Denon AVR-X1000 5.1-Channel Networking Home Theater AV Receiver with AirPlay

I have always stuck with Denon AVRs because I find they sound great and offer a good amount of quality at a fair price. This receiver is no different. I am able to hook up 5 HDMI devices (plus one front) and use the receiver to pass/switch the video through using a single HDMI connection to my TV. This completely simplifies input A/V selection because audio and video are all tied together.I did use ARC (audio return channel) for a while and it worked fine but I did not like the fact that when using ARC, this receiver must remain in a higher power standby mode and must enable HDMI controls. While these features can be nice for some setups, I prefer to use my Harmony remote to handle all the input/source changes. And I don't see the need for the higher power standby and always on HDMI pass-through if I don't need it. Others may find those feature are a must though. I ended up using the single optical/TV input and that worked just as well since I barely use the smart TV sources but when I do, it all works great.The networking feature is great for listing to your iPhone/iPod Touch or iTunesover the network (Airplay) with no cable required. I was not aware of the feature when I purchased it but once I discovered it I was so glad it had this feature. A few vendors have been licensed from Apple to use AirPlay and this lets you re-direct any iPhone/iPods music directly to the receiver. its kind of a little bit of magic to walk into my home with my iPod playing what I was just listening to in the car and with just the press of a button on the iPhone, its now playing on my AVR. I really love this feature. The network feature also let you play tons of internet radio directly. You can also use the "free" Pandora service and there is also Spotify and Sirious support for those pay services. And finally, the network allows you to configure the AVR through a web interface which is certainly nice and much faster than using a remote. Especially when you are going through the initial learning curve.As far as sound quality, I was glad to finally be able to take advantage of MultEQ for better a better more accurate sound field. I very much liked the ability to use Audyssey setup using a microphone. After proper calibration (and disabling Dynamic EQ) I noticed a great improvement in surround sound production. Surround sound seemed much more accurate and surround sounds seemed to come from the proper area and not just from the speakers. This receiver produces a good amount of volume (about 80W per channel over 5 channels) and will be usable in a moderate to large living room and be plenty loud without over driving it.The general sound quality is very good and certainly compares well to my previous Denon AVR even though on paper the AVR-2800 seemed a bit better but with the better MultEQ I would say my speakers sound better now. But with all the advantages of HDMI switching, AirPlay, new sounds modes (Pro-Logic II, Dolby True HD) as well as the ability to process 7+ PCM streams directly from HDMI, I feel like the switch to all digital/all HDMI setup was a good choice.Its actually a great choice as long as you have nearly ALL MODERN/HDMI sources. This AVR was designed for connecting a number of HDMI AV sources to a TV. It is limited and a bad choice if you have a number of non-HDMI sources you want to set up. It only 2 digital audio inputs (OPT and COAX) and 2 analog audio inputs. The nice things is that you can use these on any of the 5 inputs so if you have a TV that has OPT you will be all set. But if you want to drive an old turn table and a tape deck, you might look for a receiver with more analog inputs.Some Issues Despite my High Rating===========================Documentation needs some work to explain the interactions and setup of MultEQ, Dynamic EQ, Dynamic Volume. Bottom line, Dynamic Volume is a better form of dynamic compression for not bothering the neighbors. Dynamic EQ adjusts the frequency response and volume moment-by-moment to re-create reference level in any room setup. To me, its just working a bit too hard and just does not sound natural. It also seem to increase the low-end and overall brightness so it may be enjoyed by those that love "explosions" and high dynamics range in movies. But to me, you should not need to dynamically alter the frequency response if you speakers are set up right in the first place. That being said, I do use the dynamic volume at night to reduce the dynamic range and I actually prefer a little less "boom" in movies because I think they tend to over blow the dynamic range just to make the sound "pop".I am not a fan of the "Dynamic EQ" feature and the settings default to turning this ON when you enable MultEq which I do want enabled all the time. And, because the documentation was poor, I needed to read up on the internet just to figure out why I did not like "Dynamic EQ" but I did enjoy the benefits of "MultEq". its all a bit confusing but once you understand these features and when they do, you improve you sound quite a bit.The Network feature must be "Wired". This is just out-dated. All devices today should have wireless built-in.HDMI Digital Audio Versus Optical/Toslink===============================Just because I spent a lot of time trying to figure out if/why HDMI audio may be better than using my older optical connections, I figured I would include this next section. I was a bit worried about going with all HDMI audio until I better understood the differences.Because HDMI has higher bandwidth then Optical (Toslink) for audio, optical connections may be limited to using Bitstream so that the receiver can DECODE and produce the 5+ channels of audio for DTS/Dolby. Since optical connections simply do not have the bandwidth to send all those channels of uncompressed PCM. I have read that optical only supports 2 channels of PCM and cannot send 5 channels of uncompressed PCM. So, if you have a receiver connected via optical, you may need to set your source device to "Bitstream" to get all the channels of DTS and Dolby Digital.So, a simple rule of thumb may be this.... If you are using Optical/Toslink go with "Bitstream" option from your source device. If you are using HDMI into your receiver go with "PCM" to ensure the highest quality uncompressed sources are used when available. There is a lot more to this but HDMI just give you more high-bandwith options than optical so it seems to always be an upgrade in terms of digital audio.

