Denon AVR-X6700H AVR Review (Updated)

[peng]

I can use some help. Can any 6700 owner's here check for the function of their front USB input. I posted the following on AVS Forum, but have not yet got any reply.

"I just got my new Denon AVR-X6700H from Visions on Monday. I wanted to get front wide's and more Auro 3d up-mixer channels for my home theater. I took out my Marantz SR-7012 which has been in that position for 5 years. I have a 7.2.4 system with JVC 590 projector and 138" Elite screen.

The 6700 sounds good and seemed to work well until I checked out one feature this evening. The front USB port does not seem to work. I have some FLAC files (8 albums from HDtracks). I have them on several USB sticks including Kingston and Lexar. I have always had no issue playing these through the USB inputs on my Yamaha RX-3070/3050, Panasonic 900/820, and my Oppo 103/203's.

I plugged my USB stick into the 6700 and it basically is all messed up. It can freeze the whole receiver up or turn the tv picture into distorted lines. It may also play some of the song with a bunch of skips every several seconds. I was not sure if the unit was defective or what. I tried all of these USB's in all of the units mentioned above and they work perfectly as they normally do.

I then took these same USB sticks up to my living room system where my SR-7012 now is being used. I know that I have used all of these USB sticks with the Marantz and they always worked without issue. Surprisingly I was getting the same behaviour from the Marantz........could not play at all from the menu, freezing onscreen menu and the display on the Marantz was just flailing away displaying long sequences of numbers??

This seems to indicate that the 6700 may not be defective and that possibly a recent Denon/ Marantz firmware update has messed up the USB input. Both my 6700 and 7012 have the most up to date firmware. I am in Canada. I also checked these drives and they were formatted in fat32. I formatted a different USB drive in NTFS and copied some of these FLAC files from the original source and ............ same results....plays on everything accept the 6700 and 7012.

Can anybody chime in on this?

I had it on wi-fi, then I have also tried wired ethernet.......no difference. I wanted to find out if anyone that has a 6700, and the up to date firmware, has issues playing their flac via the front USB input. It seems very suspect that BOTH my 6700 and 7012 (which used to function normally) are both having a similar issue.

I also saw some of the firmware update logs and Denon seems to have been trying to fix USB file playback issues.
support.denon.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3832/~/latest-heos-app-and-firmware-update-available

I know I fully updated the firmware of the new 6700 the day I got it and have also done recent updates on the 7012.

If I don't find out that other people are having the same issue......then my 6700 is likely defective and will have to go back. I hope this is not true because the discount on the unit was historic......even better than some pre Clamid-69 (Covid 19) era deals."

You need to make sure the files you have on the usb has resolution no higher than 24b/192 kHz if they are PCM. If the 7012 can't play, then I doubt the 6700 is defective. It would has to be something you were doing. Did you try playing the same files on the network, that is, directly from your PC?

 

[JKR1963]

You need to make sure the files you have on the usb has resolution no higher than 24b/192 kHz if they are PCM. If the 7012 can't play, then I doubt the 6700 is defective. It would has to be something you were doing. Did you try playing the same files on the network, that is, directly from your PC?

Thanks Peng. The files are 96khz-24bit FLAC (Muse-Drones and Muse-2nd Law) and also Radiohead 48khz-24bit FLAC (A Moon Shaped Pool). I also have 4 other free 96khz-24bit FLAC sampler albums.

All of these are from HDtracks and should play via the USB input per the Denon manual (192 khz -24 bit). Does anyone have any 96khz-24bit files on a USB stick that they can try to play on their 6700 (with the newest firmware)?

I am wondering if a recent firmware update has caused an issue?

 

[popej]

All of these are from HDtracks and should play via the USB input per the Denon manual (192 khz -24 bit).

Maybe some incompatibilities in flac data, like unknown tags or code page? You could try to re-compress files.

 

[peng]

Thanks Peng. The files are 96khz-24bit FLAC (Muse-Drones and Muse-2nd Law) and also Radiohead 48khz-24bit FLAC (A Moon Shaped Pool). I also have 4 other free 96khz-24bit FLAC sampler albums.

All of these are from HDtracks and should play via the USB input per the Denon manual (192 khz -24 bit). Does anyone have any 96khz-24bit files on a USB stick that they can try to play on their 6700 (with the newest firmware)?

I am wondering if a recent firmware update has caused an issue?

Can try:

-Download again from HDtracks
-Use a 64gb usb drive, even 32gb if you have one.
- reformat the usb drive using fat32
-Unzip the files again if necessary
'As suggested, remove the giles such as jpg, pdf etc., before plugging into tbe Denon

If that works, then you can repeat using a 128gb usb drive that shoukd still work, and try format to NTFS, iirc, that worked too but it has been a long time so might have remembered wrong.

 

[JKR1963]

Thanks guys. I will have to try more stuff. Strange how I can play instantly without any fuss on other units. I am going out to Visions right now and am hoping they still have their 6700 demo as I will try the drive in that unit. Typically a user should not be having to format and remove etc etc just to play a FLAC download or there never would have been any existing market for such in the first place.

 

[peng]

Thanks guys. I will have to try more stuff. Strange how I can play instantly without any fuss on other units. I am going out to Visions right now and am hoping they still have their 6700 demo as I will try the drive in that unit. Typically a user should not be having to format and remove etc etc just to play a FLAC download or there never would have been any existing market for such in the first place.

Normally you don't have to but sometimes files could get corrupted. It happened to me a few times before.

If you can try it in your dealer's then it is a good way to do.

 

[JeepsterAu]

I can use some help. Can any 6700 owner's here check for the function of their front USB input. I posted the following on AVS Forum, but have not yet got any reply.

