denon 3808 or onkyo tx-sr 875

F

Fastbackw

Audiophyte
Whats up hows everyone? I currently have an Onkyo ht sr 800 and i was looking to upgrade to a new reciever. i have a choice between the denon avr3808 or the onkyo tx sr 875 ... from what i can tell the onkyo seems to be the good choice cuz of the max watts per channel but any helping advise is much appreciated thanks you guys are awesome!:D
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
I hope you have some speakers beyond what comes with the Onkyo HTIAB system, otherwise upgrading your AVR does nothing to help you achieve greater fidelity. Why do you want upgrade?
 
B

Bluesmoke

Audioholic Chief
As Seth said, get better speakers before buying a receiver.

You basically want to put racing slicks on a Toyota Corolla.
 
B

brulaha

Audioholic
I put a porche engine in my smart car. When I take it in for service they look at me really weird. I wonder why.
 
F

Fastbackw

Audiophyte
Well as soon as I got the Onkyo I sold the speakers to a friend. Right now at the moment I'm running. Klipsch cinema 10 all around and wanted to upgrade my. Reciever to a better model that can upconvert my video and take full advantange of my 7.1 setup so I'm thinkin one of those 2 would be a better choice but not sure which to choose... I'm looking for overall the higher sound quality and better upconvert for hdmi video
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
Well as soon as I got the Onkyo I sold the speakers to a friend. Right now at the moment I'm running. Klipsch cinema 10 all around and wanted to upgrade my. Reciever to a better model that can upconvert my video and take full advantange of my 7.1 setup so I'm thinkin one of those 2 would be a better choice but not sure which to choose... I'm looking for overall the higher sound quality and better upconvert for hdmi video
IMO, those receivers are not going to make those speakers sound any different/better. What is it you wish to be upscaling?

I will recommend the Yamaha RX-V663, it does everything HDMI short of scaling, which a decent Blu-ray player, upscaling DVD player, or TV would handle better than most receivers under a grand.
 
F

Fastbackw

Audiophyte
Well those to receiver upconvert any video signal from 480i to a progressive signal and one thing i was lookin for which one of the recievers does a better job of doing this cuz i heard some receivers dont do a good job in upconversion ... and sound i really want to be able to use the true dolby and true dts HD audios which both of these do... so my delima is which one is the better performer in these categories... all i can tell is that the onkyo is THX certified and has 10 more watts per channel than the denon making seem to me that the onkyo is the better choice... but i could be wrong of course... :confused:
 
adk highlander

adk highlander

Sith Lord
The Onkyo has a better scaler especially for SD sources. The HQV Reon a very good chip and gives you a variety of options to help reduce noise from SD sources.

The Denon uses a lower quality scaler (Faroudja or Gennum). It does do a good job for passthrough of HD sources and is a decent scaler for HD sources but may not be up to what the 875 can offer.

Both offer such similar power numbers that I don't believe there would be much of a difference unless you had hard to drive speakers and Klipsh are not hard to drive.

I believe all will upconvert all sources to HDMI but again the upscaling will be better on the Onkyo.
 
jiro77

jiro77

Enthusiast
I believe you would be happy either reciever. It looks like the Onkyo is a couple hundred dollars cheaper. I own the Denon 3808 and am very pleased with its performance.

I have a HD cablebox with a HDMI out, and a PS3 connected to the reciever, so I can not comment on how well it will upconvert video. I am happy with how it handles the HDMI switching\video pass through.

Currently I have a 5.1 setup, so I haven't been able to test out the Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD decoding. However, I plan on purchasing two more surrounds in the near future....

The one feature that the Denon 3808 has that the Onkyo TX-SR 875 does not is that it can be networked, and is DLNA certified. This was one of the deciding factors as to why I purchased it. Currently I am using a linksys wireless ethernet gaming adapter to link it to my home network. This allows me to stream FLAC audio files using a media server (TVersity freeware) from my laptop to the reciever.

