Denon AVR-X6800H now released.

[peng]

If you are German speaking, here's another one, adding to @tmukh 's question about the dac chip credibility:

You can see it actually says ES9017 DACs!! It is for the Marantz Cinema 30, but in the past the X6400H through X6700H shares the same DAC board with the SR8012, SR8015, AV7704/7705.

Enough said, based on multiple collaborative sources of info, I feel comfortable the AVC-X6800H and C30 uses the ES9017S, that has much better SINAD specs than the previously used PCM5102A. It is even comparable to the AK4490 used in the AV8805A and AVR-X8500H, and better than the ES9010 K2M used in those since the AKM dac chips shortages started in the spring of 2021.

 

[tmukh]

If only from one source, no, but it is from multiple sources including one that is Denon. Also, on that chart you can see the Denon logo so the dealer who posted it must have gotten it from Denon.

There is at least one Youtube video in which I could see the label ES9017S on my 65 inch Sony TV, but I can see it clearly on my PC monitor:

Time 11:30

View attachment 353770

Too bad, D+M NA don't seem to think we North American care about the technical stuff too lol, so aide from German and French sources, I found another one form the Far East, the speaker gave the presentation in Cantonese instead of Mandarin so I assume it's from Hong Kong Denon:

This guy went further, actually clarify the point that @tjcinnamon and I were speculating about how many PCM5102A are used. I thought 3 based on D+M's past history of using 3 for the zone 2,3 and network though I was wondering why would it be PCM5102A when previously they used the cheaper PCM5100 for zone 2,3 and network.

Now we know the answer, according to the presenter, there is one PCM5102 (note it says PCM5012, clearly a typo on the slide), for SW4. He commented that the PCM5102A's SNR at 20 Hz is only 2 dB lower so it won't affect performance.

So the two ES9017S covers SW1 through 3, and the PCM5102A is for the SW4.

View attachment 353775

Excellent research! Thanks a lot for consolidating all these sources here in one post. I've always found your posts very informative.
Really looking forward to getting the delivery of this receiver next week.

 

[peng]

Excellent research! Thanks a lot for consolidating all these sources here in one post. I've always found your posts very informative.
Really looking forward to getting the delivery of this receiver next week.

Look forward to reading posts on how you feel about the new toy versus what you have now. One thing for sure, given the anticipated improved SINAD, it should at least sound transparent in terms of noise and distortions. Other than that, for sound quality, it would of course be a subjective matter.

 

[-Matt-]

For what it's worth, I had approximately 1 or 2 AV dropouts each evening of TV watching with my X6700, and now get the same with an X8500.

When it happens you can hear relays click in the AVR (like changing source), sound stops and video blanks. It takes maybe 2 seconds for the signal to resume. Very occasionally the TV can't reconnect the signal properly and you get stuck with the no signal painting display. I find that switching the TVs HDMI input usually fixes this, but I have also had to do a full power down on rare occasions.

This is with an LG CX and fairly short, certified ultra high speed HDMI cables (tried several). Audio is usually direct to the AVR from the cable box (via HDMI). I only use eARC for the TVs built in apps which I use much less often. pretty sure I have seen AV drops during eARC use too though. Thankfully, I don't recall ever having dropouts whilst using the PS5 (touch wood) though it often gets stuck with no signal when switching between frame rates and hdr modes.

The fact that it happened with both the X6700 and X8500 should rule out that either device is faulty (my X6700 had another unrelated fault which is why it went back for warranty repair/replacement). The X6700 and X8500 likely share the same hdmi board and so the problem could be with its design, however, this does all seem to point the finger of blame more at the TV.

I may have finally figured out what has causing the occasional HDMI dropouts I was experiencing...

My eco setting was to turn off zones 2 and 3 after 2 hours of no use. When these are turned off it causes an HDMI dropout on the main zone.

I'm glad to know of this cause, hopefully it is the only one for me (it sounds like others were having a different source of dropouts). I'll have to try to figure out a way of turning on the AVR main zone without powering up zone 2 and 3 (or turning them off in a macro). (I use IP control rather than the remote).

EDIT: Now resolved using "ZM ON" and "ZM OFF" (controlling just main zone), instead of "PW ON" and "PW STANDBY" which were turning all 3 zones on and off.

 

[Tanquen]

I may have finally figured out what has causing the occasional HDMI dropouts I was experiencing...

My eco setting was to turn off zones 2 and 3 after 2 hours of no use. When these are turned off it causes an HDMI dropout on the main zone.

I'm glad to know of this cause, hopefully it is the only one for me (it sounds like others were having a different source of dropouts). I'll have to try to figure out a way of turning on the AVR main zone without powering up zone 2 and 3 (or turning them off in a macro). (I use IP control rather than the remote).

EDIT: Now resolved using "ZM ON" and "ZM OFF" (controlling just main zone) instead of "PW ON" and "PW STANDBY".

