It had been a while since a flagship Denon AVR had graced our test rooms, but recently we righted that wrong. And the AVC-A1H was worth the wait.
Because while it’s undoubtedly expensive, its stacked feature set and phenomenally cinematic sound make it worth every penny. And now that it has fallen to £4999 at Sevenoaks (a discount of £1300), it’s more compelling than ever.
Denon AVC-A1H deal
The Denon AVC-A1H earned five stars from us. And that’s despite its significant heft; this thing weighs a whopping 32kg, and will take up most of your AV rack.
It might not tear up the rulebook when it comes to aesthetics, but its utilitarian design certainly gets the job done. And the metal, backlit remote is a welcome change from the plastic models we have become accustomed to.
It is one of the most extensively equipped AVRs we have had the pleasure of testing. Its 15 channels of amplification can support speaker configurations up to 9.4.6, plus you can split the amplification channels across two additional zones, and power other speakers in your home from just one amp.
It houses Denon’s most premium components, including the brand’s most powerful transformers, 10 two-channel ESS Sabre ES9018K2M DAC chips, a high-spec DSP processing engine, and gold-plated speaker terminals.
You get multiple wired connections to play with, and compatibility with plenty of AV formats (including all four HDR formats and numerous immersive audio formats) plus the main music streaming services.
And the sound? “Simply incredible” was our verdict.
Watching F1: The Movie, we noted that it “makes light work of creating a hugely spacious and totally immersive sound, with every aspect of the scene bursting with three-dimensional energy.
“Everything from the clattering of gravel hitting the tarmac and the screech of tyres as cars spin out, to the crackling of fireworks and a swooping helicopter sounds superbly crisp.”
Even quiet dialogue comes across sounding natural, while the bass is superb. This AV receiver is the real deal, and for £4999 at Sevenoaks, it’s now more tempting than ever.
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