Are DENON RECEIVERS Any GOOD? - DENON X3700H AV Receiver Review!

it's been a minute since we've reviewed a denon av receiver so have they finally fixed their hdmi issues are the x series receivers really better than the s series and can the 3700 hang with the onkyo rz50 well subscribe and hit that like button and let's find out because we're reviewing the denon 3700h av receiver [Music] the x3700h falls in the middle of denon's more performance-based x-series line of home theater receivers it's a 9.2 channel surround sound receiver with support for dolby atmos and dts x it's rated at 105 watts per channel of course that is only with two channels driven denon does not disclose the 3700's power ratings with all channels driven but we know it isn't likely going to be 105 watts you get 7 hdmi inputs and 3 hdmi outputs sadly only one of those inputs is 8k 60 and 4k 120 capable with the remaining inputs limited to 4k 60. there are two hdmi main outputs and a third hdmi out for use in a second zone there's support for dolby vision hdr 10 plus hdr 10 and hlg plus a host of features gamers might find useful like variable refresh rate and low latency modes you also get odyssey multi eq xt32 autoroom correction full preamp outputs for 11.2 channels heos wireless connectivity for streaming music and whole home audio wi-fi connectivity bluetooth airplay 2 and so much more now setup is pretty straightforward using the on-screen menus if you're brand new to home theater i strongly recommend that you use the 3700 step-by-step setup procedure this guide will help you to know where to place your speakers in your room as well as tell you how to connect them to the den it but for you more advanced users and those familiar with denim products already you can jump right in because not much has changed now to get the most out of your speakers you're going to want to run the odyssey multi eq room correction procedure first we ran this procedure through three sets of speakers starting with our heckler aurora 700 home theater followed by the sonas faber lumina 2s and of course our reference monitor audio bronze theater package all of which produced excellent results while i would normally only use one subwoofer i did test the denon with a pair of svs 3000 micro subwoofers because unlike the onkyo rz50 the denon's dual subwoofer outs are independent of one another which i know is important to a lot of you and speaking of subwoofers inside the option menu for odyssey there is a feature labeled odyssey lfc which stands for low frequency containment when turned on this effectively keeps truly deep bass from traveling too far as in through nearby walls so you apartment dwellers this may be a life-saving feature for you i found its usefulness quite good but the default setting was just too aggressive for me so i dialed it back to about two or three and that was enough to keep it from pissing off the neighbors without completely destroying my bass response but you can always always leave it off for maximum impact now control of the 3700 falls to either the included remote or the denon avr remote app actually that's not correct you can use whatever remote you want since it has control over hdmi so i relied on our apple tv remote for day-to-day operation of the 3700s basic control functions i'm talking functions like volume and input for higher level adjustments i primarily use the app now the app is good but it's a little sluggish and changes will cause a brief interruption of the denon's signal specifically a dropout in sound so if you want to go from stereo to dolby atmos you can expect a pause in sound this happens when you use the remote too so it's not exclusive to the app but it is something to be aware of before we get into sound let's talk about video after our review of the s960h last year i said a silent prayer when it was time to test the 3700s video claims using both my apple tv 4k as well as our ps5 i was happy to see that video switching was relatively quick and painless testing 4k 120 with the ps5 the 3700 passed with flying colors call of duty at 4k 120 in hdr worked with no issues now there really isn't any readily available ak content or players on the market so any and all ak signals are going to be scaled in other words the jury is still out on just how good or bad the denon is at 8k that said if you're looking for a receiver that offers gaming at 4k 120 at least on a ps5 i have zero hesitation in recommending the 3700 to you if you're not a gamer you just want to enjoy 4k content at a high level denon's going to do you just fine where i feel the denon falls short is with limiting the number of hdmi inputs capable of accepting an 8k60 or 4k 120 signal you only get one which makes the 3700 less competitive against other receivers like the rz50 moving on to sound quality overall and i cannot stress this enough the divide between the denon's s and x series with respect to sound quality is night and freaking day when it comes to bass the denon becomes more confident and resolute after running odyssey or when using a subwoofer on its own and across all of the speakers we used in our test the bass straight out of the box is a tad lighter than the competition and it can be just a little bit soft with respect to focus and detail run odyssey and things firm up quite a bit and gain a bit of heft details and textures also