So my 20 year old Onkyo receiver finally crapped out and I decided to replace it with the new version of such things, the audio/ video receiver. I went to a friends house who had the AVR-x2000 and it was very cool , so I decided I needed one of these. Now she had it set up by pros during a remodel so there was no talk of how to set it up. I have two speakers on a shelf at the tv, two in the ceiling above the main listening area and a subwoofer newly purchased. At this time I do not have a center speaker. I have a cd player, blu ray player, cable box, and ipod dock to hook up to it.So I unpack it and it is very pretty. But as they say pretty only goes so far. I hooked up everything wherever I could . Hdmi to cable, tv ( now known as monitor), and bluray. Rca to ipod dock and optical to cd changer. I don't need a second zone but I like the ability for expansion. I did not hook up network because I don't want to right now and I bought a unit with the option for future use if I decide to get into all the network options the "kids" are into these days. I am hoping this unit will function properly with current firmware, you know like all the other electronics I have ever bought.The first thing I notice is no manual. I hate no manual purchases. It means a longer time to trouble shoot a problem like the ones I encountered with this unit. I turn on the tv and AVR-x1000. I am asked some questions about the speakers and I am instructed to plug in the doohickey for the unit to decide the best sound for my 16x20 living room. I am supposed to put this at ear level for each of 8 positions people will sit to listen to the tv. I have a couch that can seat 6 and there are two of us in the house that will usually listen to this tv. So I put it at ear level of the first position and it dings all the speakers appropriately ( I guess). Then I move it to position 2. Well as far as I am concerned I am done but there is no way to stop at two. You must do all 8. So I move around the room trying to do what the tv shows. In front of the couch ( on top of the table) L&R, behind the couch ( in the dining room L&R), on the stairs, etc, etc.... When finished this unit turns on the tv in surround sound and my front speakers sound like poopy and my ceiling speakers are non existent. I try pushing buttons on the remote to no avail so off I am to print the 206 page manual to see if I can manually set the speakers to my desire. ( Answer is yes but it won't be easy)Now I need to try out the things I connected to this unit. The tv obviously works, I try the blu ray. Nope not working. Maybe I plugged it into the dvd by mistake. Nope not there either. Okay must have a loose wire which I will get to later. Next up the cd player which I had to hook up with optical. I toggle the left knob between various options but since there is a prolonged pause for the thing to kick in I have to turn to what I think it may be and wait, and wait, and wait. I find the cd player on the "tv audio" circuit but at least it works. Next the ipod dock. Same waiting process, I find it on the "media" circuit but at least it works. I label my ipod and cd player so I know where to find them when I want to. The speakers still sound like poop but I am hoping to be able to fix that.By now I am fairly frustrated with my new toy and power down to continue another day. It won't power down and says Main zone off, but won't go dark. So I go to my handy new manual and see if that is normal. No word in the manual about it so where do I go? To amazon, to hit up other customers to see if it is normal. Someone pointed me to the Zone 2 setting and that shut the thing down.Now I expect a lot of snide comments about how ignorant I am with new technology and that is ok. But really it should not be this hard to set something up. I didn't write this review for all the tech heads out there who think all this stuff is cool. I wrote this for the folks that are switching to new tech and letting them know to allow far more time and patience than ever before for all the new bells and whistles in the name of progress.I have 8 days left to return it to amazon. I will have to find hours of time to trouble shoot the blu ray and speakers issues. I would give up but I am afraid all of the similar systems will be the same. Oh how I long for the day with left/right, front/backs knobs and buttons for each other part of a system prominently on the front or the remote. If I keep the unit I will update with a more thorough review of how it sounds with my tweaks, that is if it doesn't end up being a 450$ brick thrown out the window.Update 2/20/2015: Oh Foreshadowing.Just dropped my rating to 1. Would have given zero if I could because I just literally threw $450 dollars in the trash. I never did get my rear speakers to work. After 3 months the ipod dock stopped working, but worked in other devices. The denon all of a sudden would not recognize the format of the bluray player out of the blue. I had been watching dvds on it for months with no problem. I unhooked it from the denon and plugged it back into the tv with no problems. When the cd player would not work through the denon I pulled it all and tossed it in the trash. All in all I have never owned a worse PRODUCT IN MY LIFE. So I am now onto a soundbar with Bluetooth for the tv and receiver with Bluetooth and sub pre out I can plug my cable box into for surround sound I can control, all for less than the cost of this unit. UNBELIEVABLE!

I haven't had this receiver long enough to give it five stars. A couple of comments based on other reviews. First, this unit definitely doesn't have wifi. It connects to your router by an ethernet cable or a separately purchased wireless bridge. I'm a spotify user. There is Spotify on the reciever, but it doesn't seem to include spotify radio. I stream spotify radio to the receiver from my iphone or Mac over airplay to get around this problem.The Denon iphone app works fine on this receiver, as do third party remote control apps. I updated the firmware on the receiver as soon as I got it connected to my router (easy to do from the setup menu - takes 20 minutes). Once connected to the home network, no additional parts are needed for smartphone or tablet control. The Denon app is free.The AVR-X1000 is a great networked receiver for people who have all HDMI video connections. It is not a good choice for people with older equipment that rely on component connections for quality video.The automatic setup is straightforward and similar to other AV receivers. The sound seems first rate, as one would expect from a Denon product. I don't believe there's good reason to buy a more expensive Denon receiver unless there's specific functionality that is specifically desired. This unit has plenty of power to play loud, and plenty of functions to keep most hobbyists amused.