If you’ve headed to the ‘best home cinema amplifiers’ section of the What Hi-Fi? Awards site in the past nine months, you will have seen the Denon AVR-X2800H proudly sitting at the top of it, under the banner ‘Product of the year’. If you went on to buy it, good for you – you now own the best-value home cinema amplifier currently available at its mid-range price point. But if you didn’t, the reason being that it was above your budget, you might be pleased to know it now has a more affordable sibling.
The AVR-X1800H (which presumably succeeds the 2021-launched AVR-X1700H) has just been announced and will be available next month for €799* (or €849 if you want the version with DAB radio built-in). For its modest price, it has a surprising number of premium features, including support for 8K via three 8K-supporting HDMI inputs; a number of next-gen gaming technologies, including Variable Refresh Rate, Auto Low Latency Mode and 4K@120Hz; and network streaming up to 24-bit/192kHz via Wi-Fi, AirPlay 2 and Denon’s comprehensive HEOS multi-room platform.
