DENON AVC-X8500HA
Denon says that its latest flagship AV receiver, the 13-channel AVC-X8500HA, offers
“the ultimate home theatre experience” but in a first for the company, it’s making a budget-priced “A-Spec” upgrade circuit available to owners of its previous flagship model, the AVC-X8500H. The ‘A’ version (and the A-Spec upgrade) includes many circuit updates, including 8K/60Hz upscaling and pass-through, 4K/120Hz pass-through, HDR10+, Dynamic HDR, HDCP 2.3, as well as other HDMI 2.1 technologies supporting 40Gbps transmission.
In addition to offering 13-channels, each one rated by Denon with a power output of 120-watts, the new AVC-X8500HA (and the A-Spec upgrade board) have all the latest 3D audio formats built in, including Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS:X Pro, IMAX Enhanced and Auro 3D. “This new model will gradually replace all existing Denon AVC-X8500H units, but current owners of the Denon AVC-X8500H will have the opportunity to upgrade the HDMI/Digital board within their AV amplifiers to obtain the same features as the “A” components,” said Paul Astbury of QualiFi, which distributes Denon in Australia. “The upgrade can be booked by contacting any Denon dealer, who will advise scheduling and pricing.”
The 8K HDMI input enables 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz video pass-through. The new HDR format support includes HDR10+ and Dynamic HDR, and a new HDMI feature called Quick Media Switching (QMS) allows a source to instantly switch frame rate to eliminate screen blackout. For exceptional colour, clarity and contrast the AVC-X8500HA still supports HDR10, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) and Dolby Vision, as well as 4:4:4 Pure Colour subsampling and BT.2020 pass-through.
New features that will be most appreciated by gamers include razor-sharp motion clarity with 4K/120Hz pass-through, and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to reduce frame tearing and improve overall precision.
The new Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Quick Frame Transport (QFT), are designed to reduce lag. The AVC-X8500HA can also upscale existing HD and 4K content to 8K and supports eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), to allow lossless and object-based audio transmission such as DTS:X and Dolby Atmos from TV apps or connected devices using a single HDMI cable.
The inclusion of DTS:X Pro in the AVCX8500HA means users can enjoy up to 13 channels of DTS:X decoding with speaker configurations such as 7.2.6 or 9.2.4 as well as the latest IMAX-Enhanced films in 7.2.6 or 9.2.4 speaker configurations. In addition to DTS:X Pro, the Denon AVC-X8500HA features several other 3D audio formats, including Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization Technology, DTS:X, DTS Virtual:X, IMAX Enhanced and Auro-3D. The latest height virtualisation technologies provide immersive audio without height channels, creating virtual height effects in 7.1, 5.1 or
2.1 speaker arrangements.
The main differences between the H and the HA versions are that the HA has 8K/60AB, 4K/120AB eARC (the H had only 4K/60P eARC); the HA has HDR10+/Dynamic HDR (the H didn’t); the HA has 8K60AB, 4K120AB Pass-through Capability up to 40Gbps (not available on the H); the HA version has 1080P and 4K to 8K Upscaling on all inputs (not available at all on the H); and the HA has HDCP Version 2.3 (the H had Version 2.2).
Available now, the Denon AVC-X8500HA sells for $6,490 (RRP).