Thank you for sharing your perspective. I for one find it can make for interesting discussion. Just don't get so offended if not everyone, or no one, agrees with you. I'm opinionated as hell, and have to work hard to keep an open mind and really think about and consider other peoples opinions. Do you know anyone else like that?
This reminds me of someone asked earlier on,
why should the AVR-X4700H be recommended? Below is my opinion, and my attempt to put things in perspective, assuming Denon will fix that bug via FW update. Note: I won't be surprised that while it is a bug that should be fixed, many may not consider it a show stopper. From what I gathered, people who are now aware of this bug are still putting their orders in..
First of all, I recognize that Ron is right about "reduced SINAD" but really that's only if compared to separate components or AVRs not measured yet such as the AVR-X8500H but even then I am only speculating, we don't know until Amir gets DJ7675's to measure and only if Amir doesn't mind risk hurting his back (just joking, I am sure he can get help..) .
If compared only the units measured by ASR so far, this Denon is right behind the X3600H as it beats all the Arcams (even if we ignore the potentially similar bug in the HDMI input measurements that might have affected the Arcam DUTs), NADs and Anthems except may be the flagship MRX-1120.
The interesting thing is, if you compared the MRX-1120 and AVR-X4700H, they are equal in SINAD up to around 3 V, a slight edge for the MRX here and there, but in a few important areas that may have audible effects for people with apparently better than average hearing and the ability to detect minor sonic differences even in blind listening tests.
Such important (imho) areas would include:
Used as an AVR without external amp:
THD+N at low output level, such as at 100 mW - Denon measured significantly better at -72 dB versus the Anthem at -54 dB, that's literally huge!!
THD+N at high output level - Denon did better in the 4 ohm test, max out at 173 W at 86 dB SINAD, Anthem's 151 W at 76 dB SINAD, again huge
Denon's 9 channels of power amps are identical, so equal rated power.
Anthem has 11 channel internal amplifiers, so that's a win, but only 5 channels are rated 140 W, the other 6 channels are rated 60 W so if Amir measured them, the output graph wouldn't pretty.
Used as Processor/Controller, with external power amp:
IMD - The Denon did much better between -60 to -20 dBFS, above -20, Denon still did better but the gap reduced to almost 0 at 0 dBFS
THD+N - Denon measured significantly better than the Anthem (5-7 dB) at below 1.4 V with internal amps connected or not.
Note: Anthem did a good job not allowing the power amp clipping effects to influence the preamp SINAD, evidenced in the SINAD vs output level curve, but Denon has preamp mode so as preamp that is moot point, up to 3 V output level for sure.
Distortions and noise vs frequency - Again Denon did a lot better, 15 to 20 dB better from 20-20,000 Hz, again, that should be considered huge!
Linearity - Denon is about 2 dB better, perhaps not too significant.
List price - Anthem $3,499 vs Denon $1,699, difference of $1,800
REQ - Hard to say, subjectively I bet most would say AARC is better and a overriding factor, but objectively speaking, now that Audyssey has the help of D+M's $20 App, and the free Ratbuddyssey user interface, I see no reason at all for AARC to be better, in fact I believe it is the other way around based on the fact that I could get 2 to 2.5 dB peak to peak from 20 to 120 Hz within an hour post Audyssey run and 1.7 to 2.5 dB peak to peak within a few hours of tweaking using Ratbuddyssey with the App. So for those who only want to EQ up to the room transition frequency, I believe Audyssey+App+Rat UI is likely better, but who knows..I can only speculate.
To summarize:
Not counting the AVR-X3600H, the Anthem MRX-1120 and Denon AVR-X4700H's measurements seem comparable, but if you look deeper the Denon may have enough edge in areas that may actually result in audible effects for some people under the right/wrong conditions such as in:
Preamp output THD+N and IMD at low output level.
AVR output at low output level, remember the "first watt" thing that many hobbyists especially audiophiles are keen on.
Surround channel performance at high output level, the Denon would have more than 3 dB advantage, assuming the Anthem's class D amps have comparable distortions below their clipping point.
So that's pretty much how I would put things in perspective, that, yes the Denon should be recommended (someone question why it should be, don't remember who and which post, but was asked at least twice,, even after seeing the updated measurements). Put it this way, if it doesn't get the panther with head, neither should the Anthem.
My source of data used for the above comparisons
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...anthem-mrx1120-home-theater-avr-review.11911/
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/denon-avr-x4700-avr-review-updated.14493/
