Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review

[Taddpole]

Thanks.

Some questions: when I use the setup you recommend, am I using the DAC in Chromecast audio or the DAC in the avr? BTW: is Chromecast Audio still available? I thought that they discontinued it.

They did. But can still be found on eBay.

Try both ways and see which you prefer.

It won't unfold mqa though.

 

[Grandzoltar]

Chromecast audio isn't really a dac its a recipient for the casting. The dac in the avr will be doing the conversions. If seek it you shall find. The qualm some people have with that setup is the lack of gapless playback. But its way to implement roon with denon at a higher sample rate other than airplay. Search on asr for the review of Chromecast audio

 

[Starus]

I have been reading this forum with a lot of attention for the past months. I really want to thank this amazing community and Amir for building this Encyclopedia.

Question to x3700h owners. When watching a movie is it possible to send the same movie audio as main zone to zone 2 by using the ZONE 2 pre-outs ?

 

[Obiden]

My opinion based on having read all the reviews...

I don't think Amir ever "raved" about any AVR, including Denons. The choice of which Denon model you buy should primarily be driven by your needs. For instance, if you have a relatively small room and a 5.1 or 7.1/2 setup then an X2600/X2700 might be the best choice. Paying the extra for an X3600/X3700 will give you more channels, power, and features that you may never use/need.

It's a bit like buying a car with a 3.6L engine over the same car with a 2.4L engine. If you only ever have a couple of people in your car and you never need to tow a trailer then the why pay more for the 3.6L version and the extra gas it will drink? Of course, you may just like stamping on the gas from time to time and leaving others in the dust, in which case you might decide on the 3.6L.

As for the choice between the X3600 and X3700, they are basically the same thing but X3700 gives you a few more features such as support for 8K video. All things being equal, the X3700 would be the obvious choice, but if you can find the X3600 considerably cheaper than the X3700 then that could be the one for you if you want to save money. At this point though, I am not seeing the X3600 being considerably cheaper, unless you can find one in the used market.

I would also add that issues identified in Amir's audio quality tests are often not audible to most human beings. Amir normally points this out. So while the X3600 may have tested marginally better than the X3700 in some areas, in real life use there would likely be no perceivable difference between the two.

As a final point, I have found that AVS is not a place to ask people to make decisions for you. The whole point of the place is to provide you with enough data that you can make informed decisions yourself. I'm betting I know no more about AVRs than you do but after a few months of reading thru these forums I feel I am able to make better buying decisions in some areas, AVR being one. In fact, I ended up cancelling my Denon X3700 order and buying a Yamaha TSR-7850 for a fraction of the price. I am sure the Yamaha would not perform as well under test as the Denon, but it meets my needs perfectly and at a price I'm happy to pay.

So wait a minute, you writing a review of a review without having the actual item.

 

[Carnajo]

Chromecast audio isn't really a dac its a recipient for the casting. The dac in the avr will be doing the conversions. If seek it you shall find. The qualm some people have with that setup is the lack of gapless playback. But its way to implement roon with denon at a higher sample rate other than airplay. Search on asr for the review of Chromecast audio

Not entirely true. The CCA has a DAC in it and he/she can choose to either connect the CCA to the AVR using the optical cable (at which point it used the DAC in the AVR) or using analogue cable (3.5mm to RCA) at which point it is using the DAC in the CCA.

I ended up using optical from the CCA to my old Marantz SR4003 AVR. Not because it has a better DAC (I actually think the CCA's might be better) but for some reason the AVR was showing the red clipping light for some music when connected using RCA cable. Even at low very low volumes, so there must be some issue somewhere.

 

[reg19]

They did. But can still be found on eBay.

Try both ways and see which you prefer.

It won't unfold mqa though.

What about Audioquest Dragonfly? Anyway I can use that to get MQA quality music into the AVR & if so, how?

 

[Grandzoltar]

Not entirely true. The CCA has a DAC in it and he/she can choose to either connect the CCA to the AVR using the optical cable (at which point it used the DAC in the AVR) or using analogue cable (3.5mm to RCA) at which point it is using the DAC in the CCA.

I ended up using optical from the CCA to my old Marantz SR4003 AVR. Not because it has a better DAC (I actually think the CCA's might be better) but for some reason the AVR was showing the red clipping light for some music when connected using RCA cable. Even at low very low volumes, so there must be some issue somewhere.

I would hope a user would use the superior optical out and use something like roon. Chromecast by itself barely clears 16bits and has bunches of jitter. Are you using roon? If you are try using the headroom tab

 

[Carnajo]

I would hope a user would use the superior optical out and use something like roon. Chromecast by itself barely clears 16bits and has bunches of jitter. Are you using roon? If you are try using the headroom tab

I guess that would depend how good a dac you are using outside the CCA. I am using a Marantz SR4003 AVR and I don't know it's measurements re the DAC but end up using it anyway since the analogue input causes clipping (well, at least the clipping light comes on for some reason).

Me personally, I am not using Roon. I just use the CCA for Spotify.

 

[Chromatischism]

What about Audioquest Dragonfly? Anyway I can use that to get MQA quality music into the AVR & if so, how?

Honestly, I wouldn't stress over MQA. In order to avoid that discussion here, I'm sure there's a thread on it.

 

[reg19]

Honestly, I wouldn't stress over MQA. In order to avoid that discussion here, I'm sure there's a thread on it.

Fair enough. Let me rephrase the question into something similar: If I want to play Hi Res albums from Amazon Music HD using the Denon X3700H AVR, what is the best way to do so? Using the HEOS app (iOS or Android) is not an option as Amazon Music is implemented very badly on that app.

