Denon AVR-X3700H AVR Review

[anphex]

Wanted to report back since I own the Denon for three weeks now. Performance is great and sound wise I don't miss my Gustard X16 too much. Finally I can enjoy surround again!
But you may have to watch out if you connect external amps over RCA, may it be grounded or ungrounded.
Have a look at this thread if you run into issues: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...400-diy-amp-and-ungrounded-denon-3700x.28277/

If you have won the fight against grounding noise, congrats's! You just got one of the best pre processors for the money. But don't forget to turn off internal amps if you go full external amping.

 

[kvaster]

Hello! For me it's time to upgrade my receivers, but my knowledge of av receivers are not good - i defenitely need an advice. Already read a lot of info, but I still don't know what to choose. I'm thinking about X3700H vs X4700H for now.

My current setup is:

Living room:
Integra DTR 40.6
Sonus Faber Toy Tower - Front LR
Sonus Faber Toy - Back LR
Sonus Faber Smart - Center
Klipsch R14-S - Back Height LR
Sumico Subwoofer S.9

Pool:
Integra DRX 4
Venere Wall - Center, Fron LR
Q-Acoustics QA7715 - back (surround)
Sumico Subwoofer S.9

Zone 2 (this is separate zone in the same room):
Q-Acoustics Qi65P (4x, stereo)

First reason for buying new receivers is 4k120hz mode and also for the pool I need an receiver that can play surround in main zone and downmix same source to zone 2. I'm not using any external amp also. My receivers are already a bit old and it's difficult for me to compare. I'm wondering if I will get compareable/better/worse sound quality with Denon. And the second question is X3700H vs X4700H - is it a question only about Auro3D or it's better to go with 4700 anyway...

Any advice appreciated...

 

[anphex]

Hello! For me it's time to upgrade my receivers, but my knowledge of av receivers are not good - i defenitely need an advice. Already read a lot of info, but I still don't know what to choose. I'm thinking about X3700H vs X4700H for now.

My current setup is:

Living room:
Integra DTR 40.6
Sonus Faber Toy Tower - Front LR
Sonus Faber Toy - Back LR
Sonus Faber Smart - Center
Klipsch R14-S - Back Height LR
Sumico Subwoofer S.9

Pool:
Integra DRX 4
Venere Wall - Center, Fron LR
Q-Acoustics QA7715 - back (surround)
Sumico Subwoofer S.9

Zone 2 (this is separate zone in the same room):
Q-Acoustics Qi65P (4x, stereo)

First reason for buying new receivers is 4k120hz mode and also for the pool I need an receiver that can play surround in main zone and downmix same source to zone 2. I'm not using any external amp also. My receivers are already a bit old and it's difficult for me to compare. I'm wondering if I will get compareable/better/worse sound quality with Denon. And the second question is X3700H vs X4700H - is it a question only about Auro3D or it's better to go with 4700 anyway...

Any advice appreciated...

First: Wow, what a setup and I'd like to see your house now .

Since it looks like you've got a lot of speakers running at the same time anything below 6700 might be a little underpowered. I can imagine that the speakers on the pool are rather far away from the main listening window so they will need some watts. I think the 6700 or even the 8500HA will give you exactly the options you need (7.1 + Zone 2) it's called. The Denon X3700 has this mode too but I think you want have enough channels.
Edit: Oh thinking of it again, I think you won't get around getting an external amp if you're not going straight for the powerhouse 8500HA.

 

[kvaster]

First: Wow, what a setup and I'd like to see your house now .

Since it looks like you've got a lot of speakers running at the same time anything below 6700 might be a little underpowered. I can imagine that the speakers on the pool are rather far away from the main listening window so they will need some watts. I think the 6700 or even the 8500HA will give you exactly the options you need (7.1 + Zone 2) it's called. The Denon X3700 has this mode too but I think you want have enough channels.

Living room is really 5.1.2 setup. And pool is 5.1 and stereo at zone 2...

 

[anphex]

And you want to run all three areas with the same audio input?

 

[kvaster]

And you want to run all three areas with the same audio input?

No. Living room - separate setup. I only need in pool zone to run same source in main zone and zone 2.

 

[anphex]

This is easy to achieve with two 3700X then. Even with the integrated amps. If you want one source to drive everything you'll probably need something like this:

 

[kvaster]

The main question is how is 3700X compareable to my old Integra receivers... Sorry for my bad english

 

[eduardw]

Yesterday I got the messages of new firmware, i did the upgrade but could not find the release notes. Anyone know what has changed/improved

 

[Vincentponcet]

. You don't really notice it until you bypass the AVR completely and use a high quality DAC like the ADI-2 instead. It's a different level of clarity compared to my Denon 4700.


View attachment 166123

Do you have a digital output on your Denon 4700 ?

