- Denon unveils new X2900H and X3900H AV receivers
- Both have new audio architecture for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X sound
- X2900H is 7.2 channels; X3900H is 9.4 channels
Denon has unveiled two new AV receivers, including an update to one of the most popular bang-for-buck models around — and it’s a pretty strong upgrade based on my early impressions from a demo session.
The new models are the Denon AVR-X2900H and the AVR-X3900H, and they’re similar in a lot of ways, with the X3900H promising more “scalability” and “flexibility” over its little sibling.
They replace the X2800H and X3800H respectively, and Denon says they’ve been updated internally to improve the sound, including sharing a new 32-bit DAC system designed to deliver “improved imaging, clearer high-frequency detail and more confident low-frequency energy across every channel.”
Both receivers support Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and include Dirac Live and Audyssey support for sound correction. They both have six HDMI inputs and multiple HDMI outputs, with support for 4K 120Hz passthrough with Dolby Vision HDR (and 8K video at 60Hz). New this year is support for 1440p and AMD FreeSync passthrough, which is nice for PC gamers.
They also have Denon’s HEOS wireless platform on board for music streaming, with support for major streaming platforms to play in hi-res — plus Bluetooth connectivity.
The differences come in just how elaborately all this is implemented. The X2900H supports 7.2 channels of sound at up to 95W (at 8 ohms) per channel, while the X3900H supports 9.4 channels at up to 105W (at 8 ohms) per channel.
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The pricier X300H includes Auro 3D and IMAX Enhanced support as well as the two standard spatial formats, and offers more Dirac tools as optional extras. The X2900H offers two HDMI outs (one of which is eARC), while the X3900H has three HDMI outs (again one eARC).
The extra channels of the X3900H obviously require a load more speaker connections on the back, but the X3900H also includes more RCA inputs, including an MM phono input, and more pre-amp outputs.
Both models launch today, May 14. The Denon AVR-X2900H costs $1,349 / £899 (about AU$1,680), while the Denon AVR-X3900H costs $1,849 / £1,299 (about AU$2,430).
So, you’ve got the run-down on what they can do — but how do they sound? Happily, I got to hear them before their launch.
What are the Denon X2900H and X3900H like in action?
Denon’s listening room at its Kawasaki office — used by its current Sound Master, Shinichi Yamauchi, to refine and provide feedback on the performance of its products — provided the setting for an all-too-brief demo of the new AVR models.
They were connected to the room’s array of Bowers & Wilkins 801 speakers, which are probably a little more hardcore (at $55k / £34k per pair) than most people will connect to these amps, but at least I could be sure that the speakers weren’t going to impose any kind of limitation on what I was hearing.
First, Denon gave me a demo comparing the existing X2800H AVR with the new X2900H that replaces it, showing a scene from Dune in the ornithopter (a word I’m now able to spell first time consistently, thanks to how frequently scenes featuring it in appear home theater demos).
This was a 5.2.2-channel demo in Dolby Atmos, maxing out the X2900H’s 7.2-channel capacity with the five surround channels plus the two height channels, and then two subwoofers.
The key theme here is that small changes add up to a clear improvement. The dialogue clarity is a little stronger, standing out slightly more prominently from the beating wings of the ornithopter while still feeling natural.
The spatial effect of the surround channels is a little stronger as well, feeling like there’s a touch more dynamic range and expansiveness to envelop you in what’s around you.
The bass transients and low-end power also feel — say it with me — a little stronger. There’s an extra step of liveliness and control to bass impacts that make them feel more tactile
Adding together multiple elements that are a little stronger, though, creates a whole that feels bigger, meatier and more complete. The upgrade from the X2800H to the X2900H isn’t game-changing, but it’s weighty.
After that, we got a comparison of the new step-up X3900H against the X2900H. The demo was Hans Zimmer & Friends: Diamond in the Desert, which is a movie score concert film (but sounds like an animated movie where Hans and his team solve a Scooby-Doo-like mystery).
The X2900H played through the same speaker setup as above, but when we switched to the X3900H we added a couple of extra surround channels, taking us to 7.2.2 channels, in Dolby Atmos.
Interestingly, though, in the section of the Inception medley that Denon demoed for us, I couldn’t hear as much difference between these two AVRs as I could between the X2800H and the X2900H, even though in this case two extra speakers were being added.
It may have been partly to do with the arrangement of the song just not taking that much advantage of the extra channels, but in general I’d say I didn’t feel much of a difference in the expression and clarity of the instruments.
It’s obviously very possible that further reviewing with more scenes will reveal more nuance, so I’ll have to reserve full judgment on the X3900H — but obviously, at the very least, even if its performance turns out to be very similar to the X2900H, it still provides more channels and higher power output for speakers that really benefit from it, so may be worth the upgrade anyway.
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