Denon wins the 2016 Readers' Award

Denon’s remarkable AVR-X2300W home cinema amplifier is the readers’ pick for 2016. Given that it’s also taken home our Product of the Year Award in the Home Cinema Amplifiers category, it’s obviously a very well-regarded machine.

At the risk of repeating ourselves, it's a lavishly specified, impeccably built and fine-sounding multi-channel amplifier. And at £500, one of the most aggressively priced products of our entire 102 Award-winners.

But it's also a remarkably pragmatic choice as a readers' favourite. Often our Readers' Award goes something to ground-breaking, extravagant or headline-grabbing in some other way – but the X2300W isn’t really any of those things.

Instead it’s a product that takes established technologies, executes them brilliantly and manages to deliver a level of ergonomic and audio performance that seems uncanny at the price. All of which is commendable, even if it isn't as eye-catching as some of our other Products of the Year.

It just goes to prove that What Hi-Fi? readers not only recognise a superb product when they hear it, they’re even more level-headed and discerning than we thought.

MORE: Awards 2016: Readers' Award

See all our What Hi-Fi? Awards 2016 winners

Andy Madden

Andy is Deputy Editor of What Hi-Fi? and a consumer electronics journalist with nearly 20 years of experience writing news, reviews and features. Over the years he's also contributed to a number of other outlets, including The Sunday Times, the BBC, Stuff, and BA High Life Magazine. Premium wireless earbuds are his passion but he's also keen on car tech and in-car audio systems and can often be found cruising the countryside testing the latest set-ups. In his spare time Andy is a keen golfer and gamer.