To me, some of the most interesting stories come from one specific form of conflict: when a character’s ideology clashes with his or her principles. I’m writing such a story right this very now. I am that character. And if you’ve read my review of the Onkyo TX-RZ30 A/V receiver, you might already have a sense of why.
Read more: Would You Pay $300 for a Truly Magical Component? What If It Were Software?
As I write this, the 2025 International CES has just wrapped in Las Vegas. Perhaps the biggest news of the show for hi-fi enthusiasts was the fact that Onkyo is back, with a trio of stereo audiophile components coming later this year that evoke memories of the brand’s glory days. I’m here to tell you, though, that Onkyo is already back in a big way—at least with regard to home-theater gear—as evidenced by the newest addition to its RZ Series lineup, the TX-RZ30 ($1199, all prices USD).
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
Advance Paris is a fairly new entrant into the North American audio market, but it has been in business overseas for 30 years. The company started in France in 1995 as a speaker manufacturer, Advance Audio, then moved into electronics in the 2010s, changed its name to Advance Paris, and began exporting to North America in 2021. However, only in the last year or so have its products gained significant distribution on this side of the pond.
It’s been a while since I brought an A/V receiver in for review here on Access, and to be frank with you, I didn’t actually request Onkyo’s new TX-RZ30 ($1199, all prices USD) for such purposes. I asked for a sample as a matter of due diligence, so I could include it in the latest round of testing for my updated Wirecutter guide to the category. But a few things made me realize quite quickly that it was worthy of individual attention and deeper scrutiny. And a clue to those things can be found amongst the alphabet soup of logos on the outer packaging.
The more pedantically minded among you who regularly read my work will no doubt look at the headline of this story and think, “Wait, has it really been a year since Dennis got his first proper grown-up turntable?” It has not. In fact, it’s only been about eight months.
Read more: A Year(ish) into My Vinyl Journey: What Would I Do Differently?
I have, on at least a few occasions, referred to my reference integrated amplifier, the NAD C 3050, as the Workingman’s Integrated Amp. But I think it’s time for me to reframe that sentiment. I’m actually starting to think of NAD as a company with something resembling real class consciousness, because the new C 379 ($1099 stock; $1499 as reviewed, with the MDC2 BluOS-D expansion module—all prices USD) is every bit as much a working-class product, but for wholly different reasons.
It isn’t often that I start an unboxing blog post with two un-unboxed boxes (say that three times quickly) unless the product is a pair of speakers, but here we are. This is a first in more ways than one. Because, as you may have gathered from the headline, this is as much an installation walkthrough as it is an unboxing. But we’ll get to that. Before we do, let’s start with the box on the bottom and the contents therein: NAD’s C 379 integrated amplifier ($1099, all prices USD).
Read more: NAD C 379 Unboxing and MDC2 BluOS-D Module Installation
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click this link.
This piece could be called A Tale of Two Amplifiers: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times . . .” Actually, times were pretty good, as this review would be my first chance to directly compare two amplifiers since acquiring a Neohipo ET30 amplifier-speaker switching unit from Amazon ($159.95; all prices in USD). The two units were the Dayton Audio A400 power amplifier ($899), the subject of this review, and my own NAD C 275BEE (discontinued, $1495 when available). I was looking forward to this.
According to my notes, it’s only been about eight months since I last posted a rant about the ongoing war between objectivists and subjectivists in audio, and I thought that would be enough said for at least a year. But you know what they say about the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ Wookiees, right? Here we are again. And yet again, what’s driving my desire to address this topic is that, as an objectivist, I feel like my position is constantly being misrepresented at worst or misunderstood at best.
In my unboxing blog post for the KEF Q3 Meta bookshelf speaker ($799.99/pair, all prices in USD), I said it felt like a palate cleanser to me in many respects, but here’s a spoiler for you: I wrote those words before I ever cracked the carton and pulled the speakers from their protective packaging. That notion was based purely on my impressions of the company’s speakers, formed mostly at trade shows and based on objective data.