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Denon AVR-X3800H Review

Rate this AVR

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 83 18.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 206 47.0%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 118 26.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 31 7.1%

  • Total voters
    438

prerich

Senior Member
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Apr 27, 2016
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This will never get better unless the whole AV business moved to free and open standards, which will never happen.
All of this right here!!!!!!! Excellent post!!!!!
 

Haint

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Jan 26, 2020
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It would be nice if more manufacturers capitalized on that trend and follow the steps on Meridian allowing us to use a "boxless" or "mini box" solution, Dynaudio style. If the AVR manufacturers overprice their products, perhaps the speaker manufacturers may take the mantle.


To me, the issue is in the comments we got in other threads about HDMI 2.1 not being fully proofed. Dirac in the future is another issue, but that´s just my natural skepticism for anything under the lines of "future compatibility". I honestly think Sound United was not really tight pushing the compatibility for future upgrades.

What issues are being reported with it's HDMI implementation?
 

hmt

Senior Member
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Apr 11, 2020
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It would be nice if more manufacturers capitalized on that trend and follow the steps on Meridian allowing us to use a "boxless" or "mini box" solution, Dynaudio style. If the AVR manufacturers overprice their products, perhaps the speaker manufacturers may take the mantle.


To me, the issue is in the comments we got in other threads about HDMI 2.1 not being fully proofed. Dirac in the future is another issue, but that´s just my natural skepticism for anything under the lines of "future compatibility". I honestly think Sound United was not really tight pushing the compatibility for future upgrades.

What kind of hdmi 2.1 issue does the unit have? Yes. Dirac only in 2023 and DLBC in 2024 is a real bummer. But I would be happy to have this option nevertheless.
 

Vacceo

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What kind of hdmi 2.1 issue does the unit have? Yes. Dirac only in 2023 and DLBC in 2024 is a real bummer. But I would be happy to have this option nevertheless.
A user has reported issues with a PC connection. On the "not yet", I simply distrust manufacturer promises; look at Anthem´s promises of HDMI 2.1 updates or Roon compatibility.
 

hmt

Senior Member
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Apr 11, 2020
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Wait, because one user has reported a problem with a connection with his PC the rumor that the hdmi 2.1 implementation of the D&M AVRs is faulty is spread? Dont you think you are jumping to conclusions?

Concerning Anthem: This is the sort of boutique manufacturers I would not trust a bit. They touted their new ARC genisis RC for being much better with bass correction. And guess what? It's bass correction is mediocre. Even after months of time after releases and many FW upgrades. Wouldnt care about stuff like roon and hdmi 2.1 for a minute once this is not gotten right.
 
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MacCali

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A user has reported issues with a PC connection. On the "not yet", I simply distrust manufacturer promises; look at Anthem´s promises of HDMI 2.1 updates or Roon compatibility.
that * screws us heavily consistently XD
 

Nathan Raymond

Active Member
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Feb 5, 2018
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A user has reported issues with a PC connection. On the "not yet", I simply distrust manufacturer promises; look at Anthem´s promises of HDMI 2.1 updates or Roon compatibility.
I experienced all sorts of odd video and audio issues when I had my PC with an NVIDIA RTX 3080 connected to my Denon AVR-X3700H. Most of the issues went away when I instead hooked the PC up directly to my LG C1 OLED TV and use eARC for Dolby Atmos audio (sadly the LG C1 doesn't pass through DTS at all, so I've stopped using my HTPC for DVD/Blu-Ray playback and shifted that to a dedicated UHD player, making my HTPC a combination Plex server/gaming device). I have continued to experience one really annoying random audio issue where the X3700H can't decode eARC audio correctly for anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute and instead just plays really really loud and nasty variable digital noise over all the speakers. I haven't figured out anything that consistently triggers it or makes it stop, it comes and goes randomly a few times a week.

I don't know know why these big companies can't deliver solid HDMI or resolve these issues better. I'm not psyched to have a Denon SPK618 adapter to resolve 4k/120 compatibility issues with my X3700H, and when Denon quietly revised the HDMI board in the later X3700H models to fix the issue I asked about being able to swap my early X3700H for one of those, and they said no. If these companies were smart, they'd at least offer upgrades to the HDMI boards across the line and not just in their flagships to make their products work to spec and not offer annoying band-aids like the SPK618 or just expect customers to upgrade their receivers more often. I would pay to upgrade my X3700H so it wouldn't have HDMI issues. It leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.
 

MacCali

Major Contributor
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Luckily I use the HDMI for audio only, the video signal goes to the monitor using DP. That makes any video issue moot.
still waiting on a response for the dac change, the 3700h had a different dac and now they put some bs in it? was just about to buy and now I am skeptical o.o

did they do the same for the 4700?

