Denon AVR-X4800H AVR Review

[steveoat87]

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 .

Airplay is too limiting in terms of sample bit rate and limits the full functionality of Roon. They need to be roon endpoints like Onkyo and NAD does with their receivers.

 

[CapMan]

Airplay is too limiting in terms of sample bit rate and limits the full functionality of Roon. They need to be roon endpoints like Onkyo and NAD does with their receivers.

Which functionality is limited ? I can use all the DSP, searches, meta data, volume , sleep timer . It’s just the transmission at 44/16 I think …

 

[ban25]

Which functionality is limited ? I can use all the DSP, searches, meta data, volume , sleep timer . It’s just the transmission at 44/16 I think …

No lossless transmission, no multi-channel audio, no Roon cover-art display, etc. You also lose all of the Roon Signal Path data because there's no 2-way communication as with RAAT. So essentially Roon is just throwing it over the fence as AirPlay and has no idea what happens next. FWIW, if you want better than 44.1/16, then stream via Roon/Chromecast instead. It's just a higher bandwidth protocol which the Denon supports out of the box.

The fact that the D+M receivers *can* stream 24-bit lossless, *if* you use HEOS, tells me that they are likely ignoring Roon to support their own ecosystem.

 

[CapMan]

No lossless transmission, no multi-channel audio, no Roon cover-art display, etc. You also lose all of the Roon Signal Path data because there's no 2-way communication as with RAAT. So essentially Roon is just throwing it over the fence as AirPlay and has no idea what happens next. FWIW,

I do get signal path data up to the point of replay on the Marantz - which is correctly identified on Roon. No issues with cover art on the playback device as I see this on my iPhone. It’s kinda of nice that the TV is not powered on by airplay.

44.1/16 is fine for me - I attribute most of the difference I hear in higher resolutions to differences in the mastering not the resolution. Maybe my hearing isnt good enough!

Your point on HEOS is a good one, wonder how HDMI from chrome cast compares to say a wiim pro via coax or a little pi4 based Roon endpoint

 

[peng]

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

It does mention 5.1:

Page 297:

Page 305:

Page 310:

As mentioned before, it depends on the type of input, for Mult-channel DSD, use HDMI.

 

[ban25]

I do get signal path data up to the point of replay on the Marantz - which is correctly identified on Roon. No issues with cover art on the playback device as I see this on my iPhone. It’s kinda of nice that the TV is not powered on by airplay.

44.1/16 is fine for me - I attribute most of the difference I hear in higher resolutions to differences in the mastering not the resolution. Maybe my hearing isnt good enough!

Your point on HEOS is a good one, wonder how HDMI from chrome cast compares to say a wiim pro via coax or a little pi4 based Roon endpoint

So it's actually built into the AVR and into Roon. From Roon, if you go to Settings -> Audio and scroll down to "Other network devices", you should see your AVR listed twice, once with "via AirPlay" and again with "via Chromecast streaming". Choosing Chromecast should get you higher resolution.

 

[fzst]

A question to the 4800 owners: Can the AVR save two different presets with different Audyssey settings? So that you can switch between two different profiles that have different speaker distance values via the remote?

 

[rvsixer]

A question to the 4800 owners: Can the AVR save two different presets with different Audyssey settings? So that you can switch between two different profiles that have different speaker distance values via the remote?

User manual under "Speaker Presets" and "Quick Select", yes.

 

[steveoat87]

It does mention 5.1:

Page 297:
View attachment 309950

Page 305:
View attachment 309951

Page 310:
View attachment 309952

As mentioned before, it depends on the type of input, for Mult-channel DSD, use HDMI.

I tried to play a multichannel flac file using the usb input of the Denon 4800h. However when you play a usb file, it seems to default to HEOS. When I play the file, it describes the input as only 2 channel, where it is clearly a multichannel. Do files using the USB always default to HEOS, or is there a way around this. From the chart you show above, it looks like usb should recognize the multichannel file and play it back as such.

 

[Snoopy]

So it's actually built into the AVR and into Roon. From Roon, if you go to Settings -> Audio and scroll down to "Other network devices", you should see your AVR listed twice, once with "via AirPlay" and again with "via Chromecast streaming". Choosing Chromecast should get you higher resolution.

AirPlay2 is not lossless..so you get aac256.

