Read the Onkyo Y-40 review this morning and came away with two thoughts, one about the amplifier and one about the review.
The amplifier: compact stereo integrated with Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, a built-in phono stage, and the part that matters for this forum, HDMI ARC. ARC creeping into hi-fi integrateds keeps quietly turning them into a real answer for a TV room. Two decent standmounts off an amp with ARC will beat most soundbars at similar money on anything that is not a big multichannel mix, and you end up with a stereo system you would have wanted anyway instead of a black bar you resent. The trade is plain enough - no height channels, no room correction, no centre - and a lot of rooms genuinely do not want any of those.
The review: it never states a price. It lines the Y-40 up against the WiiM Amp Pro, the Bluesound Powernode and the NAD C 700, says the NAD costs significantly more and the Onkyo is considerably more attainable, then leaves you reverse-engineering a number from three competitors. That is a lot of paragraphs about value with the one figure value depends on left out. The reviewer's actual gripe, which I did like, is that the volume knob feels oversized and cheap against an otherwise premium chassis. That is the sort of thing you only notice after living with something.
Has anyone here dropped the AVR entirely and run the TV into a stereo amp over ARC? I keep half-planning it for a second room and keep losing my nerve.
The amplifier: compact stereo integrated with Spotify Connect, TIDAL Connect, AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, a built-in phono stage, and the part that matters for this forum, HDMI ARC. ARC creeping into hi-fi integrateds keeps quietly turning them into a real answer for a TV room. Two decent standmounts off an amp with ARC will beat most soundbars at similar money on anything that is not a big multichannel mix, and you end up with a stereo system you would have wanted anyway instead of a black bar you resent. The trade is plain enough - no height channels, no room correction, no centre - and a lot of rooms genuinely do not want any of those.
The review: it never states a price. It lines the Y-40 up against the WiiM Amp Pro, the Bluesound Powernode and the NAD C 700, says the NAD costs significantly more and the Onkyo is considerably more attainable, then leaves you reverse-engineering a number from three competitors. That is a lot of paragraphs about value with the one figure value depends on left out. The reviewer's actual gripe, which I did like, is that the volume knob feels oversized and cheap against an otherwise premium chassis. That is the sort of thing you only notice after living with something.
Has anyone here dropped the AVR entirely and run the TV into a stereo amp over ARC? I keep half-planning it for a second room and keep losing my nerve.
