Denon’s 15.4CH AVR

Denon AVR-A1H

Denon'sflagship AV receivers have a well-earned reputation of being among the best inthe business. I have used a Denon since 2008, and have recommended thecompany's AVR's to countless friends and family members over the years. At theend of 2022, when I first heard about the brand-new, top-of-the-line 15-channelAVR-A1H ($6,499), I couldn't help but think back to January of 2006, when I hadjust moved into my first apartment on Alcatraz Ave in Berkeley. It didn't havea dishwasher or a view, and the carpet smelled like somebody else's feet. Butthe living room was the perfect shape and size to accommodate a makeshift hometheater. Because I had worked full-time for a couple of years before going backto school, I had managed to save up enough coin to buy my beloved 5.1-channelMonitor Audio speaker system, just a month before moving into my first collegeapartment. But my old 27-inch TV and Sony receiver would have to suffice forthe time being; there was no money to replace them as I returned to life as afull-time student. That didn't stop me from researching and fantasizing,though. And it was right around this time that I decided that my next AVR wouldbe a Denon. I was led to this decision by an article (in Home Theater Magazine,if I recall correctly) about Denon's colossal AVR-5805,which sold for $6,000 back then. This thing was the King Kong of receivers. Itwas over 11 inches tall and weighed 97 pounds. It packed 10 channels of ClassAB amplification, with an advertised power rating of 170 watts per channel. Andit looked absolutely ridiculous, in the best possible way. It was like three ofmy Sony receivers stacked on top of each other and fused together. Reviewersraved about its potent performance and audiophile-level fidelity. Audioholicsfounder Gene DellaSala called it a "masterpiece," and still considers it one ofthe best AVRs ever made. I was sold. There was just that pesky $6,000 price tagto contend with. By the time I had saved up enough for a new AVR, it was 2008.After a brief reality-check, I chose Denon's AVR-4308CI, which served me wellfor many, many years.

Likemy AVR-4308 and the venerable AVR-5805, Denon's new flagship 15.4-channel AVR-A1His made in Japan — in the same Shirakawa Audio Works facility where the companybuilds the PMA-A110 110th Anniversary Integrated Amp that so impressed Gene in 2021. Marantz also makes its high-end home theaterand 2-channel gear in this prestigious facility, which is known for "acombination of scientific precision and artisanal craftsmanship." (Both Denonand Marantz manufacture less expensive products in Vietnam and in China.)Weighing in at an impressive 70.5 pounds, the AVR-A1H might not be quite asmassive as the (frankly absurd) AVR-5805, but the new receiver's pedigree isplain to see. Is the AVR-A1H a callback to Denon's heyday of building monsterreceivers — like the 5800 series — in the early 2000s? Perhaps, but the A1H'sname might suggest that this new receiver is in fact the spiritual successor toother "A1" products from Denon's past. Throughout the years only a handful ofthe company's most significant products have had A1 in their names. Forexample, back in 1996, the ground-breaking AVP-A1 home theater processor gaveearly adopters of the DVD access to Dolby Digital and DTS processing, formind-blowing 5.1-channel audio. The unparalleled AVP-A1HDCI AV Processor and POA-A1HDCI 10-Channel power amplifier, each of which sold for $7,500 whenGene reviewed them in 2008, have surely earned spots in the Shirakawa hall offame, as well. Now it's the turn of the AVR-A1H to make history. So, what makesit so special?

Themost obvious thing that stands out about the AVR-A1H is its 15 channels ofon-board power, enabling the user to drive 15 speakers and 4 independent subsfor a 9.4.6 speaker configuration without any additional/external amps. InDolby Atmos terms, that's a traditional 7-channel layout with both sidesurrounds and surround back speakers, plus an extra pair of wide speakers atthe front, 6 overheadspeakers, and 4 subs. The receiver is rated at 150 watts per channel, with 2channels driven. But according to Technical Editor Matthew Poes, whose recentvisit to Masimo Consumer (formerly known as Sound United) yielded a goldmine ofinsider knowledge, we know that the amp itself not limited to 150 watts; it's"a beast capable of quite a bit more output," he said. (The THD+N vs Output showed the clipping point closer to175 watts.) Denon says that it has measured the AVR-A1H to output 190 watts (6ohm, 1 kHz, 0.7%, with 2 channels driven), but that was "at full steam in atest environment."

This is one AVR we are eager to get on the bench to test but suffice it to say, our experience with Denon flagship products like these has proven them to be overachievers and capable of hitting 70% of rated power (105wpc) with up to seven channels driven. The fact that the A1H has an even larger power supply than the AVR-X8500H gives us high hopes for the amount of power this behemoth can deliver. In fact, we confirmed with Denon engineering that they bench tested the A1H is able to maintain 70% power for up to 9 channels driven! We can't wait to verify this with our own measurements.

