Integra Thx 402 High End Network a/v Receiver Surround Sound Review
Best AV receivers 2022: brilliant domicile movie theater amplifiers
All-time AV receivers Ownership Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?'s round-upward of the all-time home picture palace amplifiers you can purchase in 2022.
If you've finally made the decision to get serious near your abode cinema, and then in that location really is no more impactful single improvement you can make than adding set of surround sound speakers powered past an excellent AV receiver.
How to choose the best AV receiver for you lot
The habitation movie theatre amplifier is the brains and power of any home cinema system and will ensure your TV and films sound emphatic, detailed and dynamic and genuinely give you that immersive experience.
The nigh crucial thing to consider when buying an AVR is matching information technology to the size of your surround arrangement and deciding whether to allow for expansion in the future. Plenty of AV receivers now include Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support for adding even more sound channels with the addition of height channel speakers. Sometimes, these channels tin also be deployed as a second zone.
The number of HDMI inputs you demand is another important factor. Virtually AVRs come with a glut of HDMI inputs that tin pass through 4K (and fifty-fifty 8K) and HDR video. Notwithstanding, it'due south worth thinking about whether you'll do good from the next-gen gaming specs of HDMI two.ane or if you'll be using your home movie house primarily for motion picture and Goggle box, in which instance, cheaper HDMI ii.0 ports volition suffice.
Setting up an AVR yourself can be daunting, but many companies include a microphone and step by step sound to guide yous through the optimisation process. Others go even further and can be enhanced by 3rd party scale software for more in-depth tweaking. Whether you're getting your AVR installed by a professional person or going it lonely, make sure that y'all're comfy with the interface's user-friendliness.
Modern AVRs have become true home entertainment hubs and can bring a host of features such as Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay, multi-room streaming and DAB to your system, making it truly versatile and multi-functional. But most of all, the best AV receivers deliver vivid, room-filling sound. And these are our selection of them, all tried, tested and star-rated in our dedicated testing rooms.
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When hunting for an AV receiver or amplifier, it can be hard not to get defenseless up in the battle of the tech specs and those who become also focused on comparing spec sheets may well overlook the 2021 What How-do-you-do-Fi? Laurels-winning JBL Synthesis SDR-35.
While its format support is thorough, its amplification for just vii channels and electric current lack of HDMI ii.one connections (all of the sockets are 18gbps HDMI two.0s but a hardware upgrade to HDMI 2.1 volition be offered towards the end of 2021) are trumped by Denon receivers costing effectually a sixth of its toll tag.
In terms of sound quality though, this JBL is in a whole different league, delivering music and movies with a truly rare maturity and sophistication and if nosotros were edifice a high-end home cinema from scratch, it would exist the get-go component on the shortlist.
The range of supported HDR types is exemplary, with HDR10, HLG, Dolby Vision and HDR10+ all offered on the video side, and Dolby Atmos, DTS:10, Auro 3D and even IMAX Enhanced for audio. There'southward besides Dolby Height Virtualisation and DTS Virtual:X on lath for those who want to simulate height effects without the utilise of concrete ceiling or upwardly-firing speakers.
Too as a substantial selection of concrete connections, in that location are plenty of means to wirelessly get your content to the SDR-35 too with aptX HD Bluetooth, Apple AirPlay 2 and Google Chromecast on board. Information technology also works with Harman's MusicLife app, which allows for streaming of music from the likes of Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz, plus tracks stored on your ain network.
Read the full review: JBL Synthesis SDR-35
When you listen to course-leading products every bit frequently as nosotros do, you lot know immediately when a new standard has been set. That said, sometimes it takes until you accept a direct comparison with another superb production to comprehend merely how high the bar has been lifted.
That is the case with the new 8K-ready Denon AVC-X3700H home cinema amplifier. While there may be a pocket-size part of us that would delight in the Japanese company messing upwardly i of these amps – purely then nosotros would have something different to write – the sonic improvement information technology has fabricated on its predecessor is quite surprisingly marked, which is why its retained its What Hi-Fi? Award in 2021.
The energy of the performance is immediately striking. There'due south greater musculus than before, merely it is too even lither and ameliorate defined. It'southward a combination of solid dynamic expression, which enthuses each vocal line as much every bit differentiating one gunshot from another, a sharper dial and greater clarity that allows you to go deeper inside the soundtrack and become more immersed.
If yous have the system to match it with, the AVC-X3700H is another Denon effort that will happily last you many years.
Read the full review: Denon AVC-X3700H
The latest iteration of Denon'due south award-winning 6000 series was released in 2020 with a slew of new next-gen features that will involvement gamers. The AVC-X6700H boasts a new HDMI board with one of its eight inputs and two of its 3 outputs beingness HDMI 2.ane-certified, enabling full support for 8K at up to 60Hz and 4K at 120Hz. The remaining vii HDMI two.0 inputs as well support 2.1 features such as VRR (Variable Refresh Charge per unit), ALLM (Auto Low Latency Manner), QMS (Quick Media Switching) and QFT (Quick Frame Transport). All inputs as well support HDR10+ besides as HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision, and 1 of the outputs features eARC (Enhanced Audio Render Channel).
