Onkyo ILunar Dock Music System RBX-500 Review

The Onkyo ILunar Dock Music System (Model: RBX-500) is about the size of a medium plant holder.  It comes in black or white and has a remote control, will charge most phones (it took care of my iPhone 4s rather well) and has the ability to sync up with your phone ala Bluetooth to stream music wirelessly.

That sounds great on paper, and familiar as well.  After all, everyone and his brother is making iPhone/Android docking stations.  The thing that makes the Onkyo ILunar Dock Music System different isn’t really the feature set it is the name.  Onkyo.  If you are into music, home theater, or anything relating to high quality sound then you know this name.  If you aren’t, then let me introduce you.  Onkyo is one of the ‘players’ in high end audio.  I’m not going to go into it too deep because if you don’t know who they are you should simply take my word for it. The word Onkyo is Japanese and translates roughly to “Sound Harmony”.  Onkyo has been in the business of making some of the best audio equipment in the world since 1946 when they started under the name of Osaka Denki Onkyo K.K.  Currently, Onkyo Corp also includes the Integra and Integra Research divisions as well as the main Onkyo brand. In 2010 the Onkyo TX-SR608 won product of the year from What hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, which was also named the Best home Cinema Amplifier in the £300-£500 price range.  They also won the Best Home Cinema Amplifier in the £500-£1000 range with the Onkyo TX-NR808.  These awards are nothing new for Onkyo and this is why you should know who they are, and look to the brand seriously when you are building anything sound related as an option.

The Onkyo ILunar Dock Music System is no exception, its sleek design and easy to use button control was apparent right out of the box.  The Onkyo ILunar RBX-500 took my iPhone 4s from 32% to 80% in about 20 minutes, while playing songs from Milo’s Jan 2013 double EP release.  I found the reproduction quite accurate and when I factored in the going price point for this unit (<=$249 USD) I was amazed.

Onkyo teamed up with a Swiss company (Sonic Emtion) who owns a technology called “Absolute 3D sound”.  The Onkyo ILunar RBX-500 has a digital amplifier that powers 6 full range 2″ drivers and a 4″ subwoofer inside.  The Onkyo ILunar Dock Music System is perfect for a small room, office, or dorm and really does a great job filling up the space.  It has a good deep rich bass that seems to be where-ever you are in the room and high and mid range tones are accurate.  It provides good loud sound without being a disruptive factor say… inside an office or apartment, and I didn’t experience any ear fatigue that I would normally expect listening to something in that price range. I’m impressed.

I’m going to go ahead and give Onkyo 5 out of 5 stars and nominate them for a 2013 Editor’s Choice Award.  Excellent job Onkyo. This is also an excellent gift for the man or woman in your life, which is why we are including it in our 2013 Reviewboard Magazine Valentine’s Gift List.