Denon AVR-X4800H AVR Review

[peng]

I have to say today I had a real eye-opener moment after I connected the KEFs to the Yamaha for the first time and started listening my test tracks.
I couldn't do a proper AB test with the Denon, but the sound is great, considering that the Yamaha receiver is worth maybe 70-80 EUR. It really wants to stay!

- I cannot set a max volume, but I am careful with it and check the top of the Yamaha often.
- Currently the KEFs are set to Large, but I will change it to Small. In that case low frequencies under 90Hz (fixed, cannot be changed) will be routed to the sub.
- Even if it's temporary (I'm still on the lookout for a new receiver, obviously the Yamaha is old and basic features like HDMI are missing), it feels great to be the only person with this awesome setup! Plus it buys me some time so I can wait for better offerings in Q4.

Look forward to seeing your REW graphs.

 

[Netster]

I have had mine for 55 days and haven’t observed any bugs. I haven’t updated to the Dirac enabling firmware yet

I have had it since July 28, 2023. No issues so far. The only thing I was wondering was, I thought there were 3 presets, but I couldn't find them. I really thought I saw 3 when I was just using one.

 

[rvsixer]

I have had mine for 55 days and haven’t observed any bugs. I haven’t updated to the Dirac enabling firmware yet

I have had it since July 28, 2023. No issues so far. The only thing I was wondering was, I thought there were 3 presets, but I couldn't find them. I really thought I saw 3 when I was just using one.

@Netster assuming the second line on presets is a query on your part (I could not find mattsrs quote regarding presets). The Denon has two presets for overall global AVR settings (of which Dirac or Audyssey can be a part of; Dirac defaults to preset 2). Dirac itself has 3 individual slots for filter settings it can save. See https://manuals.denon.com/diraclive/na/en/ .

 

[Kael]

Thoughts on whether there’s much variation between the 4800h and Marantz Cinema 40? Apart from the price of course. It’s about £600 here, I’m just wondering if there’s many differences in the construction, apart from the gold plated ports, nicer remote, UI and fascia.

 

[ban25]

Thoughts on whether there’s much variation between the 4800h and Marantz Cinema 40? Apart from the price of course. It’s about £600 here, I’m just wondering if there’s many differences in the construction, apart from the gold plated ports, nicer remote, UI and fascia.

Internally and software-wise? No difference. Only difference is the aesthetics, and whether that's worth the price premium is up to you. FWIW, I think the C40 is the best looking AVR on the market, especially in silver, and if Integra had not announced Roon support, that's what I would own right now.

 

[peng]

Thoughts on whether there’s much variation between the 4800h and Marantz Cinema 40? Apart from the price of course. It’s about £600 here, I’m just wondering if there’s many differences in the construction, apart from the gold plated ports, nicer remote, UI and fascia.

It depends on which part of the world you are in. For example the list prices of the two in France:

Cinema 40 €2,800.00
AVR-X4800H €2,599.00

So based on D+M websites official list price (discounts obviously varies among dealers), the difference is only €2,01.00

In the US:

Cinema 40 USD 3500
Cinema 50 USD 2500
AVR-X4800H USD 2499

the difference is $1001, that seems ridiculous!! So, if in the USA or Canada, one would have to pay USD 1,001 for the Marantz look and gold plated ports that does nothing to sound quality and you can't even see them from the front. I suspect a lot of people gladly paid such a huge premium, say even USD 500 if they were able to find a deep discount, might not have opted for it had they known that, somehow D+M in North America jacked the Marantz price up so much, relative to that in other parts of the world.

In France, or other parts of Europe and Asia, it would be a much easier decision to go with Marantz for the better aesthetics and the silly HDAMs (to those who believe in the hype), I would, because I prefer that modern look from the front though I wish they skip the HDAMs that to me, will do more harm than good. The remote and frascia may be "nicer" to a lot of people, but I am not sure about the UI. In the past, the UI (if you mean the screens, web interface, apps etc.), they are practically the same between their comparable models. And for the Cinema 40 and AVR-X4800H, based on what I saw on the Masimo videos, I don't recall they look much different (if at all).

 

[anarchist]

Just measured Yamaha RX-A3080 pre-outs vs Denon AVR-4800H in REW, in direct pure mode, at 3V output - Yamaha actually does better:

 

[steveoat87]

Internally and software-wise? No difference. Only difference is the aesthetics, and whether that's worth the price premium is up to you. FWIW, I think the C40 is the best looking AVR on the market, especially in silver, and if Integra had not announced Roon support, that's what I would own right now.

Any reason why Denon/Marantz does not offer Roon support. Does anyone know if Denon/Marantz has made any mention of this?

 

[steveoat87]

Why no support for multichannel dsf files on the Denon X4800h. I find this to be crazy and real head scratcher. I have the Denon but I wonder why a company would make a premium multi-channel receiver, yet not provide full support for all multichannel files, especially dsf which are based on multichannel sacds. Any thoughts?

 

[peng]

Why no support for multichannel dsf files on the Denon X4800h. I find this to be crazy and real head scratcher. I have the Denon but I wonder why a company would make a premium multi-channel receiver, yet not provide full support for all multichannel files, especially dsf which are based on multichannel sacds. Any thoughts?

Are you sure, my AVR-X4400H does support multichannel DSD but obviously it only supports it in the lowest resolution.

 

[EWL5]

Why no support for multichannel dsf files on the Denon X4800h. I find this to be crazy and real head scratcher. I have the Denon but I wonder why a company would make a premium multi-channel receiver, yet not provide full support for all multichannel files, especially dsf which are based on multichannel sacds. Any thoughts?

Do you mean DSD? Never heard of DSF...

 

[steveoat87]

When you look at the manual and look at the file support, it only mentions 2 channel dsf and not multichannel.

 

[Joffy1780]

Do you mean DSD? Never heard of DSF...

Same thing

 

[popej]

Multichannel DSD is supported over HDMI but not over network or from USB.
Actually does any AVR support multichannel music over network? DSD, FLAC, ac3 or anything?

 

[ban25]

Multichannel DSD is supported over HDMI but not over network or from USB.
Actually does any AVR support multichannel music over network? DSD, FLAC, ac3 or anything?

My fingers are crossed that when the PAC AVRs are updated for Roon Ready, they will support lossless multi-channel. But we will see...

 

[ban25]

Any reason why Denon/Marantz does not offer Roon support. Does anyone know if Denon/Marantz has made any mention of this?

My theory is that they are trying to push their HEOS crap...

 

[steveoat87]

My theory is that they are trying to push their HEOS crap...

HEOS is terrible. My hope is that is Onkyo is truly Roon Ready, maybe Marantz/Denon will feel they need to stay competitive and offer this.

 

[steveoat87]

Multichannel DSD is supported over HDMI but not over network or from USB.
Actually does any AVR support multichannel music over network? DSD, FLAC, ac3 or anything?

I believe you can do this with minimserver. Can anyone confirm?

 

[muslhead]

Multichannel DSD is supported over HDMI but not over network or from USB.
Actually does any AVR support multichannel music over network? DSD, FLAC, ac3 or anything?

I believe this is a sony licencing thing. Unless it is played from the disc, it is only transmittable via HDMI
That being said, i am pretty sure i have used jriver to push mch dsf files to my old denon without problem.

 

[CapMan]

Any reason why Denon/Marantz does not offer Roon support. Does anyone know if Denon/Marantz has made any mention of this?

Their AVRs are Roon Tested which means Roon sees the AVR but streams using Airplay not Raat.

Roon Works on my cinema 70 - AirPlay runs everything as 44.1/16 .