Onkyo TX-NR656 vs Yamaha RX-V379BL

The receiver can play supported audio tracks with a more immersive sound than regular audio tracks. This is done through its object-based audio which can simulate a specific sound in a 3D environment inside your room. The employed features are Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Be aware that to enable DTS:X technology a firmware upgrade is necessary.

The displayed image with High Dynamic Range (HDR) and BT.2020 technology seems more real with greater depth. This is because it can display a larger scope of contrast and colors when compared to an ordinary receiver.

The receiver has seven active speaker channels which provide a more immersive sound when compared to a five speaker setup. In addition, it has two subwoofers which increases the overall bass quality. The whole combination means that the sound is more evenly distributed through the room and you can have more quality options with speaker and subwoofer placements.

The receiver can control the audio for two different rooms at once. Seven speakers can remain at the main room and two additional speakers can be connected that lead to another room. But be aware that only seven speakers can be active at the same time. This means that if you want to play some music in the second room, the main room will have only five active speakers available. It has nine binding posts available to avoid constantly reconnecting the different speakers to the receiver.

There are a lot of options for music playback. With its internet connectivity it can stream music from internet radios like Spotify, Pandora and Deezer. It even has Apple’s Airplay available to stream content from Apple devices. Can connect to a Bluetooth device for music streaming and has a USB port for flash drives. This combination of features is just about everything that you would ever need for music playback.

The receiver has eight HDMI inputs and three of those are HDCP 2.2 compliant. Other receivers at this price range usually have around four inputs which is a rather large increase.

Has very convenient shortcut buttons that switch to your favorite source and its audio settings with a single button press.

With Yamaha Parametric Acoustic Optimizer (YPAO) it can automatically adjust its audio settings. The included microphone picks up the unique sounds your room emits when it plays a specific sound and fine-tunes the settings accordingly.

With Virtual Cinema Front it can imitate surround sound even when all five speakers are placed in the front. While it is useful, be aware that it can’t fully replace a proper placement of speakers.

One of the 4 HDMI inputs is HDCP 2.2 compatible which is able to play copyrighted 4K resolution content.