symphara
Addicted to Fun and Learning
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2021
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I did exactly that, I bought a silver 8500H for about 2500, and to the best of my knowledge it was the very last one in Switzerland, where I live. Then I paid another 900 and upgraded it to HA, so I got a relatively cheap 8500HA with the AKM DAC.Really nice what SU has done to make this a desirable product but the price….. in the Netherlands, where I live, I can now buy a new (silver) AVC-x8500h for les than € 3.000,00. How could I ever justify spending almost € 4.000,00 more for DIRAC and two more amps…. I think this price increase is totally ridiculous. In Europe we suffer hard from inflation, mainly through energy costs, but this… All their boxes are very much more expensive. I belief buying a 3700, 4700 or 8500 makes a lot of sense. Mind you, I bought my 4700 of € 1.399,00 in December.
So yes, if you can get it it's a very good deal because it's the outgoing model. But can you get it? Don't be fooled by the listings. When I bought mine at that price, lots of shops were listing it and only one had exactly one unit (mine).
I personally think that with Dirac, this A1H is good value and it would be my prime choice if I were to upgrade to Dirac world. The next level is 15k and this includes Lyngdorf.
Even the Anthem AV90 is more expensive and it doesn't include amplification, and I'd say the reliability, software and build quality are nowhere near the Denon.