Previously, we have witnessed the battle between receivers within the range of $1,500, and easily found the winner. Many receivers do demand a higher price. But for people who happen to have a very limited amount of spendable budget, we have some recommendations of receivers in the range of $1,000.
This time, those receivers are coming from some of the big boys in the industry, Denon and Yamaha. On the Denon side, we have the more affordable AVR X4500H, while the Yamaha side is powered up with Yamaha RX A1080. Who will be the better one this time?
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Denon AVR X4500H – $ 1,099
Offered the same design over and over again, this time, Denon brings us something that’s more eye-catching with the whole new cosmetic changes. Despite its bulky size of 13.7 kg, you can still see an interesting beauty reflected from the front circular display with the two big knobs on each side for volume and input calibration. You can find the single power button right under the left knob, while the others are well hidden under the flip-down door which added to this receiver recently. Overall design of the Denon AVR X4500H does seem really interesting compared to the older products.
You can get the basic controls like zone, navigation, and quick selection controls. Other ports like HDMi input, port for USB, microphone calibration port, and the generic headphone jack, but you may also find something different this time, the lack of analogue audio input as well as the front composite video. A bit of a shame actually, since it can be concluded as a slight downgrade from previous ones.]
| Denon AVR X4500H | Yamaha RX A1080 | |
|---|---|---|
| Best Offer | click here | click here |
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| Product Dimensions | 17.13 x 15 x 6.63 inches | 17.28 x 17.13 x 7.17 inches |
| Shipping Weight | 30.2 pounds | 32.8 pounds |
However, on the brighter side, the receiver comes with DPS chip, a chip that’s powerful enough to deliver four SHARC DPS, the fourth generation, running almost constantly at 300 MHz that further improving the receiver’s processing power.
Audio support within this affordable receiver is still okay with the latest support for Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and even the Auro-3D which is always loved by movie holics. The receiver shouts more with the Dolby Surround and DTS Neural:X, the mixing technologies that make it possible to create multichannel surround sound from stereo mixes.
In this comparison, we honestly think that this could be the better to buy since its natura as the 9.2 receiver, compared to the Yamaha’s A1080. It has 125W worth of power, and fully adjusted to the 7.2.2 or 5.2.4 audio configuration. Not only in audio quality, this receiver is a monster in video display factor. It can deliver a smooth experience of 4K resolution with maximum 60 fps with all details and crunches are still intact.
Not only limited to the 9.2 capability, this receiver can also support the 11.2 adjustment with additional amp for a more immersive entertainment experience. This is not a must-have obviously, but if you desire something “more”, then there’s nothing wrong with adding another amp.
In this receiver, the audio calibration used is the Audyssey Calibration system that we talked about in the previous article. It comes along with the Audyssey MultEQ XT32, which also includes the Audyssey Dynamic Volume, Dynamic EQ, SubEQ HT, and LFC altogether. This is what is considered to be the “Platinum Suite”, the best you can get in a Denon receiver.
For streaming, the receiver holds a strong capability of delivering the best entertainment experience via supporting the famous names of streaming services, including Spotify Connect, Deezer, TIDAL, Amazon Music, Napster, and SoundCloud. Local streaming also made possible by connecting the network drive to your local network. Read also: Marantz SR6014 Vs Marantz SR7013.
Yamaha RX A1080 – $ 1,199
Coming at a higher price, let’s see what the A1080 can actually do. A1080 is still the member of a lovable AVENTAGE family, so you might find the difference seems to be nonexistent. It’s the same as the newer products, and older products like the A1070, with the only difference being the model number.
This receiver is the last in AVENTAGE series that still has the 7.2 channels support as the newer products like A2080 comes with the better 9.2 channels setup. You can go for the usual 5.2 or 7.2 setup, but if you want to have a more immersive audio detail, you can always go for 5.2.2. Setup to get that nice Dolby Atmos and DTS:X immersion. But that’s the only thing you have, since there’s no support for additional channels.
It powered up with 110 watts power that’s perfect for medium to small sized rooms. Since it’s old, but it’s not that irrelevant compared to the newer generation. It still has the Surround AI, a feature that exists in DSP for optimizing the sound effects in real time by focusing on each scene detail to focus on dialogues, BGM, sound effects, and ambient sound.
Features are not very limited on this A1080 receiver. You can still have the YPAO calibration system, 4K video upscale feature, additional support for wireless speakers, has built-in wifi, bluetooth, and streaming capabilities. You might also have the benefits of voice controls for enjoying the assistant experience. This receiver can support Amazon’s Alexa, and that’s it. Unfortunately, you can’t utilize the dependable Google Assistant since this receiver simply doesn’t support that. But to make the users not getting bored pretty easily, Yamaha offers the AV Control App that can easily be downloaded on your device.
About music streaming, the users can still have the Airplay experience to connect to many Apple devices you have. Other than that, this receiver’s already supporting many famous streaming software names including Spotify, SiriusXM, Pandora, Napster, Deezer, and Tidal.
Denon AVR X4500H Vs Yamaha RX A1080
Verdict
We see the Denon AVR-X4500H as the worthy one here since it’s more affordable, but is capable of bringing more powerful values like having more channels, more power per channel, more channel processing, more analog pre-outs, more zones and bigger power supply, and it also supports Auro 3D and IMAX Enhanced, which is amazing for its price.