Denon AVR-2313CI Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay and Powered Zone 2

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Price: $554.88    

Product Feature

• Fully discrete power amplifiers for all 7 channels (105 W x 7 ch, 8ohm 20-20kHz 0.05%). Delivers the legendary sound quality you?ve come to expect from Denon.
• 3D pass-through technology Enjoy 3D video entertainment with dynamic surround sound.
• 4K video support (4K video upscaling, video passthrough and GUI overlay)
• Front Panel USB Input Direct digital play for iPod, iPhone and USB drives.
• AUDYSSEY MultEQ XT Award-Winning technology helps create an optimal acoustic profile for your home theater.

Product Description

With its vast array of inputs and network functions, the Denon AVR-2313CI 7.2-Channel Integrated Network A/V Receiver puts you in command. As the mid-level model of the IN-Command Series, this receiver sets a new standard in 3D, Blu-ray, game console, and other entertainment device integration with six DHMI inputs and dual HDMI outputs. It features seven discrete 105-watt channels of equal power, dual subwoofer outputs, and multiple high-resolution audio formats for superior surround sound audio performance. It also includes advanced video circuitry that upscales high-definition (HD) signal to 4K (3840 x 2160 pixel) signal. Enhanced by digital network audio/photo streaming capabilities, including support for AirPlay, mp3/WMA/WAV and FLAC HD audio, and Windows 7 compatibility, the AVR-2312CI is a solid foundation for your networked home entertainment system.

Denon AVR-2313CI Networking Home Theater Receiver with AirPlay and Powered Zone 2 Review

After researching all the main consumer brands (Sony, Pioneer, Denon, Onkyo, and Marantz), I settled on this particular AVR for the following reasons (in this particular order).

1. Excellent quality. If I am going to spend close to a thousand dollars on anything, it better work for the long term. Onkyo's have been reviewed to have quality problems, so I didn't want to take the chance. I have owned a Denon before, and worked like a champ.
2. Excellent audio quality. CNet regularly uses Denon as their reference audio system in their reviews, and rarely did any of the others come close according to them (they never really reviewed Marantz, but I know that they meet or exceed Denon, and are the Denon's sister company so I wasn't worried about them). As I mentioned, I had already owned a low end Denon and was extremely impressed with their sound already.
3. I really wanted Audyssey, a clear standard in the industry that is getting to be looked at like THX and Dolby, rather than any of the other company's "role your own" solution, and in particular I really wanted Audyssey DSX wide. This was the absolute least expensive system that supported that standard. Note that 9 speaker systems that support wide and height are still way, way outside this price range, so I didn't even consider one of those.

When I received the system, hooked everything together with the same mains I had before (20 year old Klipsch bookshelves and matching center, along with four Polk OWM3 for rear and Audyssey wide surrounds). After hooking up my speakers, setup through the TV UI was a breeze (including connecting it to the internet and getting a system update automatically), and Audyssey easily found the correct distances to my speakers and compensated most excellently for the weird acoustics of my living room.

When I turned on my system for the first time, in both music and with movies, I was stunned. I had no idea how good my speakers could sound. It was *amazing*. I had to play with it for a while (Dynamic EQ on or off, lowering or raising the frequency cutoff of the sub and each set of speakers individually, etc.), but it always sounded stunning. Every detail heard with perfect clarity.

And then I activated Audyssey wide, and I was *really* stunned. I could not believe how wide my sound stage had suddenly become. If you can remember when you first heard surround sound vs plain stereo (yes, I am that old), this is easily as big an improvement. When watching It really feels like you are in the middle of a scene, not just looking in on one. Things happen off to the side and you are constantly looking around to see if it happened in the movie or in your house. Car and planes really feel like they are flying right past you and heading off into the distance. And best of all, you don't need to have a movie encoded in it: it works right off my DirecTV 5.1 feed and improves it immeasurably. This was worth every penny as far as I am concerned.

Denon radio isn't bad in a pinch, but it isn't bad either. You are better off getting some sort of media player that had more support for online radio, and the remote has a selector for that (I got an MK808 for using XBMC on my NAS, which I can directly select); nevertheless, I sometimes quickly dial up some classical or classic rock when making lunch.

Now the bad. While the video pass through is awesome, and the HDMI switching is pretty good (a few seconds per switch), the video processing is terrible. I have a Panasonic P55ST30 plasma. It's not the best TV one can buy, but it is a truly awesome TV that ca be counted as a low end videophile television. I have never had any jitter from it, until I turned on the Denon video processing. That was not good at all. And without it, the onscreen menu will not overlay the TV's, but instead cuts it off, which kind of sucks. I believe this is all minor whining, and it is better to get a good TV that doesn't need your AVR's video processing, and mine clearly doesn't. The Denon supports 1.4a HDMI, and between that and better (also cheap) HDMI 1.4a high speed cables I also got from Amazon (Bluerigger for $4/each on sale), my picture still improved from my low end, older Denon, so I can't really complain.

Another quick aside: you might be wondering why I didn't get the equivalent Marantz, and it wasn't just money, although that played a good part since the Marantz SR6007 also has all the same features and would perhaps provide a slightly better sound. The problem is, "slightly better". I went and listened to one in Best Buy, and along with reading all the reviews I could find, the extra $300 or so just didn't justify what at best was a minor improvement in sound over the 2313, if any. Further, a lot of what you are paying for is a nicer, metal faceplate and some connectivity features I just didn't need. I connect my aforementioned media player and DirecTV, along with a PS3 (which, by the way, using DSX makes my games sound even more stunning), which meant a lot of what the Marantz offered that I would be paying for I didn't need.

Another bit of the bad: while I mentioned my Klipsch bookshelves sounded more amazing than all the time I had had them, the system is so good that it also exposed flaws in the speakers that I had never noticed before. Something wasn't quite right, and nothing I did improved it, so I used the $300 I saved to upgrade all my speakers around the room with Definitive Technology speakers (StudioMonitor 450 mains, Mythos 8 center, and ProCinema 60 satellites with dual Prosub 60 subwoofers). If you buy a good receiver, the hidden cost is you need the right speakers to match the sound. As I figured, the speakers were the final problem (I listened to music using strictly the 450's as a comparison), and my system now makes me beyond extremely happy.

A five star rating well earned.

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