New Denon AVR-X3300W 7.2 receiver

[Ilya]

I was looking for a new under $1000 receiver for my living room. And yesterday I picked up this latest Denon AVR-X3300W receiver from a local Magnolia ($949). It was't even listed on their website yet, but they already had one on hand.

It has all the goods needed for a 7.2 Dolby Atmos setup, including two separate preamps for 2 subs, with Audyssey Sub EQ HT 2-channel fine tuning. Pre-amp outputs, 8 HDMI inputs, 2 HDMI outputs. All HDMI inputs are 2.0a and HDCP 2.2. Multi-source/multi-room support. Rated 105 watts per channel. DTS:X firmware update is expected next month.

But most importantly, it comes with Audyssey MultEQ XT32 automatic room acoustic correction. Which is very important for imperfect listening environments. Everyone raves about it. I believe this is the first receiver to feature the XT32 that is not priced in 4 digits!

If you don't mind going with a last year's model, you could probably find the X4200W for around $1000 at a close-out, since the new X4300W is coming out next month, priced at $1500. That's Denon's next option with the XT32.

 

[Foxbat]

I'm not really ready to make the jump to Dolby Atmos, but I guess this explains Crutchfields price drop on their Denon AVR-Xn200W receivers. And the Wireless aspect isn't that critical, except for Bluetooth. All of my home theater equipment is hard-wired.

I suggested one of Denon's AVRs to a friend who needed to blend old tech (VCR, pre-upscaler DVD) with her new LG flat screen. She likes to listen to the Much Music channels via her TV provider, and I tried to introduce her to the Internet radio stations available on the Denon's built-in apps. I'm still not sure if she got it because every time we visit, the TV is on and she has the 50s Music channel playing. I can only do so much...

But that was my first experience with the Denon and I've switched my allegiance from Yamaha to Denon for my next Home Theater AVR.

 

[harshness]

It seems as though Denon, their sister brand Marantz and McIntosh are the only manufacturers still using Audyssey. Many consumers crow just as loudly about the alternatives (YPAO, MCACC, DCAC, AccuEQ).

It used to be interesting to see how many positions each calibrated for but I think most agree that they all work reasonably well and that they all depend on having much more control over viewing positions than is practical in anything other than a bolted-down theater chair arrangement.

 

[lparsons21]

Seems that way doesn't it? And there is some very lively conversation on AVSForums when those comparisons are made!

Recently I was looking for a new AVR to replace my non-4K Denon S900. Considered another Denon, but to be honest, I'm really a Harman Kardon kind of guy! Unfortunately HK got out of the AVR business, but I got a 3600 and later a 3700, and did some creative cabling. The 3700 shot craps and the 3600 has too few HDMI ports, so I started looking/trying again.

Ended up with an Onkyo NR757 THX certified AVR. Sound quality similar to the HKs for TV/Movies, but not quite as sweet for music as the HKs. Since I don't listen to music other than as part of TV viewing, that works fine for me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Ilya]

It used to be interesting to see how many positions each calibrated for but I think most agree that they all work reasonably well and that they all depend on having much more control over viewing positions than is practical in anything other than a bolted-down theater chair arrangement.

It's not just about more listening positions. XT32 has 32 times higher filter resolution than XT. Which means it's much better than XT in correcting problems with the room acoustics.

 

[harshness]

It's not just about more listening positions. XT32 has 32 times higher filter resolution than XT. Which means it's much better than XT in correcting problems with the room acoustics.

Adding or removing viewers (or blankets or pillows) isn't one of those things calibration tools can deal effectively with so at some point it is just a numbers game. There are just too many things to control and the more sophisticated the controls, the more involved and time consuming the calibration process for just one scenario that may never be revisited.

 

[Ilya]

She likes to listen to the Much Music channels via her TV provider, and I tried to introduce her to the Internet radio stations available on the Denon's built-in apps. I'm still not sure if she got it because every time we visit, the TV is on and she has the 50s Music channel playing. I can only do so much...

The Internet radio is integrated. There is also Pandora and SiriusXM. But what surprised me the most, that's how easy it was to add Spotify. The receiver comes with Spotify Connect (in addition to AirPlay). I didn't have to do anything to set it up, just opened the Spotify app on my phone and the receiver was already listed right there as a discovered Spotify Connect device. Tap on it, and the music starts playing through the receiver! No need to even touch the remote!
AirPlay works in a similar fashion, but unlike AirPlay, Spotify Connect doesn't stream from the phone. The phone only initiates the playback, the streaming goes directly from the Internet to the receiver. I think it does require Spotify Premium subscription though.