Airplay 2 and Chromecast limit to CD-quality. How else? Do I connect using a PC? If so, how do I do so so that I get the best possible sound quality?

Or, let us take a Hi Res album on Qobuz as well. Unlike Amazon Music HD, Roon can be used for Qobuz (but HEOS cannot - it only has Tidal and Amazon Music HD among the popular Hi Res streaming services). So, how do I connect Roon core (my PC) to the AVR to ensure best sound quality while listening to a Hi Res album on Qobuz? Should I use USB? Or HDMI? If USB, then, should I connect it to the USB input of the AVR? Or should I use a USB+Jitterbug + Dragonfly Red + stereo mini-to-RCA adapter cable?

Thanks.

 

[valerianf]

That is a very good question : how to stream Amazon HD music to the 3700h internal DAC with higher resolution?
I am surprised reading that the Heos implement of Amazon music is not the best way. Is it a sound quality issue?
It was one of the reasons that are a purchasing point for the 3700h.

 

[Chromatischism]

Check out the app to see if it can cast to your Denon:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.mp3

For Qobuz, either the native app or BubbleUPNP.

 

[reg19]

Check out the app to see if it can cast to your Denon:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.mp3

For Qobuz, either the native app or BubbleUPNP.

With native app, one has to use Airplay (which does not stream in Hi Res). This is true for both Qobuz & Amazon Music HD.

Fine, what if I am open to connecting my PC to the AVR via USB / HDMI? Best ways to get Hi Res audio from Qobuz / Amazon Music HD to the AVR?

 

[reg19]

That is a very good question : how to stream Amazon HD music to the 3700h internal DAC with higher resolution?
I am surprised reading that the Heos implement of Amazon music is not the best way. Is it a sound quality issue?
It was one of the reasons that are a purchasing point for the 3700h.

1. Long wait time for track to start.
2. Very buggy
3. Cannot see your own playlists / saved tracks in HEOS implementation
4. No continuous album playback option
5. Did I mention buggy?

 

[Fillius]

With native app, one has to use Airplay (which does not stream in Hi Res). This is true for both Qobuz & Amazon Music HD.

Fine, what if I am open to connecting my PC to the AVR via USB / HDMI? Best ways to get Hi Res audio from Qobuz / Amazon Music HD to the AVR?

USB on the Denon is for playing files from a storage device. It can't be used as a USB DAC.

I don't have an answer for Amazon Music HD. Last time I checked (around April) the Windows app doesn't support exclusive direct output, so you can't guarantee bit-perfect output to HDMI or USB DAC.

For Qobuz with Roon, you could either output HDMI to the Denon to use its internal DAC, or use a USB DAC and analogue input to the Denon.

I use a Ropieee Roon endpoint with a Topping D50s DAC into my Denon. If the fan on my NUC Roon core wasn't an issue I might have continued to use HDMI, it has the benefit of multi-channel output.

 

[BDWoody]

Airplay 2 and Chromecast limit to CD-quality. How else? Do I connect using a PC? If so, how do I do so so that I get the best possible sound quality?

Or, let us take a Hi Res album on Qobuz as well. Unlike Amazon Music HD, Roon can be used for Qobuz (but HEOS cannot - it only has Tidal and Amazon Music HD among the popular Hi Res streaming services). So, how do I connect Roon core (my PC) to the AVR to ensure best sound quality while listening to a Hi Res album on Qobuz?

CCA can do 24/96 through optical, and is a Roon endpoint, so you get gapless playback and all the other goodies it offers.

Can't get Amazon HD in its Highest resolution, but that's not a concern to me. 24/96 gives me anything I could care about.

Plug it in to your AVR/AVP or DAC of choice, and that's it.

 

[Taddpole]

CCA can do 24/96 through optical, and is a Roon endpoint, so you get gapless playback and all the other goodies it offers.

Can't get Amazon HD in its Highest resolution, but that's not a concern to me. 24/96 gives me anything I could care about.

Plug it in to your AVR/AVP or DAC of choice, and that's it.

CCA capable of 24/96 but you can't get Amazon beyond standard resolution (320kbps) from what their help pages say, nowhere near 24/96.

 

[BDWoody]

CCA capable of 24/96 but you can't get Amazon beyond standard resolution (320kbps) from what their help pages say, nowhere near 24/96.

It is a shame that Amazon HD doesn't play nicely with the other kids in the playground. I tried the Amazon HD tier for a bit, but it didn't give me enough reason to keep it. The Tidal/Qobuz/Roon/CCA combo is very much trouble free. I got the Roon lifetime subscription just before the last price increase, so that makes the decision easier for me as well, as its no additional expense.

Tougher for those deciding whether or not to pony up.

 

[Mr. Majestic]

Could use some advise on choosing between the 3700h and 4700h.

Currently have a 4400h. Monolith amp powers my front three channels. So this would be powering my rear KEF q350s, overhead KEF Ci200QRs, and KEF Q50as.

I don't need the extra HDMI port, don't need auro-3d, so the question comes down to the power jump. Will I need extra power or would I notice the difference?

 

[rccarguy]

Could use some advise on choosing between the 3700h and 4700h.

Currently have a 4400h. Monolith amp powers my front three channels. So this would be powering my rear KEF q350s, overhead KEF Ci200QRs, and KEF Q50as.

I don't need the extra HDMI port, don't need auro-3d, so the question comes down to the power jump. Will I need extra power or would I notice the difference?

Power differences between them are negligible.


If the higher end one had 50w more channel per amp, all channels driven that would be a jump to consider.

Bur if it's a few watts it doesn't mean anything