My fix was to put the 6500 back. I tried factory resets on the 6800 but nothing made a difference. It kept dropping any earc signal and randomly getting stuck with a black output until power cycle.

 

[DTSman]

Hello,

The X6800 is running for 1 week in my home theater.

Setup 11.2.4 JBL Pro speakers with 9.2.4 processing enable. I tested full preamp mode and now a mix using internal denon amplifier to feed front wide, surround, surround back, front height and top middle speakers (10 amps used). Front left center and right speakers are amplified by a Rotel RMB1585.

I test various music and movies samples and I can say this X6800 make a great job with Audyssey (MultEQ software). Of course it is not a big revolution with my previous X6700, however I will receive in the next day 2 subwoofers (Four JBL Pro 3635: FL, FR, RL and RR positions) to switch into 9.4.4 processing.

I also test subwoofer using directionnal option Left/Right. Result, the bass are less demonstrative but seems better controlled to me. Typically movie like Blade Runner 2049 is played easily even though it is extremely bass heavy. Mission accomplish! Now waiting for Dirac ART to manage 4 subwoofers.

 

[patoulol]

Same here, for 5 days with the 6800H, like DTSman, my bass is drier and more punchy. My room here

Member from France : my system in picture! Denon 6800

Nouvelle photo Looks awesome. I hope you actually get to spend some time in there!

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[-Matt-]

Great to hear some reports of success with the X6800.

@DTSman and @patoulol, do either of you have an LG TV in your X6800 setup?

 

[KenMasters]

Great to hear some reports of success with the X6800.

@DTSman and @patoulol, do either of you have an LG TV in your X6800 setup?

I do, currently connected to a C9, with a G3 incoming. I was using eARC for a few days without issue, but am now routing everything through the X6800 for simplicity's sake - no issues there either.

 

[tmukh]

Look forward to reading posts on how you feel about the new toy versus what you have now. One thing for sure, given the anticipated improved SINAD, it should at least sound transparent in terms of noise and distortions. Other than that, for sound quality, it would of course be a subjective matter.

I have the 4400H now and it will still stay in the other room.

 

[DTSman]

Great to hear some reports of success with the X6800.

@DTSman and @patoulol, do either of you have an LG TV in your X6800 setup?

Hello,

Unfortunately I only use direct optical HDMI from the X6800 to my projector. No TV in my room, so I do not use Earc for instance.
I just open a thread to describe my system:

Home Theater 11.2.4 DTS:X Pro [Denon X6800H]

Hello, I am Nico from France. Home cinema's fan for almost 30 years. I often read this forum and more precisly Amirm reviews. Thanks for his work. Here my home theater: 11.2.4 speakers with 9.2.4 processing drived by a Denon X6800H which just replaced a Denon X6700H. Speakers: 3 fronts JBL...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[aligalahan]

For what its worth, i have returned the 6800 (i had screen malfunction) and got my new Marantz Cinema 30. It seems almost identical to Denon 6800 (functionality wise), and also setup UI etc are all identical. i might be wrong (or subjective) but sound of the amp was different and better when listening music. (no discernable difference when watching movies in atmos or otherwise however)

Now onto the interesting part. My eARC dropout listening to Youtube videos from LG C3, at first did not repro for a long time. And then in one song, it reproduced 2 or 3 times. So it must be a (minor) issue between LG C3 and HDMI board on the marantz/denon. I am thinking LG is probably the guilty part here. When sending stereo content over DD back to Amp. I am not sure who is upmixing but youtube videos sounds dolby surround. (is it tv? or amp?). No dropouts etc over Atmos content or any other LG TV app. Prime Video, apple tv, netflix, all works fine no drop outs. When playing from Apple TV box directly to amp, naturally no dropouts, and there i can see input is stereo, and amp can upmix it to whatever. I prefer that.

Marantz is bigger and heavier than Denon. It has a different transformer, and amp design it looks like. It seems to me, unless you really spend a lot of time listening music (i do), on that setup, there doesnt seem to be any reason to upgrade to Marantz. MY setup has Deftech DM80 fronts and center, so for me Marantz sounded better in that combo. Kef Q350 (on the surround back) sounded just a about same between Denon and Marantz. My Deftech dolby surround DM90 up firing speakers are utterly useless in any setup, i got to get proper dolby speakers on the ceiling yet.

These are my observations from Marantz vs Denon.

 

[tmukh]

Receiving my 6800 this Monday. A bit scary hearing all these issues with the 6800. Is there anyone with the 6800 who has NOT faced these issues?
Edit: oh! I plan to use an LG C3 with this receiver.

 

[EWL5]

So far, not very impressed by Japan-sourced Denons!

 

[-Matt-]

Let's keep in mind that people are far more likely to post when they are looking to solve a problem than when everything is working fine.