Denon'spress materials promise electrical and mechanical parts that are "Hi-Fi grade,"but thanks to Matthew's reporting, I can offer more detail. The AVR-A1H uses anew amplifier module (shared with other models in the Denon lineup) that uses ahigh-current 4-pin transistor.The 4th pin is a thermistor that allows the amplifier to track temperature changes and re-bias itself automatically.Very cool. As you might expect for a 15-channel amplifier, the power supply isenormous — the E-Core transformer isreportedly the largest ever included in a Denon receiver. Not since the venerable AVR-5805 have we seen such a beefy power supply in an AVR.

Editorial Note About the Denon AVR-5805 Power Supply by Gene DellaSala:

The AVR-5805 had a fifth foot at the center of the chassis tosupport its massive toroidal power transformer (borrowed from the AVR-5803) and two additional E-Core transformers borrowed from the AVR-2805!) The AVR-5805 employed multiple high voltage (80V) capacitors (4 x 33,000uF = 132,000uF, or66,000uF per rail). According to Denon, the two additional EI core's for the AVR-5805 were to supply power on both analog and digital circuits individually, not for driving the power amplifier section. Due to advancements in circuit design, the AVR-A1H doesn't need such a huge power transformers any more to power analog or digital circuity.

The block capacitors for thepower amplifier are indeed of "unprecedented size" for Denon, rated at 33,000µFeach (compared to 22,000µF each in both the AVR-X8500H and the 110thAnniversary AVR-A110). The power supply capacitors are custom-made for Denon by Japan's Nichicon Corporation. These are 4-polecapacitors — a 4-pole filter is created by the arrangement of the internalcapacitor coils, yielding a filter that leads to much lower inductance,according to Matthew Poes. The power transformer, which sits on a 2mm-thickcopper plate, is 41% heavier than the one used in the X8500H. In fact, at awhopping 25.4 pounds, the power transformer in the AVR-A1H is nearly 4.5 poundsheavier than an entire AVR-X2800 receiver!

TheAVR-A1H represents the absolute pinnacle of 8K A/V receiver performance fordiscerning home cinema enthusiasts.With a massive power supply supporting 15-channels of high-power, internalamplification and the flexibility to create up to a 9.4.6 immersive surroundconfiguration, the AVR-A1H has been engineered and meticulously manufactured toachieve unprecedented refinement, establishing a new standard for AVR featuresand performance.

—Trip Randall,Denon brand president

Denon AVR-A1H Back Panel View - Note 17 Speaker connections and 4 XLR sub outs!

TheAVR-A1H supports both 8K pass-through and 8K upscaling of 4K content thanks toa brand-new 8K HDMI board. 4K at 120Hz is also supported on all inputs.Next-gen gamers, take note. The brains of the operation lie on a cutting-edge, dual-core, 1GHzdigital signal processor (DSP),with enough number-crunching ability to power a smart phone. Denon says thisrepresents a major upgrade over the last-generation chips. Compared to the2-chip DSP in the AVR-X8500A, the AVR-A1H's DSP can deliver 25% more MIPS(Million instructions per second) and works at a clock speed that's over twiceas high. All of this processing power is needed in order to support the highchannel count and latest HDMI features. It also helps enable the AVR-A1H tooffer a great deal of flexibility. For example, all four of the subwooferoutputs can be individually tailored with crossover, level, delay, and so on.If you prefer to use RCA outputs for your subs instead of XLR, those XLRoutputs can be reassigned, allowing you to take advantage of a balancedconnection between the AVR-A1H's preamp and an external 3-channel power amp foryour front left, right, and center-channel speakers. No, you don't needa separate amp for your front stage, but why not try a Parasound Halo A31, aMcIntosh MC303, an Anthem MCA 325 (Gen 2), or an ATI AT543NC if you're craving more power? Alternatively, ifyou don't plan to use all 15 channels of the AVR-A1H's built-in power for a9.4.6 setup, you can reallocate unused amp channels to bi-amp the front stagespeakers or reassign them to other zones or bypass them entirely for the purest preamp out signal.

Back to those subwoofer outputs for a moment. The top few Denon and Marantzmodels for 2023 feature "Directional Bass," which works with either two or foursubwoofers. When you’re using multiple subwoofers — let's say one in each ofyour room's four corners, for example — the AVR-A1H can send the low-frequencyinformation from any given speaker to the sub that's closest to the sourcelocation of the sound. So if Thor smashes his hammer into a baddie's helmet andthe sound comes from the front left speaker, the low-frequency impact will berouted to the front left subwoofer. Theoretically, these directional concussiveeffects could add an extra degree of realism and immersion to the cinematicexperience by letting viewers feel (rather than hear) these bass cuescoming from a specific direction. (We’re withholding our judgment on theefficacy of this system until we can try it for ourselves, but there is someskepticism among the Audioholics staff.) Before now, only top-shelf AVprocessors from the likes of Storm Audio and Trinnov were capable of this kindof location-specific bass management. The AVR-A1H also features a bass-exciter/ButtKicker output, meaning you can use oneof the four subwoofer outputs to control a haptic transducer with its owncrossover and level controls.

