Review on Denon AVR-X2700H 8K Ultra HD 7.2 Channel (95W x 7) AV Receiver 2020 Model - Optimized for Gaming, Music Streaming, 3D Audio & Video, Alexa + HEOS by Jacob Diego

I've been a loyal Onkyo customer for over 20 years but the company seems to be managing their business so badly, at least in the US In order to do that Buy what I wanted, I decided to try the Denon. Before spending what I would normally spend on an AVR, I decided to look at the mid-range model. You will find a lot of feedback on the sound quality of this model, so I will not repeat it, but I will say that I generally agree that this amp is pretty good value for money in this regard. What bothered me about this device was the terrible quality of the firmware. There are many bugs that I could complain about to others such as: e.g. turning on at zero volume rather than adjusted volume, but there were others that I haven't referenced elsewhere, such as: B.: - When using HDMI ARC, even if CEC is disabled on both TV and AVR. When you turn off the TV, the source on the AVR will change from the currently playing source to the TV audio source. The only way to prevent this is to stop using ARC and use optical input for TV audio. "CEC off. +ARC enabled" means taking no action to control the AVR, just receiving sound, but the Denon is reacting to something the TV is sending (possibly a TV bug, I don't know). - I accidentally selected the 'Hide' option on the tuner input ('Hide' prevents an unused source from appearing in the list for the source selector knob to select from). When I reset the setting, the tuner refused to output any sound at all. I could see "tuned" but no sound. I finally got the idea to use the 'Reset Defaults' option (or something similar) on the 'Input Assignment' screen and that enabled the tuner sound at the cost of clearing my input configuration. - I did not fully characterize this problem. yet, but I have the AVR connected to my home automation system and am using the Denon control protocol on port 23 to control the AVR. When the AVR is on, the workaround for the zero volume problem (which is to use the "last" setting, not the default value) doesn't work. Sending power up, source select, and volume sequences as fast as the AVR can receive them seems to cause a volume error. I can watch the AVR turn on, tell me the volume is 49 (as commanded) and then send a volume update to 0 (which I haven't set) and then stay there. I literally had to change my automation software to poll the volume until 0 came and then resubmit the desired volume. This only seems to be an error during power up; After switching on and resetting the volume, the receiver behaves normally in terms of volume. UPDATE: AVR doesn't seem to implement a buffer for a TCP connection. A delay of 500 ms between commands eliminated these problems. My experience with the Onkyo control protocol has shown that it buffers commands and doesn't need those delays. I believe all of this is the result of buying a new AVR so close to its debut. I'm still giving 3 stars because all the issues are firmware related and I hope Denon works on a fix otherwise this will be my first and last Denon AVR. If only the firmware worked (instead of wasting 2-3 hours of my time trying to figure out how to work around problems) this would be a 4 star AVR. Onkyo, what happened to you man? Update: Another annoying issue: I'm having this issue with a TCL Roku TV and I can't be sure if that's partly to blame either, but when the TV isn't powered on (it's either unplugged or in a hibernation state) , when the AVR is turned on and later the TV is turned on, the AVR thinks that there is no monitor connected and refuses to output anything to the HDMI port. By turning on the TV, Denon doesn't realize that a monitor is now connected and the AVR continues to refuse to output anything over HDMI until the AVR is cycled off and back on while the TV is on. The only way to prevent this is to enable "quick start" mode on the TV, which effectively keeps it on all the time (but no screen controls when the TV is "off"). The idle power of the TV in this mode varies from less than 1W to 15W. What a waste of energy for Denon to know that the TV is always connected! Again, this may be an odd interaction between this TV brand and Denon, but it speaks to a lack of compatibility testing. TCL is not an obscure TV brand and Quick Launch is disabled by default. The AVR appears to mute the HDMI output when not receiving an EDID response from a connected but powered off TV. While it's perfectly normal for an AVR to require an EDID response during setup, how many people switch TVs after setup? Just remember the last monitor you set up and keep managing HDMI for that monitor even if you don't see anything connected. That seems pretty obvious. I'd be interested to hear from others if Denon will behave this way on all monitors or if it's just TCL. (It's too much of a hassle to move a rack-mounted receiver to another TV or connect another TV to a rack-mounted receiver since all my TVs are wall-mounted.) I'm leaving Denon because I have solutions for found all problems. and the sound quality is very good for the price, but I'm dismayed at how much effort it took to get everything working.