Trying Sony STR-DN1080, not impressed, Denon?

SnowJim

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Hi,

My Yamaha RX-A3030 do not support HDR and the LG OLED65C8 ARC/spdif results in sound drops. So I bought a Sony STR-DN1080 and even if it sounds good I'm not impressed. A couple of problems :

1. Really slow menus
2. Remote VARY plastic and no video2, you need to go to the slow home menu
3. The feel of the unit and its remote is vary cheap
4. Strange problems like starting up and changing to input that is not connected.
5. Hard to see what mode it is currently using and to change I need to go in to the super slow menu system

From the forum it seems like its common that users got problems with this receiver. I have read problems with ATMOS or DTS:X that is a deal breaker for many.

So the question is, would a Denon AVR-X2700H be a better choice? And will it still be a big trade off from the Yamaha RX-A3030?

My speaker setup is :
Montor Audio RX8 + RXFX + Center and a Velodyne spl-1200

Regard
 
I doubt you'll be more impressed with the Denon X2700 to be honest. Even that is going to be a bit of comedown from the Yamaha. You will need to move a long way up the Denon tiers to bet a comparable performance to the Yamaha. You are comparing the performance of a [then] £2000 amp to a Denon that retails for £600.
 
I doubt you'll be more impressed with the Denon X2700 to be honest. Even that is going to be a bit of comedown from the Yamaha. You will need to move a long way up the Denon tiers to bet a comparable performance to the Yamaha. You are comparing the performance of a [then] £2000 amp to a Denon that retails for £600.

Aha, you say performance? What are we talking about then? Is there really a noticeable difference in sound "quality" when using pure direct mode? Or do you mean that the menu system is faster?

I don´t notice a big difference between the Sony and the Yamaha in the "quality" of the sound, maybe the sony produce a bit more "punch". But then, I haven't really compared them side by side.
 
Sound quality. I'm surprised you find little difference between the Sony and the Yamaha. I would be looking at the Denon X4700 to get near that audio quality of the Yamaha.
 
Sound quality. I'm surprised you find little difference between the Sony and the Yamaha. I would be looking at the Denon X4700 to get near that audio quality of the Yamaha.

Aha, I haven´t compared them side by side, maybe I would have a different opinion then. Also, I might not be that level of audiophile that might notice it.

A friend to me have said that as long as you use pure direct there should not be any big difference in sound between different receivers no matter the price?
 
Your friend is wrong. What pure direct does is to by-pass any bass management and any upmixing modes on the receiver. The signal still has to be decoded and amplified. There is so much crammed into the frame of AV amps, especially those with nine or more channels that interference and noise becomes a problem, pure direct does to some extent cut down on that because it's not being upmixed but apart from that there's no difference.

The higher up the tiers on any manaufacturers models the better the components, better layout and insulation from various parts then the signal and reproduction should be better. The 3030 was towards the middle tier of Yamaha amps but the Denon X2700 is more entry level.

Room correction also plays a part and it has to be said that Audyssey found onboard Denon and Marantz models is superior to YPAO found in Yamana amps. However the X2700 has the basic Audyssey XT whilst models above that have the much better Audyssey XT32.

The Denon models are rather poor at stereo music and will no match for the Yamaha. If music is important you should look at the Marantz range of AV amps. I'm a Denon owner and never use it for stereo music.
 
Thanks for the information.

But say that I would manage to get SPDIF working between the Shield and the Yamaha RX-A3030, this would mean that I can get DTS and 5.1 sound. The more advanced formats will have to be transcoded by the client(Kodi or Netflix). Would we still get a better quality out of the Yamaha compare to the Denon/Sony?

Right now I can´t see that I will buy a brand new receiver for 2000 EUR but If I would find a used one that still provides the most important futures then I would buy it.
 
You can still connect to the Yamaha via optical which would give you a maximum of SD 5.1 audio, DTS and DD. The Yamaha I would say would still be superior in SD audio to both the Denon and the Sony. If you have, or intend to get, a 4K blu ray player then if you get one with two HDMI out then the video could be routed to the TV and the second audio HDMI out to the Yamaha for a full HD audio performance.
 
Thanks, after ALOT of work it seems like I have manage to get SPDIF working in my setup. Im now using a Nvidia Shield Pro 2019 with a USB SB soundcard 5.1 and have tried the most common formats, so far it works great. The formats that require HDMI will if I got it right, be handled by the software and downgraded just so itcan be sent on the SPDIF.

I will keep my eye out for a used new receiver in about the same class the Yamaha and that supports these "new" formats.
 
The solution worked poorly :( The Shield forgets it got USB sound card from time to time and KODI also sometimes can´t find a signal even when Netflix can. Manufactures are really working hard to make sure that you have to buy all new tech.

Its way to complicated to get this working without new tech if its even possible!? Its a shame that the entire receiver needs to be switch while this is only a picture problem.

I will probably remove the HDR support for a while until I get a new Receiver that can handle HDR properly and that is not super slow like the Sony.
 

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