"I just got my new Denon AVR-X6700H from Visions on Monday. I wanted to get front wide's and more Auro 3d up-mixer channels for my home theater. I took out my Marantz SR-7012 which has been in that position for 5 years. I have a 7.2.4 system with JVC 590 projector and 138" Elite screen.

The 6700 sounds good and seemed to work well until I checked out one feature this evening. The front USB port does not seem to work. I have some FLAC files (8 albums from HDtracks). I have them on several USB sticks including Kingston and Lexar. I have always had no issue playing these through the USB inputs on my Yamaha RX-3070/3050, Panasonic 900/820, and my Oppo 103/203's.

I plugged my USB stick into the 6700 and it basically is all messed up. It can freeze the whole receiver up or turn the tv picture into distorted lines. It may also play some of the song with a bunch of skips every several seconds. I was not sure if the unit was defective or what. I tried all of these USB's in all of the units mentioned above and they work perfectly as they normally do.

I then took these same USB sticks up to my living room system where my SR-7012 now is being used. I know that I have used all of these USB sticks with the Marantz and they always worked without issue. Surprisingly I was getting the same behaviour from the Marantz........could not play at all from the menu, freezing onscreen menu and the display on the Marantz was just flailing away displaying long sequences of numbers??

This seems to indicate that the 6700 may not be defective and that possibly a recent Denon/ Marantz firmware update has messed up the USB input. Both my 6700 and 7012 have the most up to date firmware. I am in Canada. I also checked these drives and they were formatted in fat32. I formatted a different USB drive in NTFS and copied some of these FLAC files from the original source and ............ same results....plays on everything accept the 6700 and 7012.

Can anybody chime in on this?

I had it on wi-fi, then I have also tried wired ethernet.......no difference. I wanted to find out if anyone that has a 6700, and the up to date firmware, has issues playing their flac via the front USB input. It seems very suspect that BOTH my 6700 and 7012 (which used to function normally) are both having a similar issue.

I also saw some of the firmware update logs and Denon seems to have been trying to fix USB file playback issues.
support.denon.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3832/~/latest-heos-app-and-firmware-update-available

I know I fully updated the firmware of the new 6700 the day I got it and have also done recent updates on the 7012.

If I don't find out that other people are having the same issue......then my 6700 is likely defective and will have to go back. I hope this is not true because the discount on the unit was historic......even better than some pre Clamid-69 (Covid 19) era deals."

I use the USB port routinely and extensively, as my entire collection is on a usb hard drive (why is another and long story). The drive is formatted as NTFS. I play FLAC and HiRes FLAC without any issues. To the best of my knowledge I am running the latest firmware as the amp has not offered me a new one for some time.

I suggest you start again with a new USB stick, formatted as either FAT32 or NTFS (I've used both) but do not format in your computer in case it is actually the cause and test again on both your amps with a single track of each source type. You need to eliminate the most likely to fail component before blaming the receiver.

 

[cappyj]

Looking to make sure I can do what I want regarding main zone vs zone2/3

Can the 6700 run 5.1.2 in the main room and then power 4 speakers on zone 2/3? The manual shows it can power 7 speakers in the main room with 4 speakers in zone 2/3, but it shows those 7 having surround back instead of height (I won't have surround back). Can I assign those SBs to be height (the graphic shows Height 1 as inactive when plugging zone 2 and 3 in Height 2 and Height 3). Or do I plug my heights in height 1, and nothing in surround back?

 

[JKR1963]

Thanks Jeepster, I did get one of my existing drives to work today. I am going to keep working on this to determine what the issue is. At least I know the 6700 is not likely defective.

 

[SlaughterX]

well this makes me feel better about owning the 6700... but is the 3700 still better if using external amps?

 

[SharinganUser]

Did this AVR shut down with the amp test, like the previous 6700?

I was wondering this exact same thing..

 

[Barney O'Hara]

In November 2023 I bought the 6700 as it was reduced from $4300 cdn to $1899. How can I find out if this is a good one?
thanks,
barney

 

[SharinganUser]

In November 2023 I bought the 6700 as it was reduced from $4300 cdn to $1899. How can I find out if this is a good one?
thanks,
barney

Me too. Why wouldn't it be a good one? Mine is awesome.

 

[Barney O'Hara]

Yes, l'm enjoying this too and I don't even have a sub or all the speakers. (yet). I'm just freaking out a bit because when I find reviews that have concerns, after I buy it, I kind of panic. I'm hoping I can double check that my unit has all the problems solved.

 

[SharinganUser]

Im no expert. Nor did I make this unit, But my understanding is most of the issues were with the 2020 models when this first came out. We literally bought the last models that were made so I'm pretty sure everything has been sorted. I've had my system since you had yours and I'm running it with a sub and nine very power hunger speakers and it's performed like a champ. I think you're okay.

 

[Barney O'Hara]

Many thanks for the reassurance. Dying to know which "power hungry" speakers you use.

 

[SharinganUser]

Haha well they are CRAZY power hungry but are all 4 ohm 86-87 db sensitivity. 9 R Meta series speakers. R6 R3s and R8s

 

[soundofsilence]

im sure somewhere on this site or even with Denon themselves you can confirm via the serial number - but i am pretty sure anything after a certain date is totally fine and now we are past that date

 

[Palmspar]

If i remember correctly the first x700 models had the hdmi bug, the upgraded models work fine with hdmi 2.1

 

[SlaughterX]

Thought it was a capacitator issue... but yeah, that was 4 years ago... you and I are both fine. I do have an issue with audio drop outs every now and then, which is strange.