Denon AVR Models with Best eARC

[kyuu]

I think the tv as switching center is an extremely poor choice.

I dunno, I didn't mind it that much. Then again, I went back to the AVR when there was no longer a disadvantage, so.

 

[Chrispy]

I dunno, I didn't mind it that much. Then again, I went back to the AVR when there was no longer a disadvantage, so.

Can't imagine using tv as a central unit myself. None of my various tvs make that an option. What tvs do you use? How do you change between your avr and display particularly?

 

[kyuu]

Can't imagine using tv as a central unit myself. None of my various tvs make that an option. What tvs do you use? How do you change between your avr and display particularly?

Not sure I understand. All the video was going to the TV, and I switched between the sources as you do on a TV. The audio was passed through to the AVR via eARC. I never had to switch to the AVR at all since it was never a source, only a destination for the audio.

 

[Sharok]

I don't know what you mean by "decoding bits". Are you talking about the bit rate? Nothing over 16-bits is needed, but in any case the Denon X3800 (or the older X3600 or X3700) or above should do everything you want (I'm not aware of any AVRs with better performance than Denon). Yeah, you're getting more channels of amplification than you need but getting more channels is part of getting a higher-end AVR. You're also getting the best Audyssey, which you want, or the option to use a Dirac license.

You can get a refurb X3800 for a good price here, assuming you're in the U.S.

Hi kyuu,
Why nothing better than 16 bits is needed? I'm trying to learn.

If the recorded movie soundtrack is 24bit/48KHz, why not higher bit rate for output?

 

[kyuu]

Hi kyuu,
Why nothing better than 16 bits is needed? I'm trying to learn.

If the recorded movie soundtrack is 24/48, why not higher bit rate for output?

Because all a higher bit rate gets you is more dynamic range and a lower noise floor, but 16 bits with dithering gets you all the dynamic range a human ear can possibly use and then some and an inaudible noise floor. More bits doesn't hurt, but it doesn't do anything for you either. In any case, the X3800 supports up to 24 bits, so you're covered if you get it.

If you'd like to learn more, I highly recommend checking out this video:

 

[Sharok]

Because all a higher bit rate gets you is more dynamic range and a lower noise floor, but 16 bits with dithering gets you all the dynamic range a human ear can possibly use and then some and an inaudible noise floor. More bits doesn't hurt, but it doesn't do anything for you either. In any case, the X3800 supports up to 24 bits, so you're covered if you get it.

If you'd like to learn more, I highly recommend checking out this video:

Appreciate it. that's the one I'll go for (3700)

 

[JRowland]

I use external amp for my 5.1 system and only two sources.
This is a little confusing. Looking for a Denon for my 5.1 system, all the low channel AVRs have low SINAD, low number of decoding bits, and some don't even have a "pre-out" feature.
Do you know of any AVR or processor matching my system with a high bit decoding power (at least 18 bits) and good SINAD from any brand?
They all sell AVRs with low number of channels but the sound quality is low also, why is that?

I recently chose the x4800h for the same 5.1 purpose, I use seperate amps for all the channels and only use it as a pre amp/processor. It works great, I’m super happy with it for audio and video. The 3800 is fine too I believe, my choice for the 4800 was it is/was a Japanese company and that particular unit is manufactured in Japan as well. Purely personal and just a gut decision, I’m sure I’d be just as happy with the 3800 for my purpose. I had a Yamaha RXA4A for a minute and it was nice, only had front L/R pre outs if I remember right. I wasn’t using separate amps yet and had different speakers but it sounded fine and worked well for audio and video. The A6A would be nice, the bench test on Audioholics almost made me grab it instead of the Denon when the A4a went wonky and I returned it. YPAO was nice, I liked the sound but as I suspected I like Audyssey better. That’s not a sound thing but a functionality difference, and multi sub as well for me makes Denon the better choice. I sometimes like listening to music with surround decoding instead of the normal 2 channel and I think Yamaha is better there if that is something that even matters.

 

[Sharok]

I'm a little surprised to look at the measurements and see an AVR like 3700h has a better overall performance than Emotiva XMC-1 which is an audio processor and costs even more than 3700.

 

[kyuu]

If there's one thing my time on this site has taught me, it's that there is absolutely no correlation between price or high-end branding and performance.

 

[Oddball]

Not sure I understand. All the video was going to the TV, and I switched between the sources as you do on a TV. The audio was passed through to the AVR via eARC. I never had to switch to the AVR at all since it was never a source, only a destination for the audio.

Agreed. No major drawback from using TV as the hub provided that eArc is functioning properly. In fact I would say that the purist argument could be to connect the higher bandwidth signal (video) to display to shorten the transport route, and then ship back lower bandwidth signal (audio) to AVR. Don't think that makes sense in practice, but in theory I could see it standing on at least tiptoes.

The fact that all are used to AVRs as switching hubs is no longer relevant with modern TVs.