become more intelligible use a sub or two and you can expect the bass to be comparable to every other receiver in its class true by adding a sub the denon isn't really doing any more to give you more bass but the way odyssey blends your sub and the bass with your speakers is very impressive if not completely seamless so if you have a good subwoofer or two the denon isn't going to get in the way or rob your setup of bass extension the mid-range performance of the 3700 is undeniably denim denim has a sound a tone and i don't know how to describe it to you other than to say if you know you know the 3700s mid-range is smooth dare i say warm-ish it's largely non-offensive though when you directly compare it to other receivers from onkyo and even yamaha you quickly notice its mild coloration and how when it comes to conveying nuance it's just not quite as sharp now you can go into the paid odyssey multi eq app and adjust the 3700 sound to be really whatever you want it to be you can even boost the mids at the touch of a button but on its own the mid-range is just really smooth the highs are smooth however at the absolute extremes there is an inherent digital quality that the 3700 can't completely shake it sounds like compression it's it's sizzly along the edges now this could be inherent to the source material and you could argue that the denon is just so transparent to the source that it isn't editorializing which is valid and you may ultimately be right nevertheless that sound is there is it a deal breaker no but it does cost the denon some natural airiness in the highs it also keeps the highs somewhat relegated to your speaker's boundaries rather than setting them completely free speaking of being set free the denon soundstage is vast be it with music or movies though the strength of its sound stage rests between the speakers and behind it is an absolute champ when it comes to soundstage depth favoring it over with center focus is solid but it isn't laser focused with respect to separation it's good but there are other receivers that manage to do better the good news is is the 3700 is by no means the blurry tubby mess that was the s960h now fire up adobe atmos mix film and the denon soundstage placement improves and the addition of atmos channels helps the 3700 to sound more encompassing left to right not to mention top to bottom with atmos mix content the 37 is on par with every other receiver i have heard in its class i was even impressed with the 3700s up mixing of non-atmos content to virtual atmos its strength in this arena allowed me to basically set the denon sound profile to dolby atmos dolby surround and move on dynamically the 3700 is good when fed a complex sequence the denon can put you right in the middle of the action while i still feel that the 3700 like all denim amps still airs on the side of being slightly polite rather than going for outright just face melting violence at least dynamically it's still capable of an engaging performance as for the 3700s drawbacks obviously there are receivers out there at or near the denon's price that no longer limit your 8k 4k 120 capability to just one hdmi input with respect to 4k 120 at least the 3700 works denon's own heos platform that's bound to be a matter of personal taste with respect to whether you like it or not i'm not the biggest fan but that is entirely personal to me but if you fire it up find it to be a little clunky or not as modern as other solutions let you know you're not alone i would have liked to see a more updated on-screen menu especially if denon wants to catch up with sony when you're trying to sell consumers on next-gen video features i think the graphics on screen should match but apart from those minor gripes the 3700 is pretty solid as for other receivers the more expensive rotel 1580 and nadt778 definitely have a more refined dare i say hi-fi sound if that was the only thing that mattered to me with respect to choosing an avr they are still on my audition list but they are also way more expensive and you are paying a lot for what amounts to maybe a 10 or 15 percent improvement in sound quality maybe even less when it comes to movies as much as i enjoyed both the rotel and the nad i'm probably saving my money and going with something like the 3700. compared to yamaha's new aventage line more specifically the a8a which we have i might be team denon at the moment due to the fact that the a8a is a little more than a repackaged 3080 from several years ago and not at all up to date with respect to its video capabilities i know i love the 3080 and i still do but if i'm shopping for a new receiver i want a new receiver and the yamaha aventage line is proving to be anything but with respect to less expensive options such as the denon s960h onkyo 5100 or the yamaha v6a if you can stretch your budget i think at a minimum at least within the denon family of products save your pennies and buy an x series anything over the s series the same goes for the 5100 and v6a honestly seeing as how the x series starts at around a grand for the 2700h i would consider that the entry point to avrs with costlier options like the 3700 and onkyo rz50 representing the point where the law of diminishing returns really starts to kick in speaking of onkyo when i buy the denon over my current reference receiver the rz50 i wouldn't the denon can hang