AV Receiver Reviews

Real-World Performance
As good as the Denon's video processing was, it was the receiver's musical performance that initially knocked me out. Having connected the multichannel analog outputs from my Sony SCD-XA777ES SACD player to the Denon's inputs, I dusted off my collection of SACDs and simply swooned.

Britten's Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (SACD) was atmospheric, moody, and dark—but with brilliant flashes of tonal color. I'm a huge fan of the two-channel mix, but I'd never heard the six-channel mix sound more convincingly solid. The 5308 is one of the few A/V receivers I've heard that might convince me I don't need a dedicated two-channel system in addition to my home theater. (Actually, with its multizone capabilities, it could drive both—hmmmm.)

You'd think that the Denon's superb video performance would have had me scrambling to watch everything on Blu-ray, but in reality, it had me searching through my legacy DVD collection, watching movies that demanded video and audio magnificence. Its video upconversion to HDMI is extremely effective—you don’t quite get HD detail, but it ain't too far off the mark, though I did notice a slight color washout.

3:10 to Yuma (Blu-Ray) was breathtaking. There's lots of gunfire, which sounded crisp and, well, percussive. Also a lot of thundering hoof beats, which some soundtracks overcrank, but not David Betancourt. Even better than its sound, however, was the film's crisp, clean look. It has lots of scenes set after dark, where the Denon's superb black linearity really shone—oh wait, bad choice of words.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (Blu-Ray) was even more spectacular than usual through the Denon. However, for all of its visual sumptuousness and thunderous battle action, it is the film's surround cues of wind, water, and the other sounds of nature—all very subtly rendered—that make the film my go-to reference for sonic realism. Yes, that is what the world sounds like!

Spartacus (DVD) was enthralling in all of its 2.21:1 widescreen splendor. I tried to hear where Bob Hoskins' impersonated Olivier in the newly restored "snails or oysters" scene, but, good as the Denon was at sorting out sonic shifts, I couldn't detect the difference. The score and sound effects were extremely impressive—I'd only meant to hit the high spots, but I ended up watching all 193 minutes.

Speaking of Larrys and widescreen splendor, I followed Spartacus with Lawrence of Arabia. Again, I only meant to sample from it—in fact, having heard Peter O'Toole claim that he and Omar Sharif had gotten drunk to overcome their terror about filming the mad dash to Aqaba (and with Sharif tied to his camel), I thought I'd watch that scene and see if I could tell. Well, no, but I did go back to the beginning and watch all 217 minutes (actually, 227 minutes, since I used the overture, entr'acte, and exit music for bathroom breaks).

When I told UAV editor Scott Wilkinson how much fun I'd had exploring legacy DVD, he said, "What, no high-def?" Well, sure, but if you had a choice between watching Spider-Man III again or wallowing in David Lean's cinematic masterpiece, which would you choose? Besides, the Denon does deliver on high-def's promise, but since most of us have lots of DVDs, isn't it good to know that the Denon makes 'em look so darn good? I think so.