Are you going to be using subwoofers? Will you be using a dedicated subwoofer for the Node when running 2 channel? I think option 2 would only work well if you were running full range speakers without subs. Otherwise you'd have to go into the Node to disable the subwoofer when watching movies to use the sub outputs on the x6800h.
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Denon AVR-X6800H now released.
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I just did a similar setup with my 6800 and Eversolo DMP-A6 and love it. I have my 6800 in preamp mode outputting to two external amps. One covers all of my heights, zone 2, and zone 3 while the other covers my FL,FR, C, and surrounds. I added a Bob Wire XLR1 to the mix and run RCA to XLR bluejeans cables from my fronts preamp on the Denon to the Bob Wire and the XLR outs from the Eversolo to the Bob Wire. My 6800 triggers the 2nd amp when it gets turned on and I let the Bob Wire handle the main amp. It is an easier setup for my wife who just wants music most of the time. It is probably placebo effect but it sounds cleaner to me. I also run the RCA outs to my CD in on the 6800 when we want whole house music from the Eversolo and then just choose that as the output on the Eversolo.
For the love of jebus, will someone please send this avr to Amir for testing, id love to know if it measures well! ... outside of that though, what are the main outstanding issues that are deal breakers for you folks that have pulled the trigger on this?
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I would like to see the review on this one as well. I think this is probably flagship grade really. The hdmi board is from their flagship product and it uses a higher quality dac than the 3800 and 4800. Just the differnce in SINAD would be great.
I have one in a 9.2.4 with Dirac Bass Control. It sounds fantastic in my far from ideal living room. I can't imagine I'd notice any SQ difference if measurements were a bit better or worse than other measured Denon AVRs. Does exactly what I want. Yes I expect a Trinnov would blow it away, but at 7x the cost inc. amps.
It's been faultless in operation. None of the flakiness reported with many AVRs, e.g. no crashes, lip sync is perfect whether from AVR to display or from display using eARC. It 'just works'. Actually I had one glitch after I turned it on with one of the external amps disconnected. Disconnected and reconnected power, all totally fine since. It's easy to use, though I only use a few inputs and don't do multi-room. That said the menus are pretty easy to understand.
The remote is a bit crap with no backlight, though there is an app which works fine and allows access to all features as far as I can tell. A few tiny niggles, like there's no at-a-glance way of seeing the input and output formats without pressing the 'change output format button, which pauses the sound for half a second. And I feel the need to check that the AVR is outputting e.g. Atmos when there's an Atmos input signal, because I'm sure I checked before and it wasn't. I don't think there is any way to tell the AVR to 'always format Atmos input as Atmos output' for example. And I can't see the on screen menu when using eARC.
I bought it because I:
- didn't see anything better at anything close to the money - I still don't
- needed all the processing channels
- thought it better to get a couple of channels of external amplification rather than stump for the A1H. A10H wasn't out then and I'd still probably have gone for the 6800.
If you need the channels then I'd say go for it and stop worrying. It's now available for £2.5k in the UK, a fair bit less than I paid and a steal IMO. Spend the savings on Dirac (if you want), a UMIK or a professional calibrator.
If you don't need as many channels, the same applies for the 4800 or 3800 in my view.
Hope that helps. Happy to answer any questions.
My opinion as well; great ‘bang-for-your-Buck’ compared to all the others. When using Dirac I’m not so sure Trinnov is that much better. Opposite to what I expected is the impact of Dirac compared to Audyssey. I spent quit some time on calibrating with both and much prefer Dirac.
D&M 13 channel AVRs were always great, so no reason to suspect that 6800 would not follow the tradition - I have 6700 in one of my setups and works and sounds great.
I would though refrain from making comments on the EQ systems at such general scale. It gets a bit more granular and fact specific for Audy vs Dirac. And Trinnov is a bit more advanced in pretty much all aspects - its calibration mic is way different than UMIC-1/2 or Audy individually calibrated mic, and adjustments in Optimizier are much more granular than Dirac and even Audy. Also, Storm apparently has a better implementation of Dirac than D&M - have you tried that?
