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.
Where its affordability compared to many higher-end models shows is in its channel configuration support, as it tops out at 7.2 channels, or 5.2.2 in a Dolby Atmos/DTS:X set-up. Dolby and DTS technologies are integrated to add virtualized height and surround sound effects to stereo and surround content via the two company’s upmixing processing, too.
In addition to those three 8K/60Hz HDMI inputs (and single ARC/eARC output) are a further three HDMI connections, plus two pairs of RCAs, opticals and a single phono input for audio components and turntables. Bluetooth is on the menu for your wireless playback convenience, too.
The AVR-X1800H receiver also accommodates two-source/two-zone audio, as well as Audyssey’s MultEQ XT room-correction technology.
Last but not least is an 80-watts-per-channel output across those seven channels, compared to the model-up AVR-X200H’s 90-watts-per-channel delivery across the same number of amplification channels. The pricier Award winner also adds extra RCA inputs, an HDMI output and HDMI 2.1 support, though otherwise there doesn’t appear to be too much else between the two models. If Denon has managed to be consistent in terms of performance, we could well have another excellent, affordable AV receiver on our hands here.
We're still waiting on US pricing and will update this story when we hear back from Denon. In the UK you can get the AVR-X1800H for £699 without a DAB radio or for £749 with one. In Europe, the non-DAB variant will retail for €799, while the DAB option will cost €849. Australia pricing has been confirmed at AU$1199.
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