. My setup is a fairly simple 4.2.4, but the layout of the room doesn't allow for a full Dirac microphone measurement, so a manual setup works better, and within an hour I was ready to put the RZ30 through its paces. Up first was music, which is where the differences between the NR7100 and the RZ30 is abundantly clear. Whether it was streaming, CD or the turntable, the RZ30 brought a clarity and soundstage that the 7100 couldn't. Listening in stereo mode with the subwoofers or in Pure Audio mode through the Monitor Audio Bronze 200s was pure listening enjoyment. The RZ30's sonic signature is very reminiscent of the older Onkyo Integra line. Moving on to movies, the RZ30 brings everything the 7100 did, although with a bit more clarity and authority. Using a phantom center, the sweet spot has widened somewhat and the placement of sounds is a bit more precise. No matter whether it was Atmos, Dolby Digital, DTS or DTS-X, there was a perceptible improvement. I guess the biggest question for anyone thinking about upgrading from the 7100 to the RZ30 is whether it is worth the money to do so. A lot will depend on what your primary use is and how picky you are about audio. I suspect that most people really wouldn't care which receiver was playing, especially if it's used primarily for movies. In my case, I generally use my audio gear for music more often than I do for movies, and the RZ30 has a very audible advantage here. I also need to address one final thing here, despite the RZ30 and the 7100 having identical power ratings, the RZ30 runs quite a bit hotter. While this is not going to be a problem in most places, if you have a more confined cabinet where air movement is a problem, an AV cooling fan would be a prudent addition.

I am absolutely satisfied with this surround sound receiver. The only advice I would give is to do the update before doing anything else. At first, I could not get anything to work. Once I did the update it worked great. The sound is great. I use the eARC which turns the amp and TV on all at the same time with the TV remote. This is a very nice feature.

I bought this twice. First time the HDMI ports on the back did not work, so went through the hassle of returning it. Second time the ARC function did not work. Initially, it did connect to ARC, but soon after dropped ARC. When running the initial setup again and again and again, all it would say is "checking ARC connection" but never connect. I tried switching out HDMI cables, tried two other TVs with ARC function. Finally, I spoke to customer service, a Gaberial, after long time on hold, and he was so rude. Interrupting me and not even letting me explain the issue. When I finally was able to explain, he tried blaming it on the fact that I bought it from Amazon, and told me to return it, and hung up on me. Definitely going with another brand and NEVER BUYING ONKYO AGAIN!

Why did you pick this product vs others?: Haven't bought a new AVR in at least 10 years. I was wondering how much better new ones are. Well this one is great! Simple setup. Amazing programmability to whatever setup and inputs you have. I have a 5.1 but comes with 9.2 option. Easy to change to my 2 zone 5.1 with zone 2. Can add more speakers like bluetooth say for the backyard and program a 3rd zone easily. The Dirac Live with microphone is all provided. Programs itself to your environment and speakers. My old TV works great with Firestick into the AVR the TV still runs independently - my wife loves that. I picked this product based on independent reviews I found and for what I needed. Runs super cool to touch as well.

I replaced the Marantz SR6015 with the Onkyo TX RZ30. The Marantz was still working just fine but I watch movies and binge shows 12-15 hrs almost every day and I got it in early 2022 so it's starting to have a lot of mileage on it. I've been trying to find ways to make my system better or get the most out of it (get the best sound) out of it. Been thinking about changing my speakers or maybe getting a DAC so that I can get that hi-res sound. I've been wanting to try out other AVR's but couldn't afford to fork out 3-4 grand on it when the one that I have is doing ok but when Onkyo released the RZ30 and the price they were asking I felt like getting another AVR even with mine still working fine could be achievable. Now, the selling point for me was that it had to have two independent subwoofer outputs which it does. The Marantz has 9 channels and 11 channels of processing but I don't have space in my theater room for 11 speakers so 9 channels will work for me. The wattage is a little lower than the Marantz but I have a 3 channel amplifier for my front stage so I'm good with the wattage. But the icing on the cake is that it comes with full Dirac live. I've been wanting to try that out for a while, I've heard from several reviewers that Dirac live is the best Room calibration software in the world. So when I put it all together I was sold. At this point the RZ30 has been out over a year and I've been hearing good reviews about it and I've had mine for about 2 weeks and I still have some tweaking I need to do but I think I'm gonna like it. I've ran Dirac and I can hear the difference between it and the Marantz but I don't have a laptop or PC at the moment to do the best calibration but using the Dirac phone app does ok but I'm sure it will be a noticeable difference when I get a laptop. I'll come back and update this post when I do.

This is a great receiver. I use it as a pre-amp only and feed an external amp from the pre-outs and it works great. I like it better than a Yamaha Pre-Pro that I bought a few years back for 3 times the money.

As much as I love getting new tech, I really didn't want to upgrade my receiver. The old one (Denon X2400H) still sounds good and works well, but there's a lot of new features that it simply doesn't support. As a gamer, I wanted a receiver that supported 4K120hz, ALL (auto low latency), VRR (variable refresh rate), and all the versions of HDR. I wanted a receiver that had at least 6 full HDMI 2.1 ports. (Way too many receivers at this price range will cheap out and use older versions of HDMI to save a buck). It had to support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, all the surround sound technologies, and support at least 7.2 channels. Finally, I didn't want to spend more than $1500. There were some other wants in there, but those were the essentials. I ended up going with the RZ 30 l because it met or exceeded my needs, was competitively priced, well reviewed, and didn't seem to have the HDMI handshake problems I've had out of Denon receivers. I can say that after a couple of days testing, I am mostly pleased with the results. In terms of sound, it's noticeably punchier than the Denon. I didn't notice it as much on the lower end of fidelity, such as MP3 over bluetooth, but as I climbed the ladder it became more and more noticeable. By the time I got to testing DTS HD and Atmos, the difference in performance became clear. It really made my room sound more like a theater. If I had proper Atmos speakers, it could go beyond that. I also think I could go beyond that if I could get the Dirac Live room correction to work. No matter what I did, it kept saying the ambient noise was too high. The room was dead silent, but it still kept failing, even after a dozen attempts. I ended up using Onkyo's room correction software and it worked perfectly, so I left it at that. As far as other issues. About 5 minutes into the setup, the menus started flashing on and off. I was thinking I was going to have to return the unit, but after I ran the firmware update, it solved the problem. Once I could actually see them, the menus themselves are serviceable, but not ideal. I don't expect it to look like iOS, but UI is dated and clunky. It took me quite a while to find options that should be front and center. Now I can look past both, because the first issue was quickly resolved and the second is only really an issue during setup. I remember my last Onkyo had some quirks and this is still true of the RZ30. It still supports composite and component video inputs but has no analog video ports out, so you'll have to rely on the internal scaler if you want to use them. It will only receive 480i signals through the component input, rendering it useless for most applications. I would have much rather had another HDMI port or two, and I don't think I'm alone on that. Even us retro gamers use externals scalers now. It might be good for a laserdisc or VHS player in a pinch, but that's about it. The other audio ports are a bit odd too. It has a phono input (which makes sense) but 6 analog stereo inputs, which seems excessive, especially compared to the measly 2 digital audio inputs (toslink and digital coax). Some better balance in that regard would have been appreciated. I can however, totally appreciate the pre-outs for up to 11 speakers. I'm not using it now, but that really gives this receiver a ton of expandability. If it sounds like I'm nitpicking, it's because I am. The RZ50 gets a lot right, it's got support for all the audio and video standards you could ask for, sounds fantastic, very good build quality, fairly easy to set up, and reasonably priced. I just hope this unit has longevity. Only time will tell.