 

[peng]

I tried to play a multichannel flac file using the usb input of the Denon 4800h. However when you play a usb file, it seems to default to HEOS. When I play the file, it describes the input as only 2 channel, where it is clearly a multichannel. Do files using the USB always default to HEOS, or is there a way around this. From the chart you show above, it looks like usb should recognize the multichannel file and play it back as such.

That chart is applicable to HDMI input, not USB input.

For USB input, you can play DSD up to 5.6 MHz' that is DSD128, 2 channel.

 

[rocketroberto]

AirPlay2 is not lossless..so you get aac256.

Howdy....that's what I read as well. Could you advise about the simplest way to stream lossless audio with the x4800h?

Currently I only have an apple music account and am willing to switch to Spotify HiFi. Do you know if songs streamed when using the Spotify iOS app will be uncompressed? (16bit is fine for me) Edit: i see that Spotify HiFi isn't release yet. Sigh.

So, I guess best option is to get a Tidal account, or maybe Amazon Music HD? I assume that using these, they would connect directly to the Denon over WiFi ? (and so Airplay2 isn't even in the equation)

 

[dave999z]

Howdy....that's what I read as well. Could you advise about the simplest way to stream lossless audio with the x4800h?

Currently I only have an apple music account and am willing to switch to Spotify HiFi. Do you know if songs streamed when using the Spotify iOS app will be uncompressed? (16bit is fine for me)

Apple Music over AirPlay is lossless up to 16 bit / 44.1 kHz. If you want hi-res lossless, then you need to connect an external DAC to a Mac or iOS device (iPhone or iPad) via USB.

Spotify HiFi does not exist yet, right?

 

[popej]

Do you know if songs streamed when using the Spotify iOS app will be uncompressed?

Denon supports Spotify Connect. Music is not streamed from phone but played directly by AVR, phone is only a controller. Spotify Connect is still lossy, 320kbps Ogg Vorbis. IMHO nothing to be worry about.

 

[CapMan]

Denon supports Spotify Connect. Music is not streamed from phone but played directly by AVR, phone is only a controller. Spotify Connect is still lossy, 320kbps Ogg Vorbis. IMHO nothing to be worry about.

Could use a wiim pro

 

[rocketroberto]

Apple Music over AirPlay is lossless up to 16 bit / 44.1 kHz. If you want hi-res lossless, then you need to connect an external DAC to a Mac or iOS device (iPhone or iPad) via USB.

Spotify HiFi does not exist yet, right?

Denon supports Spotify Connect. Music is not streamed from phone but played directly by AVR, phone is only a controller. Spotify Connect is still lossy, 320kbps Ogg Vorbis. IMHO nothing to be worry about.

ok. But Tidal HiFi should work, right? (It's 16bit. Tidal HiFi plus is 24bit) Also it seems Amazon Ultra HD is 16bit lossless or higher.

 

[Snoopy]

Apple Music over AirPlay is lossless up to 16 bit / 44.1 kHz. If you want hi-res lossless, then you need to connect an external DAC to a Mac or iOS device (iPhone or iPad) via USB.

Spotify HiFi does not exist yet, right?

AirPlay2 is AAC only.

 

[rocketroberto]

AirPlay2 is AAC only.

right....I realized my best path is to get an AppleTV ($130), connect that to my AVR. As apple music played on the AppleTV is lossless (24bit/48khz). And there's an appletv remote-app for iphone and ipad. That way I can stick with my apple music subscription, instead of also adding on Tidal, etc...

 

[peng]

Howdy....that's what I read as well. Could you advise about the simplest way to stream lossless audio with the x4800h?

Currently I only have an apple music account and am willing to switch to Spotify HiFi. Do you know if songs streamed when using the Spotify iOS app will be uncompressed? (16bit is fine for me) Edit: i see that Spotify HiFi isn't release yet. Sigh.

So, I guess best option is to get a Tidal account, or maybe Amazon Music HD? I assume that using these, they would connect directly to the Denon over WiFi ? (and so Airplay2 isn't even in the equation)

I tried Tidal, but I prefer Qobuz and Amazon HD that seems more trouble free, better quality, interface, and better support(Qobuz).

 

[rocketroberto]

I tried Tidal, but I prefer Qobuz and Amazon HD that seems more trouble free, better quality, interface, and better support(Qobuz).

thx. since I have an apple music family account, I decided I'd go the route of getting a AppleTV (which supports 24-bit lossless), and connecting it to the DVR And there's an appleTV app, so....