Entered CNET Catalog: 03/20/2003
SKU: 0751398004988
Manufacturer: Onkyo USA
Manufacturer description
Connect yourself to the world in every room of your house with the NC-500 Audio Network Receiver. On the back of the NC-500 you'll find an Ethernet cable port to provide you with seamless streams of Internet radio. You can even hook your PC up to a router and have your MP3, WAV or WMA files played throughout the house. Better yet, you can have a different music source in every room at the same time. Separate NC-500 units can access your computer simultaneously via the TX-NR900 and stream their own distinct Internet radio stations or music files. Let Onkyo be your access to a world of music, from the comfort of your own home. CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 03/17/2003
The first AM/FM stereo receiver with full-blown digital-audio-receiver (
DAR) capabilities, Onkyo's NC-500 makes Internet audio feel like a natural part of your stereo system. This device receives Web radio stations and plays MP3, WMA, and WAV files stored on your PC. Setup is simple, features are plentiful, and sound quality is up to audiophile standards. Measuring 8.0 by 3.5 by 11.0 inches, the NC-500's front panel is about half the width of a full-sized stereo component, so don't count on stacking other components on top of it. While the Onkyo's silver front panel has a slick, expensive appearance, the low-contrast, white dye with which the button labels were printed can make them tricky to read in low lighting. The 20-character-by-four-line, dot matrix, front-panel display is relatively large at 1.5 by 4.0 inches, but it can't be read from a distance. Due to the remote's lack of a backlight and the difficulty of reading a small LCD from across the room, most people will choose the television-display option discussed in the Features tab.
Compared to some other Ethernet-based DARs that we've tested, the NC-500 was completely painless to set up. After unpacking the slick microcomponent, we connected speakers, hooked its TV output to our television, installed the Net-Tune PC server software, and ran the Ethernet cable from the NC-500 to our router. Notably, the Onkyo was able to receive Internet-radio broadcasts as soon as it connected to our network.
After installation, the Net-Tune software prompted us to run its database builder, which indexes audio files on networked PC hard drives. The app also includes an ID3-tag editor and a log viewer, which details the NC-500's network status. Overall, the software has a sparse design, but each of its three components does its specific job effectively.
Because the remote control has dedicated buttons for iNet Radio and your digital-music collection, as well as AM/FM-tuner auxiliary controls, choosing a new listening mode is a simple affair. Once a source is selected, the remote's directional navigation buttons make browsing lists of music and radio stations equally effortless. As a nice bonus, the remote has shortcut buttons for album, artist, genre, and playlist, making for lightning-fast access to your PC's tunes. The NC-500 plays MP3, WMA, and WAV files stored on any network-connected PC that's running the Net-Tune software, so even if you have music on multiple machines, you can browse all of it by title, artist, album, genre, or playlist. This DAR also offers access to hundreds of Internet radio stations, accessible by genre, location, or language. Store your favorites in 20 Internet-radio presets, which supplement the 40 AM/FM presets.
The NC-500's rear panel hosts an Ethernet port; an onscreen-display output; an analog auxiliary-audio input (RCA type); two analog-audio outputs (one fixed and one variable-RCA type); AM and FM antenna ports; and spring-clip connections for two speakers. In addition, a TV output lets you navigate menus on your television screen--a big plus in our book.
The NC-500's biggest shortcoming is its scarcity of audio inputs and outputs. If you're using the DAR as your main receiver and amplifier, you can connect only one input device, such as a CD player; your phonograph and other components will have to go into storage. That said, the NC-500's line outputs do allow it to act as a component in a system that's organized around another receiver or amplifier.
The unit's built-in amp outputs 15 watts (RMS) per channel, which can be sent directly to speakers--either the ones that are included in Onkyo's NC-500PGK or your own replacements. The NC-500 sounded remarkably clean--thanks to an audiophile-level signal-to-noise ratio of 100dB--when we used it as a component to our Pioneer Elite integrated amplifier, allowing the Pioneer to handle the amplification duties. By contrast, our 88dB-sensitivity Event 20/20 studio monitors and 89dB-sensitivity Paradigm Titans sounded merely acceptable when driven by the NC-500. This DAR's limited wattage was especially evident in its narrow dynamic range. The bottom line: If you're going to use the NC-500 as an amplifier, match it with small, efficient speakers, such as the ones that come with the aforementioned Onkyo Net-Tune NC-500PKG.