Just out of curiosity, what was your process for calibrating the Audy vs Dirac? Was REW involved?
I would though refrain from making comments on the EQ systems at such general scale. It gets a bit more granular and fact specific for Audy vs Dirac. And Trinnov is a bit more advanced in pretty much all aspects - its calibration mic is way different than UMIC-1/2 or Audy individually calibrated mic, and adjustments in Optimizier are much more granular than Dirac and even Audy. Also, Storm apparently has a better implementation of Dirac than D&M - have you tried that?
Just out of curiosity, what was your process for calibrating the Audy vs Dirac? Was REW involved?
Most annoying thing is if you watch a lot of streaming content, some of which is in DD, some in DD+, and some in DD+ with Atmos metadata, the 6800 does not automatically distinguish between the last two, so you always have to manually check what the incoming signal codec is, and then manually make sure the 6800 is set to the correct sound mode you want for that codec. For example, if I watch something that's DD+ + Atmos and put the 6800 on the DSurr/Atmos sound mode, then I watch something that's dd+ (no Atmos), the 6800 defaults to the DD+ + DSurr mode, and I have to manually change it to just DD+ sound mode (because I don't want fake upmixing, I'd rather just not use those speakers). Very annoying. Emailed Denon about it. I'm sure it could be fixed via firmware. But I'm sure it won't be.
Yes this is what I was trying to say. The way it is implemented is confusing and inelegant.
Denon is not.
Received this response from Denon engineers:
So, there you have it. This is how it is intended to work. There's actually a typo in their response; they should have said DD+ and DD+(Atmos) are both treated as Dolby Digital Plus.
In my opinion, this is a major design flaw. I suspect this functionality could be changed via firmware if they wanted to.
If others agree, PLEASE submit feedback to Denon at: [email protected]
This is what I wrote:
I have a feature request for the x6800h. The x6800h treats both DD+ and DD+(Atmos) signals as Dolby Digital Plus for the purpose of remembering the last used sound mode. This is a problem because I do not want to use the same sound mode for these two types of signals. For DD+ signals, I want to use DD+ sound mode. For DD+(Atmos) signals, I want to use Atmos sound mode. This means that every single time I watch something I have to manually verify what the incoming signal type is, and then manually change the x6800h to the sound mode I want. Otherwise it could end up playing DD+ signals in DSurr mode and apply fake upmixing that I don't want, or, it could end up playing DD+(Atmos) signals in plain DD+ mode and miss out on the sound object metadata sent to the rear surround and height speakers. This is a huge inconvenience and flaw in the functionality of this receiver. I request that Denon please update the firmware so that the receiver remembers a unique sound mode for DD+ signals and a different unique sound mode for DD+(Atmos) signals. These are two very common audio formats for streaming services (including Netflix), so this issue arises frequently.
So, there you have it. This is how it is intended to work. There's actually a typo in their response; they should have said DD+ and DD+(Atmos) are both treated as Dolby Digital Plus.
In my opinion, this is a major design flaw. I suspect this functionality could be changed via firmware if they wanted to.
If others agree, PLEASE submit feedback to Denon at: [email protected]
This is what I wrote:
I have a feature request for the x6800h. The x6800h treats both DD+ and DD+(Atmos) signals as Dolby Digital Plus for the purpose of remembering the last used sound mode. This is a problem because I do not want to use the same sound mode for these two types of signals. For DD+ signals, I want to use DD+ sound mode. For DD+(Atmos) signals, I want to use Atmos sound mode. This means that every single time I watch something I have to manually verify what the incoming signal type is, and then manually change the x6800h to the sound mode I want. Otherwise it could end up playing DD+ signals in DSurr mode and apply fake upmixing that I don't want, or, it could end up playing DD+(Atmos) signals in plain DD+ mode and miss out on the sound object metadata sent to the rear surround and height speakers. This is a huge inconvenience and flaw in the functionality of this receiver. I request that Denon please update the firmware so that the receiver remembers a unique sound mode for DD+ signals and a different unique sound mode for DD+(Atmos) signals. These are two very common audio formats for streaming services (including Netflix), so this issue arises frequently.
