Onkyo created the TX-DS575 for price-conscious people who believe that a receiver should sound as good when it's playing music as it does when it's playing movies. The verdict? Success! It is the perfect receiver for people who do not want to sacrifice music quality for surround sound capability. This unit gives you excellent sound without breaking the bank, thus leaving you with more money to put into the rest of your system.

First, here are the features that won me over on paper: 5 discrete channel pathways, extruded aluminum heatsinks, 6-ohm speaker driving capability, 3 assignable digital inputs (2 coax, 1 optical), DTS and Dolby Digital, THX Cinema Re-EQ, 24-bit/96kHz D/A converter (supports audio formats such as DVD-Audio and SACD), direct 5.1 inputs to support future surround formats, and a conservatively rated 70W/channel. This is a big and heavy beast built of much higher quality materials than you'd expect for under $500.

When I first set it up and spun up the first CD, I was absolutely floored at how much better my music and speakers sounded. (The previous system was my housemate's gargantuan 100W/channel Toshiba receiver made in the 70s. Very high quality, but old technology.) The separation of the channels immediately widened the soundstage. The sound is crisp all around while remaining true to the source. Tight bass, clear highs, smooth mids. The sound is absolutely amazing. One thing that stood out was that the woofers on the main speakers were no longer distorting at high volumes on Bela Fleck's "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" as they had with the previous receiver. The subwoofer pre-out was doing its job and relieving the mains of the lowest octaves of sound. I could have listened to CDs all day, but I had the surround sound to test as well.

After I finished hooking up all the speakers, I calibrated them with the standard pink-noise generator. I sat in the sweet spot and adjusted the levels using the remote until I had everything perfectly adjusted. I then put "The Matrix" in the DVD player and skipped to scene 29: The Lobby Shooting Spree. I had watched this scene many times in just stereo, and there is absolutely no comparison. Bullets whizzed by my head and shell casings fell all around me with crystal clarity. WOW!

Some people might find that s-video capability is very important and should not be left out of an A/V receiver. I, and Onkyo, disagree. My DVD player is the only device that has s-video capability, so I pipe that directly to the TV. I can easily do without fancy on-screen menus also. In a word, Onkyo chose to compromise this capability in favor of much better sound for the money. In other words, it's a compromise that doesn't feel like one. I'd give up 20/20 vision if I could make music as well as this Onkyo transmits it.

The only other thing that deserves mentioning is that the remote supports macro functions and can learn to control any remote-controllable device in your home. This means that with one button, you can turn on the receiver, TV, DVD player, adjust the volume to your favorite level, set the surround sound mode, and start playing a DVD movie. If the lights in your TV room were also controllable, you could dim them as well.

In summary, this is an amazing product and a worthy investment of your money that will not become obsolete any time soon. As Onkyo says, the TX-DS575 is "THE LAST RECEIVER YOU MAY EVER BUY."


BTW, the actual price I paid for this unit was $384 from uBid.com. The price I listed includes tax and shipping. Considering what I got, that's still the best deal I've seen on anything in a very long time.



Recommended: Yes