Denon AVR-X4400H 9.2CH High Power 4K Ultra HD AV Receiver Cutting Edge Home Theater with HEOS and Amazon Alexa Voice Control - Black

I originally happily owned a Yamaha receiver for many years until it gave up on me, and purchased a Denon X3300W. It took a few weeks to get it tweaked where I was happy with it, but then the music and movie sound experience was absolutely amazing.About a year later I got a very good deal on a Yamaha RX-A3070, purchased it but never got it to sound the same as the Denon. About a month ago I purchased 4 more speakers for my home theater system and relocated some of the speakers and decided at the same time to look for a good deal on a Denon receiver. After spending a few days doing research I decided to go for this receiver since it had all the bells and whistles I needed for a single room set up and then some, and it was also a very good deal since it was not the newest model anymore.The Yamaha was not a bad receiver by any means, it delivered plenty of house shaking and gut punching movie experiences, after watching "Ready Player One" we found all of our wall pictures upstairs moved out of level. I also absolutely loved the idle screen display on the Yamaha receiver.On both Denon receivers the set up via microphone required wider spacing which seems to result in a more immersive sound experience. I also love the equalizer adjustments for individual speaker pairs which I missed (or couldn't find)with the Yamaha receiver, when listening to Trance music at high volumes the bass seemed to be too much for the center speaker, which I was able to easily dial back with the Denon receiver without sacrificing individual speaker volume.I am now at a 9.2 Atmos set up with an absolutely mind blowing sound experience for movies even "only" shot in THX, you feel like you are in the middle of the action. The only thing I wish for the Denon was a cottoff frequency lower than 80 Hz as my main floor speakers go down to 38 Hz.

It's a decent receiver. From the reviews I read prior to purchasing, I realized the key is to also purchase an auxiliary fan unit that is thermostatically controlled and sits on top of the receiver to pull air through the receiver to keep it from overheating and frying itself. With that fan, I haven't had any overheating issues. The fan, on the other hand, in the last 2-3 years has gone from whisper quiet to a very annoying loud sound. I tried connecting an inexpensive ($150) 2-channel amp to drive a pair of speakers to have Atmos 7.2.4 and I was not very happy with the sound output of the speakers from the auxiliary amp. I may use it just for the rear speakers.

Up until now, my favorite AV Receiver was the Sony STR-DN1040.That receiver had excellent sound and features at the time.Unfortunately, the Sony did not have the 4k/HDR pass-through that I needed when I upgraded my TV to an LG OLED.Originally, I had upgraded to the Sony STR-DN1080 which had the 4k pass-through I was looking for, and I figured since the 1040 which was 4 years older had great sound, the 1080 would too.Wrong - at least for me. The punch wasn't there, and there were HDMI handshake issues that I just couldn't get past.I returned the 1080 and saw this Denon came highly recommended, and was $899 - down from the original $1500.While it was a bit out of my range, I needed to complete my home theater and this fit the ticket.After using it for a good month or so, I can honestly say this was a fantastic upgrade.The sound is excellent, the features are numerous, and the on-screen display is even better than the Sony (which has a highly rated GUI).This receiver perfectly passes 4k/HDR to my TV - and it looks and sounds FANTASTIC.I am very happy with the Denon 4400H - and I would highly recommend this receiver to anyone looking to upgrade their home theater setup.The receiver is ready for 9 channels out of the box, and can handle up to 11 channels with a separate amp.I currently only have a 5.1 setup due to my wife's reluctance to add too many speakers, but I think I can convince her to let me add 4 in-ceiling speakers as long as they are flush, and match the color of the ceiling. Once I do that (a future project) - this receiver should really shine with the Dolby Atmos!Unfortunately, I can't comment on the Atmos yet, but I'll update my review once I complete my project.Long story short - if you have a brand spanking new 4k/HDR capable TV, and love music and movies with full, rich sound, you owe it to yourself to upgrade to the Denon AVR-X4400H.Some may say to get the newest version - 4500H - but the ONLY difference between that receiver and this one that I could find, was Denon replaced the Auro-3D sound with Imax Sound. I don't know what the difference is, but to me - it's not worth the extra $600 for a single upgrade (please correct me if I'm wrong).Hands down - I highly recommend this receiver, and can't wait to add Dolby Atmos to my living room!

Worked great for a little more than three months and then the dreaded firmware update got pushed to the unit. Since then it's never worked correctly and finally quit working altogether at 3 1/2 months. After a couple of hours on the phone with the Denon tech's (and numerous resets, etc.) and then another hour taking the unit out, it's on the way to what I'm sure must be a gigantic Denon warranty repair facility for warranty repair. I must say my confidence in getting back a fully functioning unit was very low so I requested a new unit be shipped out due to the defective unit being so new (and having a large gathering at our lake house on the 4th of July that would really like some music) but was quickly and tersely turned down by a Denon warranty repairs manager who my request had been escalated to. I did get Denon to agree to pay for the shipping on the return (they said it would only be this once and never again) so little victories, right? The verdict - bad digital board that had to be replaced at the warranty center and the unit is back and functioning (for now). I would recommend you look at other brands (any) before Denon as I can't imagine this thing going even a couple of years without more problems down the road. BTW, my 17 year old SONY worked quite well for the July 4th party!