I bought the X3800H as a basis for a future surround sound setup. This is the first receiver I've ever owned (so bear in mind this is a beginner post). I currently have 2 KEF R3 in a tiny, reverberant room (not ideal, will solve in the future). I specifically bought it based on previous ASR review of the X3700H combined with future Dirac support to form a slowly expanding system on. My previous system was a JDS Atom+ feeding a SMSL AO200. It arrived today, and I set it up.
Overall (subjective) notes and observations in case it is useful to anyone:
Initial audio configuration sounded identical to the previous configuration. Without room correction, I did not observe any noticeable coloration. Time between setups was too long to A/B test detail though.
After room correction, audio felt something like "3% better". A wonky room mode in the sub frequencies was cut, as were a few mid-high frequencies. Made the sound more comfortable to listen to. Stereo separation felt better, but I suspect it was psychosomatic. Wasn't a silver bullet as there's a sibilant mode in the room that was tamed but not eliminated. I am satisfied with the results for now. I have not tried the app, so I do not yet know how I feel about the dip.
User interface is somewhat, but not unbearably, slow. There's a consistent 1/8-1/4 second between any UI movements that require animation, causing it to be frustrating to quickly click through menus. Since I do not expect to be in the menus regularly, this is not an issue for me.
Playing with the preamp settings (and using the AO200) was fun. Switching the whole thing to preamp results in a satisfying but unexpectedly loud relay clunk. Similarly, when I was experimenting with a ghetto 4.0 rig using scavenged speakers, disabling amplification on each pair would cause a relay clunk. In full preamp mode, it was notably cooler to the touch. In 2ch amplifier mode with a mid-load, the exhaust at the top was 39F over ambient.
I'm really picky about noise. The receiver does make noise, but at whisper level with my ear next to it. With the amps more heavily loaded, I suspect it would be louder, but then I'd hopefully be hearing what the amps are throwing through my speakers. No detectable coil whine, but I can't hear past 16.5 kHz.
I experimented with a 4.0 setup so that I could get excited about surround as it's the first time I've had one. Attached a pair of Vanatoo T0s to the back attached to the surround preamp jacks. I found them to be very quiet compared to when they're on my desk, possibly due to a low output voltage + overhead for movies? Unclear. Anyways, I maximized the volume, and found some moderate noise, so I dropped their volume until the noise was tolerable. I also do not know if this noise was directly caused by the amp or ground loops or something. Someone with measurement equipment could tell.
I then ran the room correction and got everything set up. I watched some stuff, started enjoying the surround, then noticed in quiet spots my front KEF R3s had noise on them and panicked. After much playing around, putting the system in direct mode or disabling the surrounds and re-running the room correction both fixed the noise issue. I suspect that the room correction algorithm attempted to fix some of the volume mismatch through DSP and ate up all the SNR overhead. So I sadly removed the Vanatoos from the system and started researching surrounds that'd match the R3s better in volume that won't be too mad about being within a foot or so of a corner.
I did find a few UI quirks. I found the main "Speakers" menu Audyssey setup always assumed I had a 5.1 system with 4.0 set up and would stop when it found the sub not producing sound. Inexplicably the "Setup Assistant" menu Audyssey setup had no problems with 4.0. Also, escaping from the "Setup Assistant" Audyssey setup sometimes would turn on speakers I didn't have. Couldn't reproduce it reliably. The "Setup Assistant" Audyssey was extremely verbose and was the only time I got frustrated with the slow UI. Entering the some menus, particularly Video, would cut audio for a fraction of a second. And every once in a while, a setting wouldn't save.
Interaction with my Apple TV was good. Got CEC working, with quirks. If I was calibrating and the Apple TV was on and shut down during calibration, the AVR would stay on but the TV would turn off. When I first connected it, I had some issues getting visual output. Possibly user error.
Overall I am satisfied with the device. I need to test latency, and expand the speaker array, but that is for later. I have some movies to watch.