 

[dlaloum]

Do you have a digital output on your Denon 4700 ?

Do any current AVR's have a true digital output?

 

[Vincentponcet]

Do any current AVR's have a true digital output?

Only the very expensive ones.
So how can you compare x3700 output from adi-2 in a hometheater setup ?
Adi-2 is only 2 channels and have no room correction.

 

[dlaloum]

You can use the Denon as a DAC only to do a proper comparison to the ADI-2... but you would need an external Amp to connecto to both of them to make it apples/apples... and obviously disable all EQ/Processing - run it in Pure Audio/Audio Direct...

Fact is, if the copyright licences weren't interfering, we would probably all be running most of this inside Media PC's, where the audio would get decoded and equalised, then output to a multi-channel DAC's & Pre-amp.

But we are where we are.... and as a result, the only way to economically decode the various audio streams, and then apply room/speaker EQ, before outputing to a DAC then preamp/power amp - is todays hyper functional AVR's.

My preference remains doing it all within the PC (AKA Primary source) - but I have yet to see a software suite that truly enables that, and can decode all the current formats.

 

[Triplefun]

You can always use the pc to output USB (eg foobar) to the dac and the dac playback analogue to the denon with direct. Alternatively configure foobar to output digital (hdmi, optical) to the denon. I find you can configure two inputs on the denon to reference the same video input but different audio inputs eg. Hdmi and analogue.

 

[dlaloum]

You can always use the pc to output USB (eg foobar) to the dac and the dac playback analogue to the denon with direct. Alternatively configure foobar to output digital (hdmi, optical) to the denon. I find you can configure two inputs on the denon to reference the same video input but different audio inputs eg. Hdmi and analogue.

Not a bad approach - use the pure analogue signal paths to configure the Denon as an Integrated amp, then you can compare your DAC using the Denon as the amp, vs the Denon's DAC ... - just make sure your adjust the levels using an external SPL measurement - anything more than a 0.5db difference, and things get tricky....

 

[Vincentponcet]

Not a bad approach - use the pure analogue signal paths to configure the Denon as an Integrated amp, then you can compare your DAC using the Denon as the amp, vs the Denon's DAC ... - just make sure your adjust the levels using an external SPL measurement - anything more than a 0.5db difference, and things get tricky....

Comparing the internal DAC of 97db Sinad against an external DAC with 115db Sinad using the amp with 88db Sinad might not be that much revealing.

 

[dlaloum]

It will tell you whether the SINAD is the critical factor.... if the Denon sounds better - you will know that SINAD is NOT the differentiator!

It may tell you that there is no difference between them - in which case SINAD might be an obfuscating factor - and you would need a further test with an external amp (both pre and power or integrated) - to seperate the variables... and that external amp needs to be in the 106db+ SINAD range to eliminate that factor...

And, of course, the outcome might be, that you cannot tell the difference either way (!!) - or not.... always a worthwhile experiment.

I did a bunch of experimenting with power amps at one point... my conclusion was that most "decent" amps sounded the same - as long as they were run within their limitations, which in turn was determined by Speaker load etc.... - My electrostatic speakers were remarkably revealing of amp and pre-amp flaws, but once those were out of the way, they were not too painful a load.... my Gallo's on the other hand tend to chew up and spit out many amps.... good SINAD, bad SINAD, if it can't put out serious W's at 1.6Ohm - it ends up sounding "strained". I expected my very good Quad 606 to handle the Gallo's well.... 140W@8ohm RMS - plenty of current capability, don't know the SINAD ( never seen it measured on this vintage amp) but I would expect it to better the Crown XLS2500 pro amps which have a mere 71db SINAD (75db @ 480W..) as measured by Amir...

But the Crowns can handle the load of the Gallo's better - the Crown does nothing for a set of Quad ESL's - but it is Magic for a set of Gallo Reference 3.2's.

Lots of factors to play with - enjoy the experiment. (and remember SINAD is not the only factor!)

 

[peng]

Only the very expensive ones.

Do you know which one has it? Not that I would have use for them, just curious.. I know D+M's top models don't have them. My 3805 and 4308 have those, but I think the newest one that have them are the 4311, or may be the 4810, the last legacy connections to go next would probably be the 7.1 analog inputs that for some reason D+M has not completely let go.

 

[Vincentponcet]

Do you know which one has it? Not that I would have use for them, just curious.. I know D+M's top models don't have them. My 3805 and 4308 have those, but I think the newest one that have them are the 4311, or may be the 4810, the last legacy connections to go next would probably be the 7.1 analog inputs that for some reason D+M has not completely let go.

I checked the 3805, I don't see digital outputs.
We were talking of digital output not of analog preout.

 

[Triplefun]

HDMI is a digital output. You can always get a gadget to convert the hdmi audio to optical or coax - see https://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-Dolby...2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0