Denon AVR-3808CI: An Overview (1 Viewer)

[Adam_R]

My pleasure sir. I am always happy to share good news! This is also a nice upgrade for me from a 3802.

BTW - I always thought posting prices was a forum no-no, but I guess not.

 

[Echo42987]

Great review and Great Product.

Purchased one from my work as well!

-Nick-

 

[Jeff O.]

Adam,
Thanks for the info, you saved me a lot of money. Just ordered one from Scott myself. Anyone else that is interested, he said that today was the last day for that deal.
Jeff

 

[Jeff O.]

Ok, I have a question for you guys. I would like to hook this up to my 3930 using Denon Link. Does anyone know what type of Firewire cable I need, 4 pin, 6-pin or what?

 

[Adam_R]

My pleasure!

I should get mine tomorrow! I can't wait! Setting this stuff up is half the fun for me!

I'll report back with full impressions next week!

 

[McPaul]

I have just bought this receiver and have a Nintendo Wii. I'm having troubles assigning the audio input for the RCA audio output from the Wii. I have the high def hookup kit for video and RCA audio. Video is working fine, however there is no audio. Audio is currently hooked up to "HDP" and Video is on "Component 3". Any help would be appreciated. thx.

 

[DavidJ]

Rats! I am still trying to decide between this and the Pioneer, but at the price I was going to take a flier on the Denon. I found out about the cutoff and hour or two too late.

 

[Adam_R]

My 3808 came today and I got it all setup. I rewired everything so it's nice and neat. (compared to my old setup anyway)

I got all my sources hooked up and assigned and it's currently doing the firmware update. Man, this takes a LONG time to update. It's reporting about 45 minutes total. At least it gives you feedback on screen about what it's doing. It actually tells you what it is updating at the time, like DSP1, DSP2 etc.

I have not run the Audyssey setup yet, but will report back after I do.

I threw on Cars on Bluray just to hear some uncompressed audio for the first time. It seemed quite a bit louder that the DD track as I switched back and forth. No impressions until it's calibrated.

This thing is beautiful.

PS3 over HDMI @ 1080p.
Xbox 360 over component @ 1080i scaled to 1080p (since the 3808 can't do 1080p from component to 1080p HDMI)
Wii over component @ 480p scaled to 1080p.

All out to my TV over one simple cable! YAY!!!!

 

[DtheB]

What great timing! I just ordered a 3808 on-line 2 days ago after doing some research, and am feeling much more comfortable about my choice. Thank you for your review, Mr Epstein. I am pretty new at this home theater adventure, but decided to jump in with both feet...the Denon, a new display, and a new Klipsch RF-83 system. I will probably be asking for a little help from time to time. Thank you for this great resource site. Dave Cowger

 

[Chris Maynard]

Welcome to the forum!

Congratulations on your new purchase!

Come and post often!

 

[Adam_R]

More impressions:

1080p HDMI video pass through from my PS3 is flawless as expected.

1080i component converted 1080p HDMI from my Xbox 360 looks good, but I think it looked better going right to the TV over component.

480p component from my Wii upscaled to 1080p looks pretty bad. I mean, it didn't look good before on a 56" 1080p TV, but I think the 3808 does a worse job at upscaling it than my TV did.

What are other's impressions of the upscaling? Are you impressed?

AUDIO: Well, well, well... I did the Audyssey a few times. I tried different locations in the room. Different amounts of measure points. I ended up doing 6 points. The first 3 were on the couch and the next 3 were directly in fornt of those same points a few feet closer to the TV. The sound is GREAT. It found all my speakers as "small" as they should be. (one time it found the fronts as "large", hmmm...) It calculate my speaker distances very accurately. I did feel that it was a little light on bass after the first couple times I did the setup, so I set my sub amp @ 50% gain and after the setup was complete, I turned it up a bit to my liking. I usually fiddle with the bass because I play games at pretty low volume at night, but movies get loud. So it's usually up for the games and down for films. So I put on Cars on BluRay to hear some uncompressed audio and IT IS FREAKING AMAZING. At first listen, it just sounds louder. But as you keep listening it is painfully obvious that the definition of the sound is so damn good. I am hearing nuanses and background effects like I never have before. Voices are so natural sounding, it's like they are there. Now I am feeling like a real (novice) audiophile. I am DEFINITELY replacing all my speaker cables with high quality stuff. I do not want to lose ANY of this audio quality. It's really superb.