no question and if you need true dual subwoofer outs and you prefer odyssey multi eq to other solutions by all means you should buy the denim for me i like dirac better than odyssey and that's coming from an og odyssey pro user i think dirac results in a more organic and neutral sound at least to these ears the onkyo has more next-gen hdmi inputs whereas you're limited with the denon will users ultimately need more 8k 4k 120 inputs who knows but it's nice knowing that you won't be limited should the need arise especially considering the receivers cost basically the same aside from the onkyo rz50 i would get the denon over just about everything else that i reviewed so far this year at or near its price point i think the 3700 is pretty great while it's not the best or most comprehensive av receiver in his class it has enough of what the competition lacks in some very key areas that i believe it's still competitive if you're already a fan of denon or have owned denon products in the past the 3700h is a no-brainer if the 3700h is available and boy does that seem to be a question surrounding a lot of audio products nowadays and its feature set speaks to you i would grab it you'd be buying a pretty solid performer one that will no doubt thrill you for the foreseeable future so that's it that is now my review of the denon x 3700h but now it's time to find out if christy liked it i did i did um honestly this is the first denim product that we reviewed in quite a while that i actually enjoyed i mean the last one that i can recall was the pma 150h oh wow that was way back in the day deep cut yeah super deep cut and i really did like that but then after that like everything else we uh reviewed by dennen uh i i found pretty boring um so yeah to be honest i was pretty surprised that i even liked the 3700 you know and i i'm maybe even more surprised at how similar i think the 3700 sounds to the onkyo rz50 in some respects yeah yeah especially if you leave odyssey turned off okay they uh they have a they sh they sound a little bit closer yeah yeah i think odyssey brings in a little bit more of a bass bump or boost compared to what dirac does yeah totally yeah when you turn odyssey on uh you definitely get a fuller sound from the denon and i think that there's going to be a lot of people that are that are going to like that oh for sure um you know but yeah i'm not going to lie at first i was like wait a minute do i do i like this better am i actually a fan of denim you know but then you know when we're listening to stone tipple pilots creep you know we really pay attention and you really have to be just silly analytical at this point um but when we were listening to that song creep you you start to hear some sibilance in certain words that he's singing and there were also parts of the chorus that are that sound more recessed when you're listening to the denon versus the onkyo now look what representation is right or correct honestly i mean the only people that can tell you are the that's are the musicians yeah the musicians are producers yeah as far as what i want to personally hear i would rather hear or rather listen to the onkyo okay general movie watching not there's so much happening in a movie yeah that i don't know that you're really gonna pick apart those kinds of things yeah i don't i don't think so in a in a two-channel environment i think it is easier to determine or distinguish little differences like you said um between say something like an onkyo or uh denon but if you are just going to be using something to watch movies these things are these two products are neck and neck yeah totally i would 100 agree with you i mean all in all i really i think it's a good receiver um and i wouldn't have any hesitation in recommending it to somebody that's shopping uh i at some point it's just going to come down to personal preferences like you talked about yeah um now the only other thing i think is kind of worth worth mentioning is the whole like the whole issue surrounding the hdmi board now thankfully denon has finally owned up that there were hdmi issues roll the tape uh you know yeah we call that out in the 960 uh review and yeah something was wrong and boy you know were we the they didn't like us very much for doing that i know no they flat out held it against us but you know so they've they've come out with this adapter thing yes so if you have the older model like one that came out early in 2020 right you can i believe for free yes get this this adapter thing that will remedy the the the hdmi board board problems that are inherent to basically everything denim and every dining model oh every den and every every av receiver from 2020. um every av receiver that was manufactured in 2020 that predates probably the early part of this year is affected yeah um yeah and it's a it's a breakout box it's it's literally like a looks like an apple tv with some three or four inputs in it and you use those if you need 8k 4k 120 capability if you're still on just team 4k60 um you don't need to worry about any of this yeah but you should get the box but the box so yeah you're getting what you're what you do yeah so you're getting what you paid for right and i'll put a link down in the description yes for those of you who maybe didn't know there was a box available or whatever you'll be able to go get it now now my biggest