Since I had a hard time finding info on my new Onkyo A-22, I decided to post my impressions here. Might just come in handy. I bought the Onkyo because my Pioneer SA-506 has difficulty driving my speakers. The deepest bass has a tendency to distort a little, even at reasonable listening levels. A pity, because overall I'm very fond of the Pioneer.
I've allready posted on the looks of the amp. Its distinct 80s styling might not be everyones taste, but I grew to appreciate it. Build quality is better than it looks. It's all metal housing, with a big plastic insert on the front. There's a big transparent plastic part which reads 'graphic display'. It has small pictures of a tape, LP and tuner on it, with green lights underneath and voila: all the info you need (and pretty much all the amp has to offer) is there. The whole transparant part lights up green, which looks kind of nice. Controls are basic but sufficient. The amp even has some mp3 compatability, thanks to a quirky 1984 feature: a jack connector on the front that reads 'key board', presumably to play along to all your favourite tunes.
Sound quality: bass performance is pretty good. It's plentiful, quite precise and with decent tonal differentiation. Just what I was looking for. Mids are decent as well, rich and with, well, some detail. It falls short with the high frequencies. This is especially apparent with cymbals, which are thin, miss detail and 'die out' too soon. Overall it has to be said the Onkyo has a musical and fluent presentation, albeit a bit boxed in. Especially with acoustic and voice though, such as Lucinda Williams or Morrissey circa Vauxhall and I, it's actually surprisingly nice sounding. The phono stage is better than some, but worse than the overwhelming majority.
All in all it has definite flaws, but for less than a tenner I got a lot of musicality. With the right speakers the Pioneer is a definite winner, but for now the A-22 will do. It will probably end up in my young son's first hifi.
Jack
I've allready posted on the looks of the amp. Its distinct 80s styling might not be everyones taste, but I grew to appreciate it. Build quality is better than it looks. It's all metal housing, with a big plastic insert on the front. There's a big transparent plastic part which reads 'graphic display'. It has small pictures of a tape, LP and tuner on it, with green lights underneath and voila: all the info you need (and pretty much all the amp has to offer) is there. The whole transparant part lights up green, which looks kind of nice. Controls are basic but sufficient. The amp even has some mp3 compatability, thanks to a quirky 1984 feature: a jack connector on the front that reads 'key board', presumably to play along to all your favourite tunes.
Sound quality: bass performance is pretty good. It's plentiful, quite precise and with decent tonal differentiation. Just what I was looking for. Mids are decent as well, rich and with, well, some detail. It falls short with the high frequencies. This is especially apparent with cymbals, which are thin, miss detail and 'die out' too soon. Overall it has to be said the Onkyo has a musical and fluent presentation, albeit a bit boxed in. Especially with acoustic and voice though, such as Lucinda Williams or Morrissey circa Vauxhall and I, it's actually surprisingly nice sounding. The phono stage is better than some, but worse than the overwhelming majority.
All in all it has definite flaws, but for less than a tenner I got a lot of musicality. With the right speakers the Pioneer is a definite winner, but for now the A-22 will do. It will probably end up in my young son's first hifi.
Jack
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram