Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review

[TomekNet]

I've switched to Denon x3700 from Yamaha RX-V685 lately. Comparing to x3700, V685 was powerless on the same speakers and also seemed to have week preouts. I'm very happy with this upgrade.

 

[Sprint]

I've switched to Denon x3700 from Yamaha RX-V685 lately. Comparing to x3700, V685 was powerless on the same speakers and also seemed to have week preouts. I'm very happy with this upgrade.

@TomekNet Thank you for sharing! Hows the surround decoding with Denon? are you using Prologic II? I use Prologic II with standard movie theatre setting. Out of curiosity, which speakers do you have and what external amps to you use?

 

[amper42]

It's hard to compare the Yamaha V685 $649.95 receiver with the Denon 3700 $1299. The Denon is almost twice as much. On the other hand, I can get a Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A3080 for $1600 new and it's going to offer power and features not available on the Denon 3700. Both Denon and Yamaha offer good receivers. I think Yamaha may offer a better package for some who don't need or want Audyssey. With Denon's new price increases, Yamaha is worth exploring.

 

[Sprint]

It's hard to compare the Yamaha V685 $649.95 receiver with the Denon 3700 $1299. The Denon is almost twice as much. On the other hand, I can get a Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A3080 for $1600 new and it's going to offer power and features not available on the Denon 3700. Both Denon and Yamaha offer good receivers. I think Yamaha may offer a better package for some who don't need or want Audyssey. With Denon's new price increases, I think Yamaha is worth exploring.

Thanks! How would x3700H compare against Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-1080 which is a much better step up than 685 or even 775?

 

[amper42]

Thanks! How would x3700H compare against Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-1080 which is a much better step up than 685 or even 775?

You can see a feature comparison between the Denon 3700 and Yamaha RX-A1080
https://www.zkelectronics.com/compare/denon-avr-x3700h(avc-x3700h)/usa/yamaha-rx-a1080/australia/

I would rather have the Denon 3700 than the A1080. I would miss Audyssey, pre-out mode. If I was going with Yamaha I would get the RX-A3080 as I would want the 150W per channel, better DAC and XLR outs for front speakers. It would be rare to need an external amp with this beast. Extra $400 well spent in my book.
https://www.zkelectronics.com/compare/denon-avr-x3700h(avc-x3700h)/usa/yamaha-rx-a3080/taiwan/

 

[jtwrace]

It sure would be nice to have an AVR fully balanced and measures really well. It's really too bad that seems impossible at this time.

 

[amper42]

It sure would be nice to have an AVR fully balanced and measures really well. It's really too bad that seems impossible at this time.

Maybe Topping will build you one in the next few years after they run out of ways to reinvent the stereo DAC?

 

[jtwrace]

Maybe Topping will build you one in the next few years after they run out of ways to reinvent the stereo DAC?

They would at least get it right! I don't think they will run out of ways for dacs though.

 

[peng]

It sure would be nice to have an AVR fully balanced and measures really well. It's really too bad that seems impossible at this time.

I think that would not change, because manufacturers must know that there are highly likely much more AVR users who don't need balanced than those who do. Unless the interconnects are longer than a few meters, you don't gain any performance using balanced, just look at those measured on ASR, the differences were insignificant. Adding balance would increase the cost, hence price, and complexity to jam up the box even more however slightly. Even the higher XLR output voltage may offer no advantage except for certain power amps that have the same gain spec for both XLR and RCA inputs (Many power amps have 6 dB lower gain for XLR inputs)

 

[peng]

Thanks! How would x3700H compare against Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-1080 which is a much better step up than 685 or even 775?

You would be comparing a 11.1 channel processing capable 2020 model vs a 7.1 2018 model. The 1080 does not have HDMI2.1/8K, preamp mode and again, only 7.1 processing..

 

[jtwrace]

I think that would not change, because manufacturers must know that there are highly likely much more AVR users who don't need balanced than those who do. Unless the interconnects are longer than a few meters, you don't gain any performance using balanced, just look at those measured on ASR, the differences were insignificant. Adding balance would increase the cost, hence price, and complexity to jam up the box even more however slightly. Even the higher XLR output voltage may offer no advantage except for certain power amps that have the same gain spec for both XLR and RCA inputs (Many power amps have 6 dB lower gain for XLR inputs)

Perhaps my use case is different than most. Ideally I'd use the AVR in front of my dac so I can use it as dual system of 2 ch and Video without compromise. Doesn't seem feasible at this time.

 

[Sprint]

I would rather have the Denon 3700 than the A1080. I would miss Audyssey, pre-out mode. If I was going with Yamaha I would get the RX-A3080 as I would want the 150W per channel, better DAC and XLR outs for front speakers. It would be rare to need an external amp with this beast. Extra $400 well spent in my book.

Thanks for this reference! Very helpful. In my case, I am using Genelec Active Monitors 8340 and 8330 with 2 SVS 12" sb12nsd subs in a 5.2 set up. The Genelecs has their own room correction software (GLM) which I am using. Additionally I am using MiniDSP DDRC24 with Dirac live for subwoofer correction. For 2ch stereo, I use digital inputs from Topping D10s via SPIDF-AES cable fed by a Raspberry Pi3 running Qobuz streaming service.

With the above set up, I will be using only the pre-outs out of 3700 or 1080.

What do you think will be suitable?

What I like about Yamaha is the diaologue life, Surround AI and the 2 balanced Outs. Do not know if the balanced outs for front LR can be combined with 3 unbalanced/2 sub pre-outs for movies. For stereo 2 unbalanced and 2 subwoofer pre-outs.
Cons of Yamaha is that it is not measured in ASR. 1080 did not measure well here in ASR but cannot say if it is audible. From all my purchases I did based on ASR Amirm measurements, I am a big fan of ASR .

What I like about Denon x3700 is that it is measured very well here especially the pre-outs. Audyssey and Xt32 does very well and I can have a app to correct and integrate the subwoofer. I can throw away the minidsp. but I once tried Denon 1912 7 years ago, and I did not like the receiver sound, feature and its UI compared to Yamaha. But 3700x must be a different ball of game. This is also ASR expert recommendation..

 

[Sprint]

Perhaps my use case is different than most. Ideally I'd use the AVR in front of my dac so I can use it as dual system of 2 ch and Video without compromise. Doesn't seem feasible at this time.

Adding to this: Also what I am missing is that there is no AVR that digital Outs something like MiniDSP 88DRC-D or U-DIO8 with additional HDMI input decoding Dolby. If something like this is available, then consumers consumers can use active speakers or multi channel DAC of their choice raising the sound quality bar without going through multiple ADDA conversions in the chain.

I did find an interesting PI which has SPIDF Output https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...bit-192khz-71ch-for-raspberry-pi-p-11849.html. But do not if PI can handle streaming like Youtube, Netflix, Disney+. Plus the ease of using an AVR/Apple 4K TV combo for wife and kids.

I got the above Pi information from the PI forum - https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=193807

 

[TomekNet]

It's hard to compare the Yamaha V685 $649.95 receiver with the Denon 3700 $1299. The Denon is almost twice as much. On the other hand, I can get a Yamaha AVENTAGE RX-A3080 for $1600 new and it's going to offer power and features not available on the Denon 3700.

I fully agree with @amper42 on this. That being said:

@TomekNet Thank you for sharing! Hows the surround decoding with Denon? are you using Prologic II? I use Prologic II with standard movie theatre setting. Out of curiosity, which speakers do you have and what external amps to you use?

I use different decoding systems for 2-channel video/movies. Sometimes Dolby Surround, sometimes DTS:X, sometimes +Atmos.
All my speakers are KEF, with R3's as the fronts (previously Q350). I use NAD c298 amp for them. I also have two more power amps on delivery (Purifi mono for central and 6-channel Ncore for other speakers). When they arrive I'm moving to full-preamp mode in 7.2.2 layout

 

[amper42]

Denon just raised the price of the 3700 and 4700 by $100 each. That's a real turn off to me. I think that move gives their competitors a chance.

 

[Grandzoltar]

They are recouping the losses from the x6700. Is it a coincidence that those are very well measured AVR's here???

 

[amper42]

The Denon product is good when it works. However, their warranty service leaves a lot to be desired. In the last 6 months I have listened to three owners whose warranty repair with Denon took over 3 months to complete and in most cases Denon never fixed the original receiver but instead made the customer wait 3 months until they finally got around to replacing it.

The grief the owners go through trying to get an issue corrected is pretty sad. Denon usually takes care of it in the end but who wants to be without their system for 90+ days or have to buy something else while Denon sees how long they can stall the customer? Not a pretty picture for Denon Warranty service.

 

[kejar31]

Denon just raised the price of the 3700 and 4700 by $200 each. That's a real turn off to me. I think that move gives their competitors a chance.

pretty sure the 3700 was raised by 100 (I purchased 2 weeks ago at 1199 and they are 1299 now)and also pretty sure that is due to a shortage in DAC chips from the Nov fire at AKM.

 

[Sprint]

@amper42 @TomekNet : Another question regarding dialog level. In my Yamaha AVR 775, I can set the option dialog level from 1-3 with 3 being the highest. this makes the voices bit louder. Some dialogues in movies are feeble that with this set up, one has more volume in dialog from center channel. Since I use GLM for room measurement and EQ built in Genelecs, I have switched off the EQ in Yamaha (YPAO = Through). Do you know if setting the dialog level will use Yamaha's EQ? If yes, which frequencies do you think are they boosted? Mids?

 

[kevin1969]

Once you configure "Preamp mode" in Amp Assign with the Denon 3700, 4700 or 6700 then ECO mode is disabled. Pushing the ECO button on the remote will make no change. Once "Preamp mode" is disengaged the ECO function is enabled again.

Is there any measurement of how the receiver affects noise on the preamp outputs on a separately assigned "zone 2" channel?