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For a big sound to accompany big-screen thrills, these amplifiers are an excellent choice
Denon AVC-X3700H £1149
When you listen to class-leading products as often as we do, you know immediately when a new standard has been set.
Such is the case with Denon’s latest 8K-ready home cinema amplifier. The sonic improvement it has made on the previous model, the Award-winning AVC-X3600H, is quite surprisingly marked. One of the AVC-X3700H’S seven HDMI inputs and two of its three outputs are full HDMI 2.1 sockets with support for 8K@60HZ and 4K@120HZ. All of its HDMI connections support HDR10+, Dynamic HDR and Quick Media Switching alongside HDR10, HLG and Dolby Vision. For gamers, there’s VRR, ALLM and Quick Frame Transport to reduce lag and improve performance.
The AVC-X3700H has 11 channels of processing and nine power amplifier channels built in, each feeding a claimed 180W of power per channel. That means you can set the AVC-X3700H up in a 5.2.4 or 7.2.2 Dolby Atmos configuration, or add an extra two-channel amp to make full use of the processing power with a 7.2.4 set-up.
This amp’s 3D audio support (whether or not you have dedicated height speakers) runs to Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Virtualization Technology, DTS:X, DTS Virtual:x and IMAX Enhanced.
For music playback there is hi-res audio decoding of files up to 24bit/192khz and double-speed DSD. Thinking of pairing it with a turntable? There’s a built-in movingmagnet phono stage too.
Thanks to HEOS and Apple Airplay 2 connectivity, there’s lots you can do without physically interacting with the AVC-X3700H; as well as unlocking multi-room capabilities, they enable use with Alexa, Google Assistant or Siri.
But using these Denon amplifiers manually is part of what makes them so great. There is a robust remote control, but it is about twisting those big round dials, which offer just enough resistance to satisfy without it being tough.
The energy of the performance is immediately striking. There’s greater muscle than before, but it is also even more lithe and better defined. It’s a combination of solid dynamic expression, which enthuses each vocal line as much as differentiating one gunshot from another, a sharper punch and greater clarity that allows you to get deeper inside the soundtrack. There is plenty to feed our two subwoofers, but this isn’t a particularly bassy mix, rather it is well balanced, open at both ends, and smooth throughout its frequency range. Thanks to its scale and authority, and composure at high volumes, this Denon is the best unit we’ve heard at this sort of price tag.
If you have the system to match it with, the AVC-X3700H is a great sounding amp that, thanks to its contemporary new features, will last you many years.