Denon AVR-A1H High-end AVR Review

[ExUnoPlura]

Compliments of someone on the Roon Community forum, it looks like Roon Ready is rolling out for the A1H:

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support-uk.denon.com

My unit has not yet updated.

Edit: now also showing on Roon Labs partners page:

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roon.app

 

[ExUnoPlura]

HEOS firmware update finally arrived overnight and can confirm AVR-A1H is Roon Ready!

 

[Frank207be]

Thanks for sharing. I Just updated my A1H and Marantz Cinema 40 too.

 

[SynthesisCinema]

Any idea how these specs would translate to all channels driven ?

Late to the party. You are not taxing all channels simultaneously with films vs in the test bench. D&M gives the 70% promise for 5 channels (2ch spec). In the case of AVC-A1H Gene D.S said:

" We confirmed with Denon engineering that they bench tested the A1H is able to maintain 70% power for up to 9 channels driven! (105w) "


E-Core / toroidal power transformer weights for comparison as the lower models were brought up multiple times so there could be some interest.

AVC-X4800H & Cinema 40: 4,8kg / 10,5lbs
AVC-X6800H: 5,3kg / 11,6lbs (750VA)
Cinema 30: 5,8kg / 12,7lbs (835VA)
AVC-A10H: 8,1kg / 17,8lbs
AVC-A1H: 11,5kg / 25,3lbs

Power supply capacitors:

AVC-X4800H & Cinema 40: 2x 15,000μF 71V
AVC-X6800H: 2x 15,000μF 73V
Cinema 30: 2x 22,000μF 80V
AVC-A10H: 2x 22,000μF 80V
AVC-A1H: 2x 33,000μF 80V

 

[peng]

Late to the party. You are not taxing all channels simultaneously with films vs in the test bench. D&M gives the 70% promise for 5 channels (2ch spec). In the case of AVC-A1H Gene D.S said:

" We confirmed with Denon engineering that they bench tested the A1H is able to maintain 70% power for up to 9 channels driven! (105w) "


E-Core / toroidal power transformer weights for comparison as the lower models were brought up multiple times so there could be some interest.

AVC-X4800H & Cinema 40: 4,8kg / 10,5lbs
AVC-X6800H: 5,3kg / 11,6lbs (750VA)
Cinema 30: 5,8kg / 12,7lbs (835VA)
AVC-A10H: 8,1kg / 17,8lbs
AVC-A1H: 11,5kg / 25,3lbs

Power supply capacitors:

AVC-X4800H & Cinema 40: 2x 15,000μF 71V
AVC-X6800H: 2x 15,000μF 73V
Cinema 30: 2x 22,000μF 80V
AVC-A10H: 2x 22,000μF 80V
AVC-A1H: 2x 33,000μF 80V

Thanks for posting facts and figures previously posted but hard to find after many pages of posts.

My only cautionary note on the above is the VA rating, that particular data seems to often get confused or mixed up with the so called power consumption data, that, unfortunately are often specified by different manufacturers based on different methods and/or standards though Gene apparently had consulted Maximo in recent years and clarified the standard they used on that, so for D+M AVRs we could make some reasonable assumptions on the power consumption spec, just that we cannot directly translate them to transformer rating.

 

[Frank207be]

The power delivery capabilities of the A1H remain quite impressive but it's still an AVR after all.

I chose the A1H as it has pre-outs for all channels so I can expand the number of power amps when I feel the need to upgrade. Right now I only have an extra power amp for the main speakers which already ensures a stress free playback at reference levels.

When Dirac ART is released I might make the surround channels full range though by adding a beefy woofer to these speakers and power the combination with a 2-channel Hypex Fusion amp or even a Crown XLS1002. The surround speakers would be HPF'd between 100-120Hz.

 

[solrage]

Nice to finally see measurements for this, and great to see how good they are for an AVR this feature-packed. I got mine over a year ago as an open-box/used unit for about half the "new" price. I would've preferred an AV10 because I already had separate amps, but those AV10s don't come up for sale often and I figured whatever improvements it offered would be minimal, probably inaudible, and certainly not worth around twice the price. I'm running a 7.2.4 setup and I've had no complaints with A1H so far. I did have it powering my surrounds while I awaited my new "surround" amp, and my L/C/R when my main amp died (had to send it in for repairs), and it seemed to do both jobs well enough; so it's nice knowing that if either of my amps die I can just use the A1H until I get the amps replaced. Maybe I missed it in the OP or elsewhere in the thread, but there is a way to defeat the amp function (and video processing) and I wonder if this improves measurable performance of the pre-amp at all.

 

[peng]

Nice to finally see measurements for this, and great to see how good they are for an AVR this feature-packed. I got mine over a year ago as an open-box/used unit for about half the "new" price. I would've preferred an AV10 because I already had separate amps, but those AV10s don't come up for sale often and I figured whatever improvements it offered would be minimal, probably inaudible, and certainly not worth around twice the price. I'm running a 7.2.4 setup and I've had no complaints with A1H so far. I did have it powering my surrounds while I awaited my new "surround" amp, and my L/C/R when my main amp died (had to send it in for repairs), and it seemed to do both jobs well enough; so it's nice knowing that if either of my amps die I can just use the A1H until I get the amps replaced. Maybe I missed it in the OP or elsewhere in the thread, but there is a way to defeat the amp function (and video processing) and I wonder if this improves measurable performance of the pre-amp at all.

The A1H should perform as good as the AV10 anyway if you use it as preamp/proc, based on the published specs and measurements.

 

[Gwreck]

The A1H should perform as good as the AV10 anyway if you use it as preamp/proc, based on the published specs and measurements.

It’s funny how the reviews and measurements on audioholics are set up so there is no direct comparison with measurements between the 2 units. I don’t think audioholics actually did any of their own measurements but the did do the AV10 and had glowing praise.

 

[Frank207be]

The A1H should perform as good as the AV10 anyway if you use it as preamp/proc, based on the published specs and measurements.

In my set only some of the subwoofers are the weakest link but this is about to change. The A1H has enough oomph for high octane movie watching all day long provided that the speakers have enough sensitivity. Using 85db/1W/1m or lower speakers with limited extension doesn't do this AVR justice.

 

[peng]

It’s funny how the reviews and measurements on audioholics are set up so there is no direct comparison with measurements between the 2 units. I don’t think audioholics actually did any of their own measurements but the did do the AV10 and had glowing praise.

Fortumately ASR did both so you can do the direct apples to apples.