I am trying to get something with the best sinad for preouts, is it the 4700, 3700?
 

hmt

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
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I experienced all sorts of odd video and audio issues when I had my PC with an NVIDIA RTX 3080 connected to my Denon AVR-X3700H. Most of the issues went away when I instead hooked the PC up directly to my LG C1 OLED TV and use eARC for Dolby Atmos audio (sadly the LG C1 doesn't pass through DTS at all, so I've stopped using my HTPC for DVD/Blu-Ray playback and shifted that to a dedicated UHD player, making my HTPC a combination Plex server/gaming device). I have continued to experience one really annoying random audio issue where the X3700H can't decode eARC audio correctly for anywhere from 10 seconds to a minute and instead just plays really really loud and nasty variable digital noise over all the speakers. I haven't figured out anything that consistently triggers it or makes it stop, it comes and goes randomly a few times a week.

I don't know know why these big companies can't deliver solid HDMI or resolve these issues better. I'm not psyched to have a Denon SPK618 adapter to resolve 4k/120 compatibility issues with my X3700H, and when Denon quietly revised the HDMI board in the later X3700H models to fix the issue I asked about being able to swap my early X3700H for one of those, and they said no. If these companies were smart, they'd at least offer upgrades to the HDMI boards across the line and not just in their flagships to make their products work to spec and not offer annoying band-aids like the SPK618 or just expect customers to upgrade their receivers more often. I would pay to upgrade my X3700H so it wouldn't have HDMI issues. It leaves a really bad taste in my mouth.
I agree wrt uprades. I wish more AVRs would be able to be upgraded. They alway talk about sustainability but when it comes to this they only do greenwashing and want to sell you another AVR evwery 2 years. Just remember that it is one small board with the DSP that prevents the X3500 to get dirac. And the X3700 does not get it at all even if the difference bn griffin lite and griffin lite XP is minimal.

Concerning hdmi 2.1. Generally hdmi is a pita and it gets worse with every new standard. Cant really blame D&M here. They used what was the best available hdmi board in the market. That was buggy when using with some devices.
 

Vacceo

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I agree wrt uprades. I wish more AVRs would be able to be upgraded. They alway talk about sustainability but when it comes to this they only do greenwashing and want to sell you another AVR evwery 2 years. Just remember that it is one small board with the DSP that prevents the X3500 to get dirac. And the X3700 does not get it at all even if the difference bn griffin lite and griffin lite XP is minimal.

Concerning hdmi 2.1. Generally hdmi is a pita and it gets worse with every new standard. Cant really blame D&M here. They used what was the best available hdmi board in the market. That was buggy when using with some devices.
For AVP´s it´s even more frustrating as the internal components lack amps. I wholeheartedly agree on the upgradeability.
 

Music707

Active Member
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Oct 4, 2022
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So what? Just read the review and understand the impifications of the measurements instead of just following recommendations.

I did. But it is not about me. @Toroid asked:

What is the go to "all arounder" receiver that ASR recommends that is new in 2022?

I just wanted to point out that your answer failed to meet the original question properly.
 

peng

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View attachment 239739
I have merged a comparison of the old review chart of the 3700 (green lines) and the new 3800 (red/pink line).

It seems the distortion increases only at the higher levels. Can this truly an exchanged DAC cause?

I bet it is, take a look of their SINAD spec comparison:

AK4458 - 107 dB
PCM5102A - 93 dB
I didn't try to go above 2 volts.

Amir, thank you very much for the timely review. Being that this is the first 2022 Denon that has the downgraded DAC chip measured and by you only, if you still have the unit can you please measure the preout/dac for up to 4 V (at least 3 V anyway) in both preamp and non preamp mode?

It will be very useful for those who plan on using it with amps with lower gain such as 25 to 26 dB Hypex based amps. Such amps will need at least 2.5 V to output > 200 W into 8 ohms. Thank you.
 

hmt

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I did. But it is not about me. @Toroid asked:

What is the go to "all arounder" receiver that ASR recommends that is new in 2022?

I just wanted to point out that your answer failed to meet the original question properly.
I just wanted to point out that the question itself is not meaningful in many ways. When you are in the market for an AVR you should aks for an AVR that suits your needs. When it was released and if it got a "recommendadtion" does not really matter. That's a typical ASR question. Sounds smart on the first look. Makes nos sense on the second.
 
Joined
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still waiting on a response for the dac change, the 3700h had a different dac and now they put some bs in it? was just about to buy and now I am skeptical o.o

did they do the same for the 4700?

I am trying to get something with the best sinad for preouts, is it the 4700, 3700?

 

Dj7675

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Spare me the lecture,I was obviously referring to the poster that I quoted.I wouldn't be here if I didn't value the measurements.My point being that the difference between this Denon and the one before in sinad is not audible so why would anyone base their buying decisions on sinad?And my point holds for Topping etc,they churn out dacs for a reason,they are an insanely profitable/easier task than getting into the avr market.
-Spare me the hostility... it wasn't obvoius to me.
-Sorry you viewed that as a lecture. That was not my intent. It just seemed like you were making a false argument that “you guys” just purchase things based on SINAD. That doesn’t seem to be the case at all from my experience.
-That poster was lamenting the objective step backwards from the 3700 to the 3800. Seemed reasonable IMO, considering the price increase.
-In regards to audibility.. how poor of a result should be acceptable? 50, 60, 70? What if the next generation comes in at 70?
-I don’t think hardly anyone bases their purchasing decisions on SINAD. It is a consideration one has to judge with many other things such as EQ system, power, stability, useability, warranty, support etc.
 
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