 

[Ilya]

Adding or removing viewers (or blankets or pillows) isn't one of those things calibration tools can deal effectively with so at some point it is just a numbers game.

Yeah, not much you can do about that, especially in a living room. But for general (and constant) room imperfections it seems to be doing a pretty good job.

I ran a quick calibration last night and I am happy with the results so far. I currently have a 5.1 speaker configuration, but plan on adding a second sub and a couple of height speakers for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X in the near future.

 

[jevans64]

It is nice that features of >$1000 receivers are making their way into cheaper units. The X6300H will be the top Denon unit for 2016 and has most of the features of the X7200WA. X4300H is the entry level for 7.2.4 Atmos. Good thing about the X3300 is that it has a full set of preamp outs so it can be used with external amps in large rooms.

I'm totally sold on Atmos and DTS:X , at least in 7.2.4. Biggest upgrade since going from 2.0 to 5.1. Amazing what it ( DSU and Neural X ) does with older movies that were mixed right in 5.1.

 

[Ilya]

The DTS:X update has arrived! Downloading it now!

 

[jgags6]

Just upgraded my Projector to a Epson 5040UBe and receiver to a Denon s920w and just downloaded the firmware update for DTS:X. I don't have any movies for it yet so Im interested to see if you guys have tried any out and to see what would be a good one to purchase?

 

[jayn_j]

I wenrtwith the Denon 4300 because of holiday sales prices, and because it has the extra 2 amplifiers and ATMOS. Still only using it as 5.1, but I needed a new receiver to replace my Onkyo 605. Needed 4k switching, new codecs and more HDMI inputs. I will slowly add the side and height speakers.

I initially had a number of issues getting this to work properly with my Harmony one remote. The biggest was the smart menu feature. It was interfering with the activity switching of the harmony and bringing up the denon smart menu screen. Was not at all obvious that I needed to hit the help button in the smart menu screen in order to disable the feature.

 

[jgags6]

That's funny you said that about the harmony remote. I have a universal remote with the if/rf module that worked fine with my older Denon. But now it seems to be having a lot of interference and other issues. Not to mention the mute button doesn't work now.

So far I can tell the difference with sound quality, but Dish's sound and picture quality make things frustrating. Ive been streaming Netflix through my PS4 and it's tons better than through my Hopper 3.

I just need to go out and get a movie with dts-x or atoms so I can really see what it can do.

 

[jevans64]

Just upgraded my Projector to a Epson 5040UBe and receiver to a Denon s920w and just downloaded the firmware update for DTS:X. I don't have any movies for it yet so Im interested to see if you guys have tried any out and to see what would be a good one to purchase?

Short of actually having a movie in DTS-X you can download clips and demos. Plenty of sites, like Demolandia or Demo World, to get them from. I have the 2016 DTS-X demo disc, which goes for about $20 on eBay, which is a non-networking option. As far as movies I have a few in DTS-X that aren't 4K -- Ex Machina, Huntsman Winter's War, and Expendables 3. Expendables 3 ( obviously; bullets, rockets, bombs, and explosions ) is probably the best use the 3D space followed by Huntsman. I really didn't see a point for it in Ex Machina since it takes place mostly in a house/compound. The warning klaxons going off inside the compound were good. It is a good movie but the sound track isn't all that impressive if you like explosions and whizzing bullets.

You'll probably have much more fun using DSU or Neural:X on your older movies in regular 5.1, 7.1. Master and Commander and Saving Private Ryan sound better using the up-mixers than a lot of real mixes.

As an aside. The MakeMKV rip I did of Huntsman retains the DTS:X track played over my network through the Oppo UDP-203.

 

[jgags6]

What about Redbox... I know that they have Huntsman Winters War now, but does their version of the movies include the DTS-X? I know that usually their movies don't have bonus or extra content so I didn't know if that would be the same for the audio?

 

[Ilya]

The only UHD Blu-Ray with DTS:X I have is "The Last Witch Hunter". I bought it specifically to test DTS:X. I can confirm that the new decoding indeed works on my X3300W, but I still do not have the height speakers to truly appreciate it.