User opinions
Select a User Opinion to view: 1 2 3 4 User Rating: 
2/10
useless piece of rubbishby jacarandx - September 30, 2005
Pros: nice looking machine
Cons: utterly useless if you have more than 1000 songs
Review: Each list, be it album, artist, song, genre, whatever, can hold a maximum of 999 entries. My artists stop display after the letter C. They say you can subdivide the lists but they don't say how, and Onkyo just shrugged when I asked them. Very frustrating as its unusable in this state, and it would be great otherwise. A massive oversight of biblical proportions if you ask me.
User Rating: 
8/10
Well designed for serious typesby - July 7, 2004
Pros: Very easy to setup. Has both an front panel display and a TV option. The front panel display is essential and something that other brands seem to miss often. The sound quality is also noteably superior to similar devices made by PC manufacturers. It
Cons: This unit is pricey.
Review:
User Rating: 
3/10
The NetTune protocal allows for very few stationsby - June 10, 2004
Pros: overall high quality
Cons: If you are happy with the very few stations that the NetTune protocal allows for, then you are in luck. I could not find any of the 10 or so internet radio stations that NetTune connected to. I even went to the extent of calling the software people in Eng
Review:
User Rating: 
6/10
Good product, but net-tune software running on PC could stand some improvementsby - March 31, 2003
Pros:
Cons:
Review: The receiver itself is great. Sounds great and is easy to use. There are several problems with the net-tune software that runs on the PC. The european character set causes a lot of "no artist" and "no albumn" entries. Download a good mp3 tag editor. Also, I don't know if this is problem with the software or the unit, but it seems to get confused when there are several albumns with the same name. For example when I navigate to Artists-James Taylor-Greatest Hits, I get all of the songs for the Cars Greatest Hits and Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits as well. A bit annoying.
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Onkyo Net-Tune NC-500 specifications
- General
- Product Type Digital audio receivers
- Width 8.1 in
- Depth 11.0 in
- Height 3.6 in
- Weight 8.6 lbs
- Audio System
- Components Radio , Network audio player
- Sound Output Mode Stereo
- Signal-To-Noise Ratio 100.0 dB
- Input Impedance 50.0 KOhm
- Input Sensitivity 150.0 mV
- Amplifier Output Details 15.0 Watt - 8.0 Ohm - 2.0 channel(s) ( Main )
- Timer Sleep
- Built-in Display Fluorescent
- Display Dimmer Yes
- Additional Features On-screen display
- Digital Storage Media None
- Connectors
- Headphone Jack Yes
- Radio
- Type Radio tuner - AM/FM - Digital
- Tuning Display Fluorescent display
- Preset Station Qty 40.0
- Signal-To-Noise Ratio 76.0 dB
- Total Harmonic Distortion Mono: 0.2%, stereo: 0.3%
- Network Player
- Network player type Network audio player
- Network player functionality Internet radio playback , Digital audio playback
- Supported digital audio standards MP3 , WMA , WAV
- Connectivity Wired
- Connectivity protocols IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet)
- Turntable
- Type None
- CD System
- CD system type None
- DVD
- Type None
- Cassette System
- Cassette system type None
- MD System
- MD system type None
- Headphones
- Headphones Type None
- Microphone
- Type None
- Remote Control
- Remote Control Remote control - Infrared
- Remote Control (2nd)
- Type None
- Connections
- Connector Type 1.0 x Variable audio output ( RJ-45 ) - Rear , 1.0 x Headphones ( Mini-phone 3.5 mm ) - Rear , 1.0 x FM antenna ( One-touch x 2 ) - Rear , 1.0 x Network ( One-touch x 2 ) - Rear , 1.0 x Fixed audio output ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) - Rear , 1.0 x Remote control ( F connector ) - Rear , 1.0 x Speakers output ( RCA phono x 2 ) - Front , 1.0 x AM antenna ( RCA phono ) - Rear , 1.0 x Composite video output ( RCA phono x 2 ) - Rear , 2.0 x Audio line-in ( RCA phono x 2 ) - Rear
- Power
- Power Device Power supply - Internal
- Power AC 120 V ( 60 Hz )
- Power Consumption Operational 58.0 Watt
- Miscellaneous
- AV Furniture None
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