Denon AVR-S710W a tremendous unit in available price

The Denon AVR-S710W is a perfect audio/video receiver with Wi-Fi functionality designed to fulfill any home entertainment needs. Feel every dimension and Dolby Atmos captivating multi-dimensional sound that fills your room and flows all around you to move your body, mind, and soul. You can deliver the ultimate experience in immersive engaging cinema sound to the home theater with DTS X new object-based audio format. This surround system rocks. I connected it to my home computer network and really enjoyed the music streaming capabilities. The setup and speaker sound leveling was a breeze. Just set the included mic in your listening area and its self-leveling feature will do the rest.

Design

It has been specifically designed to easily connect with any home Wi-Fi network letting you enjoy internet radio as well as subscription streaming services such as Pandora, Sirius XM, and Spotify. In addition, I really like its weight which is not in excess. With the included measuring microphone Audyssey is advanced multEQ home acoustic measurement system, perfectly matches your speakers to a room. All of this is achieved with remarkably low energy consumption thanks to the advanced Denon Eco mode.

Features

The Denon AVR-S710W is well laid out and makes adjustments such specs a number of speakers, speaker layout and speaker level very easy to adjust. The layout is something you want to play with once and forget about so I will not go into tremendous detail here.

With full 4K support, the receiver is also future-compatible as well. In addition, you can assign the receiver to export two "zones" of sound. For instance, you could have 5.1 surround sound set up in your living room, but use the additional two channels to export music to outdoor speakers.

I advise you take a review over Denon`s app that you can download onto your phone to control the receiver - it makes your phone a sort of mini-remote. While it is occasionally useful, the app interface can be a little slow. It isn't a knock at all on the receiver, but I wish the app was designed better.

From the Pandora streaming to AirPlay and Bluetooth this receiver is exactly what I wanted. Love the remote control app. When turned off it switches the last selected input through to the TV. Very intuitive operation and on-screen setup. Great upgrade for my surround setup. Denon has a long history of making great equipment and I am impressed again.

Performance

The 7.2 channel surround sound capability includes advanced configuration options. For example, it can deliver a separate stereo audio source to a second zone within your home. You can control your AVR via Denon remote app, which is available in both iOS and Android versions and also on the Kindle Fire.

Although AVR710w is light, it is much mightier when it comes to sound. Full support for HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2 on all HDMI input ports is pretty significant for 4K TVs. The sound is amazing and drives all my speakers extremely well.

This means it has the ability to pass through 4K at 60hz at 4:4:4 which for anyone planning on hooking up a computer through it such as an HTPC this is a huge plus. It will also fully support the new 4K Blu-Ray players that will be releasing soon and in rapid succession. This will allow you to be "semi-future proof" for at least 3 years. I say semi because there are no such things as truly future proof in the electronics world.

Sound Quality

The sound quality of this machine in this price range is outstanding. Selecting the right receiver is often regarded as the most complicated decision one can make when trying to establish a home theater. One of the great things about this receiver is the very low total harmonic distortion (THD). This is used as an indicator of how accurately the receiver can reproduce the sound provided by the signal. Not many receivers will match the low THD is this price range, which is why this receiver immediately made my list of receivers I wanted to research.

Once hooked up I used a decibel meter to match each speaker and set up the distance measured using a tape measure. The set will allow for auto-calibration of your speakers but I have yet to see a set that could do this more accurately than taking the 10 minutes or so to do it yourself. If you do not own a decibel meter there are apps on both apple and android that are fairly accurate and make this a very simple yet effective step in improving overall sound quality.

Once finished I listed to a range of music to fully test the capabilities of the receiver such as orchestra, classic rock, and even some rap music. The music sounded amazing, and the orchestra on a 5.1 receiver is truly mind-blowing and a must try! Now onto movies. The movies I used to test the receiver was Avatar and The dark night movies.

Connectivity

Connect to your PC or Mac via airplay DLNA 1.5 or make use of its Windows 8 compatibility. Also, all HDMI inputs support the latest HDCP 2.2 protocol for the transmission of copy-protected 4k video.

The receiver has more than enough inputs to handle all of your devices. I'm more tech-savvy and gadget inclined than most, and even I can't think of why you'd need that many inputs. It handles movies, music, and everything else we throw at it with ease. Sound settings can be easily tinkered with if desired, though the onboard Audyssey software and equipment does a fantastic job of balancing sound and customizing it to the size and shape of your room.

I can control every aspect of this machine that I can think of with BOTH my iOS and Android devices. It will only accept commands from one mobile device at a time (so only one person can control) but I can choose any input, change volume, and change Pandora station intuitively using both my iPad and my Android Samsung phone. I can even power on the device from total off mode using my phone, which means I don't have to hunt for the remote or can be in a different room. Fantastic interface and function! Bluetooth is excellent, with my iPad and Samsung phone I can find the signal in a few seconds and pair and keep the pairing for about 20 feet through a couple walls.

Plugging your iPad into the front USB will immediately switch it to your iOS and play the media you have currently cued and also charge; again, does what is expected and does it well.

ARC via HDMI. I had never heard of this, but this allows my newer model Sony Bravia TV to tell the receiver it has been turned on. The receiver is smart enough to know if it was on the last time the TV was on. IF it was, the receiver turns itself on. If not, the receiver stays off brilliant, as sometimes I want to watch the news via tv speakers... don't always want sound via the home theater.

Setup

It`s incredibly easy to get your home entertainment system up and running. The exclusive setup assistant makes it a breeze.

Both in terms of functionality and sound quality. I had no problems hooking up all of my equipment, the instruction manual is easy to read and follow, and everyone who comes in to watch a movie is blown away by how amazing the whole setup is. Once plugging it into your TV, the onboard setup guide walks you through every step of the process in plain, simple English with easy to follow instructions and diagrams.

Bluetooth is iffy and seldom disconnects but it might be due to a conflict of signals roaming around. Setting up the unit, within minutes, was notified that there was an upgrade which included DTS:X and that update went smooth. If you have a small room you wish to have surround sound as well as an interface for your equipment, this is the one at a good price point.

You place the microphone, per the instructions, where you will be sitting (also several more times around that spot) while the unit sends an audio blip through each speaker so it can gauge distances and reverb and echo and such, and it automatically adjusts itself to give you a sweet spot in that zone where you sit and watch movies. This works really well, and you can definitely tell when sitting in your spot vs sitting across the room or even not that far from the spot that there is a noticeable difference in immersion. It is not a bad difference, just noticeable.

Conclusion

Overall I am very very pleased with my purchase. With all the new line of receivers out I highly suggest giving this receiver a strong consideration. I bought this receiver with realistic expectations and since then have been nothing short of blown away. It met my expectations. It is good for a small to the medium-sized room. Not sure for a large room, although it could be my speakers. The sound separation is very good and the setup was super easy. I would recommend this to all but the most critical audiophiles.