Too as xi channels of ability amplification (at a claimed 205W per aqueduct) – and processing for 13, the AVC-X6700H affords 13 channels of DTS:X decoding and supports an arsenal of 3D formats, including Dolby Atmos, Atmos Height Virtualization, DTS:Ten, DTS Virtual:10, IMAX Enhanced and Auro-3D.
If its broad-ranging, frontward-thinking characteristic set wasn't plenty, the AVC-X67000H delivers an impressive sound performance that has earned it a What Hello-Fi? honour two years in a row. It has a more powerful presentation than its predecessor and the balance is more than bass-heavy than in previous generations too. But any extra weight does not tiresome the AVC-X6700H downwards; it gives it gravitas for a more controlled and grown-upward performance, with full and realistic voices, detail and dynamic expression.
Prospective buyers should annotation that AVC-X67000H models manufactured before May 2021 incorporate a faulty HDMI two.1 chip that prevents support of 4K gaming at 120Hz via the Xbox Series 10. Only rest assured, models with serial numbers that finish with 70001 onwards should exist bug-costless, and the issue can exist remedied in older models with Audio United's external HDMI adaptor.
Read the full AVC-X67000H review
If nosotros had to employ 1 word to describe the audio of this receiver, information technology would be 'confident'. The AVR-X2700H doesn't try too hard to impress, as a nervously underpowered budget amp might.
It's bigger, better and more than cultured than that. Information technology has even greater potency than terminal year'south model, and it never strains to exert it. The ii subwoofers in our seven.2 set up-upwardly growl with control whenever called upon, never in one case detracting from the crystal clarity of the music in the soundtrack, the voices or surround effects.
It'south an easy and effective listen. No matter how hectic the action becomes, this Denon never misses a crush. It passes the laser blasts from speaker to speaker in a wonderfully coherent fashion and, no affair the scene, creates a genuine sense of place.
Read the full review: Denon AVR-X2700H
Role of Yamaha's premium Aventage range, the RX-A2A is the beneficiary of a glossy aesthetic revamp as well every bit an injection of next-generation connectivity that will futurity proof it for the coming years.
With seven full-range channels of power, each rated at 100W into 8 ohms in stereo conditions, plus two subwoofer outputs, the RX-A2A can handle upward to 7.1 speaker configurations or, if using the supported Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, a v.1.ii set-up.
Sonically information technology'south impressive and incredibly responsive, delivering punchy transients, spacious environment sound and enough of musical drive.
For streaming, at that place'due south Yamaha's MusicCast app, which allows for high-res and lossless music formats including Apple Lossless (ALAC) up to 96kHz, WAV, FLAC or AIFF upwardly to 192kHz likewise as playback from services including Spotify and Tidal. There's also AirPlay two and Bluetooth (SBC / AAC) on board and Google Assistant/Alexa compatibility for voice command, non to mention a DAB+ and FM/AM tuner.
There are several planned upgrades that Yamaha will make to the RX-A2A to get it up to full spec, but information technology volition eventually support up to 4K at 120Hz (both with and without display screen compression) and 8K at 60Hz (with display screen compression) through 3 of its vii HDMI inputs.
These features, forth with other next-gen HDMI updates and HDR10+, will only get bachelor thanks to a series of firmware updates beginning this Fall. A free hardware upgrade will also be bachelor to make it fully compatible with 4K at 120Hz signals from an Xbox Series Ten or Nvidia RTX30-series graphics menu.
But the lack of these features out of the box volition probably only thing if you're a hardcore gamer. For films, the RX-A2A handles 4K signals at up to lx frames per second, which no source currently goes across, and supports HDR10 and Dolby Vision video formats.
Read the full review: Yamaha RX-A2A
How nosotros test AV receivers
Nosotros accept state-of-the-art testing facilities in London, Reading and Bath, where our team of experienced, in-business firm reviewers test the majority of hi-fi and AV kit that passes through our door.
Each AVR we test is paired with a reference level speaker package and is directly compared to the best in its price and features class – whether that'south the current What Hi-Fi? laurels winner or a few of the latest models nosotros've been impressed by in recent reviews. What Hi-Fi? is all about comparative testing, and we proceed form-leading products in our stockrooms and so we can easily compare new products to ones we know and love.
We are always impartial and practise our best to make certain we're hearing every product at its very best, so nosotros'll try enough of dissimilar styles of films and TV shows that testify what each AVR is capable of with both advanced and standard sound formats. We'll check all the features onboard including music playback with a diverseness of genres and allow for plenty of listening time besides as running them in before nosotros brainstorm reviewing.
All review verdicts are agreed upon by the team rather than an individual reviewer to eliminate any personal preference and to make sure we're existence every bit thorough as possible, too. At that place's no input from PR companies or our sales team when it comes to the verdict, with What Hi-Fi? proud of having delivered honest, unbiased reviews for decades.
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Source: https://www.whathifi.com/best-buys/home-cinema/best-home-cinema-amplifiers
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