All in all, so far, this is a GREAT receiver. I am SO glad I opted for the 3808 not the 2808 for the OSD alone. It's really a pleasure.

More to follow.

Ask questions if you'd like!

 

[Dave Moritz]

The more good things are comments I hear about the Denon the more I want to own one!

Has anyone had any issues with the HDMI 1.3 switching on the Denon?

How good is the video switching?

And has anyone been able to check out the internal decoding of Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio with the Denon yet?

 

[Adam_R]

I only have one HDMI device going in so I can't comment of switching between HDMI devices, but going form my PS3, to my Xbox360, to my Wii is flawless. It does take a few seconds for the picture to arrive, but it's acceptable.

No internal decoding either. The PS3 can't send either format bitstream. It decodes Dolby True HD and sends it as Multi PCM. DTS HD is a no go.

QUESTION: How do I enable the Dynamic EQ? I really need that feature from what it sounds like. I do a lot of lower volume listening late at night.

 

[Kevin N]

I'm also still using an AVR-3802, but I'm thinking of upgrading sometime after Christmas. A couple questions:
1) The GUI I'm guessing can be seen through HDMI? Does the receiver show a volume bar on the TV? That's the one thing I really have never liked about my 3802; the absence of any kind of feedback on volume.

2) Can you rename outputs to anything, or is it just a drop down list of options?

3) Does the iPod interface show album art on the TV? Also I thought I read that this can interface with iTunes if it's on the same network...?

I'm finally about done with school and can start getting back into the HT hobby again.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Kevin,

You are in luck!

Yes, through an HDMI connection a status bar appears on your
monitor every time you adjust the volume.

You can also readily rename the outputs. For instance, I changed
SAT/TV to Tivo. I also did it without using the
remote. I simply used the buttons on front of the receiver.

Finally, although I have not hooked my iPod up to the TV, I am
almost 100% certain that it does display iPod cover art. This is
something I remember seeing in the manual.

It looks like you have have no reason not to buy the 3808CI.

 

[Chris Maynard]

It is my understanding you need the Denon iPod dock to make this happen.

 

[Kevin N]

Thanks for the reply Ron, and for keeping this site going (not sure I've ever put that out there). At the moment, there's 1599 reasons for me not to get the 3808.

After Christmas I should be in a better position. It looks and sounds amazing, and I'm curious how it will make my Def Techs sound.

 

[sufs]

Hey everyone was reading an article that referenced this place and decided to check it out .

As a new owner around 3 weeks of the Denon 3808 I thought I'd come into the receiver section and read up on what you guys think of the 3808. As all owners in this thread mentioned the 3808 is a fine receiver with the signature Denon build we have come to expect

. I also saw someone asking about using the receiver to decode the new formats internally and I have some first hand experience I thought I could share.

First I am a dual format supporter with a slight preference for HD DVD although I try and not let that influence me a lot. Anyway as you all probably know with the most recent 2.7 update for the Toshiba XA-2 we can finally send the signal via bitstream format to the AVR and see those lossless format logos light up on the screen. My first impression was an obvious increase in volume on Dolby TrueHD tracks (from PCM) and a more pronounced sound in general. Bass is also deeper even though I had calibrated everything before hand. Now the real audio treat came in Rambo which in DTS MA sounded sensational, I heard a clear difference between it and the core 1.5mps I heard originally and even did a few back to back repeats to confirm. Overall prior to this update I much preferred the sound coming out of my PS3 in PCM but now the tables have turned and have further encouraged me to go out and buy the Samsung BDP 1400 so that I can also send in bitstream.

Anyway sorry for the rant but this AVR is one of the best value deals I have had in a long time especially when you consider how future proof it is.
If anyone has any questions shoot, I love talking about this receiver and would be glad to help out.

 

[Adam_R]

Just a thought:

How can lossless compression sound any different if it's decoded in the PS3 or by the Denon?

Example: The PS3 decodes Dolby True HD and sends it to my 3808 as LPCM vs. A standalone player sends the Dolby True HD encoded bitstream to my 3808 and it decodes it. Isn't it all just the same at the end of the day? Lossless is lossless, right? How is one better than the other? (I do understand that the PS3 does not do DTS-MA yet, so yeah that's an obvious disadvantage)

 

[TonyD]

hmm

i still use a 3803, but would love to upgrade to this one.

i can get it for about 940 after employee discount
now, to come up with the 940.