AudysseyMultEQ XT32 is the built-in tool for fine-tuningthe system to your room, but the big news for 2023 is that Dirac Live willbecome available, for a fee, starting in March. As of the time of writing,neither Dirac nor Denon has confirmed whether the AVR-A1H will eventually getthe excellent multi-sub Dirac Live Bass Control feature, but it seems likely. Ourfriends at Audio Advice believe it will be added next year. As for whether theAVR-A1H will also get the brand new Dirac Live Active Room Treatment feature when it becomes availablelater this year, that's anyone's guess. The AVR-A1H can store two presets withcustomized setups for each. So you could have a Dirac preset and an Audysseypreset, or one for Dolby Atmos content and another for Auro3D. (You have tonsof Auro3D content, right?) Or Directional Bass on one preset, and standard basson another. The folks at Denon are looking into the possibility of adding morepresets in the future via a firmware upgrade, which would certainly be welcome.In any case, the audio will be treated to Denon's new DAC board, using no fewerthan 10 ESS Sabre ES9018K2Mchips. This is a 2-channel chip,with one DAC channel per output channel on the receiver. The HEOS board thatcontrols the receiver's streaming platform is also new. Supply chain issuesforced Denon to design a new board, and the company used the opportunity toupgrade to a more capable board with a new HEOS processor, allowing for a more complex setupmenu, 1080p graphical user interface, and an improved setup assistant thatwalks you through the optimal settings and even answers some questions. Thepreamplifier circuit board has moved to a quad-layer design (compared to adual-layer PCB on the AVR-X8500H). The engineering team reportedly madeconsiderable effort to minimize noise contamination at every point. Thisincluded designing independent power supplies for different parts of thereceiver, and separate boards for different functions. In lesser products, itwould not be uncommon to see the DSP, the DAC, and the HDMI all stuffedtogether on one board. Ultimately, the engineering team found that theubiquitous supply chain issues were both a blessing and a curse. On the onehand, they weren't able to continue using tried-and-true board designs becausetoo many parts became unavailable or unaffordable. On the other hand, thesecircumstances presented an opportunity to innovate and design from the groundup, taking advantage of small performance gains wherever possible.

New Denon & Marantz AV Product Details from our Factory Tour!

Allof the expected audio/video formats are present and correct on the spec sheet,including Dolby Atmos, DTS:X Pro,IMAX Enhanced, Auro3D, Dolby Vision, HDR10+,and HLG. The new HDMI board promises ALLM(Auto Low Latency Mode) pass-through and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) for allyou gamers out there. As expected, the AVR-A1H works with Denon's HEOSstreaming platform, but it's also usable as a Roon endpoint via Apple AirPlay2. For those choosing to eschew the HEOS app, the AVR-A1H can be controlled bya new back-lit remote control with an aluminum top and a substantial-feeling 7.3-ozweight. As is often the case with flagship Denon receivers, there are reallytoo many features to count, let alone list here. But a couple of small thingsstood out to me. Unlike the AVR-X8500H, the AVR-A1H has a stereo balanced XLRinput, perfect for the analog output of your favorite high-end DAC. It alsocomes with a 5-year warranty, instead of 3 years on the X8500H.

I’veno doubt that one of my colleagues at Audioholics will be getting an AVR-A1H infor review, so I don't feel the need to sum up everything here, but I do have afew thoughts. As I write these words on February 3rd, 2023, the AVR-A1H hasofficially begun shipping. On paper, it looks fantastic.

The addition of DiracLive will, in my opinion, elevate the best offerings from Denon (and Marantz)into the top tier of AV products, just short of the Trinnovs and Storm Audiosof the world. I can't for the life of me understand why Dirac Live wasn'tincluded at launch, however, and considering that it comes standard on somemuch less expensive receivers from Pioneer and Onkyo, having to fork overanother few hundred dollars for Dirac when it becomes available for the AVR-A1Hfeels less than generous. And given that the AVR-A1H boasts 4 independentsubwoofer outputs, I was sorely disappointed (and more than a little surprised)that the Dirac Live Multi Subwoofer Bass Control feature isn't yet a sure-thingfor the AVR-A1H and its Denon/Marantz stablemates. The similarly-priced Arcam AVR31offers it, after all. Other than that, the AVR-A1H looks like a worthysuccessor to Denon's fabled super-receivers, and I look forward to finding outhow it performs from a formal Audioholics review. The build quality of this AVR is above and beyond anything else currently on the market and if it performs as good as it looks, some of these initial shortcomings about DIRAC implementation can be forgiven.

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Unless otherwise indicated, this is a preview article for the featured product. A formal review may or may not follow in the future.

Jacob is a music-lover and audiophile who enjoys convincing his friends to buy audio gear that they can't afford. He's also a freelance writer and editor based in Los Angeles.

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