concern was as a consumer how would anybody know if you're especially if you if you're bought shopping now yeah like how are you going to know whether or not you're getting one of the you know new models that are great models yeah the updated models that already has this new board inside right or are you in it are you going to end up with something that's like leftover stock from when it first came out now we reach out to dennen to find out how how do you know about this so if you're buying something new and the serial number ends with 7 000 or greater seventy thousand oh sorry yeah seventy thousand there was an extra zero there seventy thousand or greater yes you're good yes nothing to worry about your unit has the updated board already inside do not need the breakout box you should be ready to rock now if you end up with a number this below 70 000 you do have one of the older units and you would need a breakout box correct to to solve this issue yeah yeah so basically i think to be safe you're going to want to buy something that is not out open box yes or a b stock yes as much as i know we all like to save a buck or two this is not the time to do it yeah this is one instance where i think you're going to want to make doubly sure that you are buying a brand new factory sealed box because the likelihood is if you're doing that at a local at a authorized den and retailer uh you will be getting a new unit but you could also um depending on who you're ordering it from or if you're in a store and physically holding the box you can check the serial number on the box or have someone on the phone or email or whatever check it for you and make sure that your unit the last five digits are over seventy thousand and it can be like seventy thousand and one you got a new unit but if you're like sixty eight 000 and change that has the old board and unfortunately if you want to continue with that purchase you will then have to fill out the form and get the breakout box because that is all denon is offering you in terms of a fix so brand new factory sealed from an authorized retailer with a serial number greater than 70 000 you can expect to have the performance that we talked about in this review um if you get something pre-that your mileage may vary when it comes to video i think the sound is going to be exactly the same but your mileage may vary with video the only other thing i would want to bring up is you touched on dynamics in the review and i i completely agree with you i felt like you had to turn the volume up a little bit more on the denon in order to really like you said sort of get more face melting from it performance from it versus the um onkyo yeah i i i think the onkyo is a little bit more engaging at more at the lower volumes yeah the onkyo is mildly more powerful if memory serves me but the way with which the onkyo delivers the power is more confident at lower or moderate volumes once you get up into like say the 85 plus db range there's virtually no difference between these two products but if you're listening at the upper 60s to low 70 db range the onkyo i think is hands down more engaging yeah i mean the the denon will get there oh yeah you just you just gotta you know give it a little push yeah yeah that's other than that pretty pretty similar i have to say i i like you probably within half an hour of playing around with this thing i was like huh huh okay yeah this is solid so would you recommend the denon then over the onkyo if you're brand new to home theater if you're brand new to home theater i think the denon might be a little bit more plug and play and a little bit easier to just jump right in um if you have two gaming consoles like say you have an xbox and a playstation 5 that's where the denon is really going to limit you if you're not in that camp then the denon may be the better kind of starter receiver um but if you're like okay i want i want performance at an exacting level i want the better room correction i'm willing to work a little bit for it and i don't want to be limited in terms of my video future onkyo hands down all right anything else nope i think we got it covered all right that is now our review of the denon x 3700h what did you guys think let us know down in the comments below and while you're down there question of the day for you pretty simple but i want to know what matters most to you the dual sub outputs of the denon or do you prefer to have more next-gen hdmi inputs what feature would get you to sign on the dotted line let me know i'm curious if you like this video please do give it a thumbs up like and subscribe ring that bell so that you're notified when new videos come out if you use any of the links that christy left for you down below know that that's a great way that you've continued to show your support for this channel as well as retailers who are dedicated to growing this hobby the right way follow me on instagram at recovering audiophile and that's it that is it a a positive denon review in the books so remember the only person who has to like the sound of your system is you so happy listening everybody thank you so much for watching we'll see you on the next video bye

Channel: Andrew Robinson

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Id: SiWyBx20OA8

Length: 23min 25sec (1405 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 14 2021