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In the case of Yamaha, if I set 'direct mode', the source is automatically converted as is. Denon's 'direct mode' doesn't seem to be like that. (It's different from Pure Direct) It's too inconvenient for the user to check the input source and change the decoding one by one.
The software definitely seems more convenient for Yamaha.
With Denon, “Direct” mode bypasses Audyssey and bass management. So not a solution.
@amirm If/when you measure and review the 6800, please please please call out this annoying issue so that Denon takes note. As it stands, they're giving non-responses and even nonsensically pointing at Dolby as the problem.
Hello,
I'm wondering if any one has any experience setting up the receiver to bi-amp front speakers using external amplifiers?
I tried both 9.1(bi-amp) and 7.1(bi-amp)+zone 2. For both of them the high frequency has no pre-outs. I called Denon and they told me bi-amp is only for internal amp. I'm very surprised to hear this. If I want to do bi-amp, I obviously want more power and internal amp is not what I want. If it is true, then it is indeed a rather odd design decision.
Thanks
I'm wondering if any one has any experience setting up the receiver to bi-amp front speakers using external amplifiers?
I tried both 9.1(bi-amp) and 7.1(bi-amp)+zone 2. For both of them the high frequency has no pre-outs. I called Denon and they told me bi-amp is only for internal amp. I'm very surprised to hear this. If I want to do bi-amp, I obviously want more power and internal amp is not what I want. If it is true, then it is indeed a rather odd design decision.
Thanks
It does seem a bit strange, however it splits the load by frequency, thereby resolving some potential issues with difficult to drive speakers - in a number of possible marginal situations biamping with the internal amps could result in improved audio quality.
Having said that - my Gallo Ref 3.2 speakers, which were expressly designed for BiAmping (but also normal operation), sounded marginally (possibly my imagination level of margin!) - better when biamped - but using a single, much more robust amp, provided the same result, without the added complexit of biamping!! Experiments included using my Integra DTR70.4 in biamp mode - using a pair of Quad 707 power amps for biamping with external passive in line filters, and the solution that I am using to this day - circa 12 years I think - of a Crown XLS2500.... 440W@8ohm, 775W@4ohm, 1200W@2ohm.
It was worthy of note that although the designer of my speakers - Anthony Gallo - manufactured a bass amp for biamping them, in his later audio show demo's he did not use his own bass amp, instead he demoed with a Spectron Musician III, Class D amp rated at 600W@8ohm, 800W@4ohm, 1200W@2ohm.... (very similar to the Crown amp I use!)
So yeah Biamping can provide benefits.... but often the same can be achieved with an appropriately beefy amp.
If you feel the need for Biamping - and are already looking at the purchase of external amps - I would seriously consider my experiences, and consider whether your desired result might be achieved more simply with a bigger external amp, rather than two smaller external amps, which effectively don't provide a huge step up over the AVR...
That's not odd, you can still do biamp using ext. amps. What's the issue with using external amps?
My primary issue is when I set it up as "9.1-channel playback (bi-amp connection of front speakers)" following: https://manuals.denon.com/avrx6800h/na/en/DRDZSYbiqqjfof.php There is no signal from height3/front wide pre-out. So I cannot use external amplifiers for bi-amp. However, if I follow the link exactly, i.e. using internal amplifiers, then it works fine. But using internal amplifiers is not what I want. And support has confirmed that for bi-amp, I can only use internal amplifiers. That's why I think the design decision is odd.
I appreciate if you can provide more insight how I can do bi-amp using external amps.
PS, I tried height1, height2, and height3/front wide pre-out, none of them has any signal. And I tried "Spkr + Pre-out" and "Pre-out Only", also no luck.
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I already have a 5 channel amplifier, that's why I'm thinking about going this route. It's a home theater setup, and I don use front speakers for music. Do you mind letting me know which processor you are using to do bi-amp? Is it in a home theater setup as well?
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