So far the following users have had problems:
@Tanquen (LG G3, HDMI dropouts, returned)
@aligalahan (LG C3, HDMI dropouts, returned)

Whilst these users seem to be happy with their X6800:
@tjcinnamon (LG C2)
@patoulol (Epson LS12000)
@KenMasters (LG C9)
@DTSman (Epson LS12000)

Please let me know if I've missed anyone, or if I've put you in the wrong set.

You could look at this and think there are problems with 1 in 3 X6800s, but this is such a small sampling that it is practically meaningless, and I expect it massively over-represents the overall number of systems with problems.

Furthermore, lets not forget that the most probable cause of the problems in these systems was either the TV or the HDMI cabling. (These were potentially just highlighted by the tighter tolerances in the X6800s HDMI implementation, and it ended up being easier to return the amp).

 

[peng]

Receiving my 6800 this Monday. A bit scary hearing all these issues with the 6800. Is there anyone with the 6800 who has NOT faced these issues?
Edit: oh! I plan to use an LG C3 with this receiver.

The likes of the super feature rich and up-to-date AVRs, when paired with some also feature rich and up-to-date video devices, I think there bound to be someone who incurred those reported issues. So far I have not seen anyone posted about any serious issues, the blank screen kind of issue appeared to be setting related (see AVSF on that) and the other main annoying one seems specific for those used it with a particular model of LG TV.

When I bought my Anthem AVM70, if the 6800 was available, I might have preferred it, I am very happy with the AVM, but it had tons of issues at and months after launch time. I avoided those issues by delaying my purchase so it is now almost bug free, but I cannot guarantee if would be trouble free as I have no used many of its features yet. For example, I have no idea if it would be trouble free on the video side such as those CEC related features, and/or eARC kind of gadgets. My point, is, the 6800 seems fine based on posts I have read on AVSF and ASR so far, though unfortunately it doesn't seem bug free. It is unacceptable, but that's the way it is now, even the populist highly rated (reliability) vehicles such as Honda's have been recalled more than once, including even safety related features. More people need to complain directly to the manufacturers, in addition to reporting bugs on forums, if we want them to tighten up their QS system.

 

[peng]

Let's keep in mind that people are far more likely to post when they are looking to solve a problem than when everything is working fine.

So far we the following users have had problems:
@Tanquen (HDMI dropouts, returned)
@aligalahan (HDMI dropouts, returned)

Two I read on AVSF:

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/denon-avr-x6800h-owner-anticipation-thread-no-price-talk.3290977/page-3?post_id=63148995&nested_view=1&sortby=oldest#post-63148995

The following so called blank info screen one was solved (setting related):

https://www.avsforum.com/threads/denon-avr-x6800h-owner-anticipation-thread-no-price-talk.3290977/page-3?post_id=63160358&nested_view=1&sortby=oldest#post-63160358

 

[EWL5]

Let's keep in mind that people are far more likely to post when they are looking to solve a problem than when everything is working fine.

So far we the following users have had problems:
@Tanquen (HDMI dropouts, returned)
@aligalahan (HDMI dropouts, returned)

Whilst these users seem to be happy with their X6800:
@tjcinnamon
@patoulol
@KenMasters
@DTSman

Please let me know if I've missed anyone, or if I've put you in the wrong set.

You could look at this and think there are problems with 1 in 3 X6800s, but this is such a small sampling that it is practically meaningless, and I expect it massively over-represents the overall number of systems with problems.

Furthermore, lets not forget that the most probable cause of the problems in these systems was either the TV or the HDMI cabling. (These were potentially just highlighted by the tighter tolerances in the X6800s HDMI implementation, and it ended up being easier to return the amp).

The issue is I frequent the 3800 threads and I can't even count on one hand the number of 3800-specific reliability complaints from ASR and AVS combined!
I'm not counting any issues related to LG TVs since that is endemic across the board for Denons apparently!

 

[-Matt-]

The issue is I frequent the 3800 threads and I can't even count on one hand the number of 3800-specific reliability complaints from ASR and AVS combined!
I'm not counting any issues related to LG TVs since that is endemic across the board for Denons apparently!

Can't count on one hand... so more than 5. As compared to the many hundreds, possibly thousands of X3800 users who don't experience any problems and therefore don't post in such threads.

I deliberately kept the discussion to only confirmed X6800 owners in this thread, as with the lower volume of sales we have a better chance of gathering reasonable user satisfaction data.

Note: I don't deny that bugs like HDMI handshaking incompatibilities are extremely annoying.

 

[EWL5]

Can't count on one hand... so more than 5. As compared to the many hundreds, possibly thousands of X3800 users who don't experience any problems and therefore don't post in such threads.

I deliberately kept the discussion to only confirmed X6800 owners in this thread, as with the lower volume of sales we have a better chance of gathering reasonable user satisfaction data.

Note: I don't deny that bugs like HDMI handshaking incompatibilities are extremely annoying.

That's fine. Let's just say I don't subscribe to the "vocal minority" theory only pertaining to the 4800/6800...