Denon’s new 8K AV receiver with Dolby Atmos is the pinnacle of high-end home theater equipment
Denon was the first brand to release an 8K AV receiver, and the latest 8K model is the most impressive we’ve heard yet in terms of power and connectivity. The Denon AVC-X6800H has seven HDMI inputs, two HDMI outputs and 11.4 channels of immersive spatial audio plus every conceivable type of connectivity and configuration.
As you can see from the photo, it looks good (and it looks just as good in black), but what’s really exciting here is the specification. We already consider Denon to be the best AV receiver manufacturer for most people, but the AVC-X6800H seems to tick every amplifier box we can think of – and although it has a fairly premium price of £3,000, it’s tough for assuming that you will ever need an upgrade.
Denon AVC-X6800H: key specs
The Denon AVC-X6800H has 11.4 channels of amplification and 13.4 in preamp mode, where the internal amplification is turned off to achieve a clean connection to other home theater hardware. There’s support for spatial audio and 8K video, with 205 watts per channel of amplification for suitably earth-shattering soundtracks. The supported sound formats are Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, IMAX Enhanced and Auro 3D. There’s also upmixing via Dolby Surround, DTS Neural:X and Auro-Matic to breathe new life into older content. And because it’s a Denon, it also has the company’s HEOS interoperability built-in.
All seven HDMI inputs and both HDMI outputs are 8K-ready and there is HLG, HDR, Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and Dynamic HDR pass-through. Audyssey room correction is included and for an additional fee you can upgrade to Dirac Live digital room correction.
The Denon supports High-Resolution Audio with a front USB port that allows playback up to 24-bit/192 kHz, and supports MP3, WMA, WAV, MPEG-4/AAC, FLAC and ALAC. And there is also good news for gamers. The receiver supports VRR, Quick Frame Transport and ALLM for your consoles or computer.
It’s an exceptionally powerful and flexible receiver – just listing the connections on the back would take up most of my day – but as we know from other Denon hardware, the included Denon Setup Assistant makes everything easy to use for buyers who not wanting to tinker with all conceivable configuration options. Although of course that’s all available to people who do.
The new Denon AVC-X6800H is available from authorized Denon retailers for £3,000 in the UK and €3,500 in Europe. As for the US, we don’t have confirmed availability or pricing yet, but we’ll report back as soon as that’s announced.