However, if you have a PS3 you can accomplish the same wireless capabilities since it is DLNA certified also. I own a PS3, but use the denon GUI to play all of my music streaming from my laptop.
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Currently I have a 5.1 setup, so I haven't been able to test out the Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD decoding. However, I plan on purchasing two more surrounds in the near future....

The one feature that the Denon 3808 has that the Onkyo TX-SR 875 does not is that it can be networked, and is DLNA certified. This was one of the deciding factors as to why I purchased it. Currently I am using a linksys wireless ethernet gaming adapter to link it to my home network. This allows me to stream FLAC audio files using a media server (TVersity freeware) from my laptop to the reciever.

However, if you have a PS3 you can accomplish the same wireless capabilities since it is DLNA certified also. I own a PS3, but use the denon GUI to play all of my music streaming from my laptop.
I think it depends on one's need. To some people, such as me, this upscaling thing is almost stupid. I have no need to do it and I also don't want to have that constant heat and interference generator (the video chip) going on full blast potentially spoiling the sound quality and shortening the life of some components. I believe the video source, the players and the display should take care of the picture quality. Let the receiver does the switching, control and sound reproduction. If you need the receiver to clean up the mess produced by the source and the players, how good that picture can be? Having said that, if I have to watch some of my video tapes, I will turn on the upscale feature just for the convenience and the slightly improved picture, but that is it.

By the way, I bought the 4308 mainly because of the wireless feature. It sounds like you found a less expensive alternative. I would have done the same if I knew this trick. So thank you for sharing this to other forum members. Some of them may end up having to decide on whether to pay the extra for the 4308 if all they want is the WIFI. I do have a question, why can't you test out the HD sound? I believe most of the HD movies only offer 5.1 True HD, DTS so why do you need the surround back speakers to test them out?
 
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AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I think it depends on one's need. To some people, such as me, this upscaling thing is almost stupid.
Same here. My DVD player & BD player both already have the Realta processor, so why would I need a receiver to do the video processing?

If you have a projector or TV that uses a top-notch video processor like the Gennum VXP in the flagship Marantz and Optoma HD81LV projectors, you would not need a receiver to do the video processing either.

Some other forum members believe that the HQV processors in the Onkyos are what's causing all the heat issues. And you don't want all that heat. I believe 2 different members have measured the heat generated by their Onkyo receiers. The heat was well over 100F degrees.
 
S

santeini

Audioholic Intern
Go for the Denon

The Denon is better in many ways than the Onkyo. But it,s always better for you to test both the receiver in your system,for a week each before deciding.
 
browninggold

browninggold

Junior Audioholic
+1 for the Denon 3808ci

I am currently running Aperion speakers for a 7.1 system. I have owned the Denon since December 07. No problems so far very happy with switching and the audio is awesome. I also looked at a pioneer elite and went with the Denon. Firmware updates are a breeze with the internet capabilites. Internet radio is also excellent. I am running all hdmi cables- 1 to my Denon 2500 Blu-Ray, 1 to my Toshiba HD A35 player and direct TV, also x-box 360. I would highly recommend the 3808ci.
 
jiro77

jiro77

Enthusiast
PENG; said:
I do have a question, why can't you test out the HD sound? I believe most of the HD movies only offer 5.1 True HD, DTS so why do you need the surround back speakers to test them out?
I'd like to get the surrounds and use 7.1ch......5.1 channel sounds great, but I want to listen to 7.1 channel.
 
jcPanny

jcPanny

Audioholic Ninja
Receiver options

IMO, those receivers are not going to make those speakers sound any different/better. What is it you wish to be upscaling?

I will recommend the Yamaha RX-V663, it does everything HDMI short of scaling, which a decent Blu-ray player, upscaling DVD player, or TV would handle better than most receivers under a grand.
This is good advice. I would also recomend a receiver in the $3-500 range for use with your speakers. Since you mention Dolby HD, you must already have BluRay which doesn't require any video scaling since it is already 1080p. Get a good upscaling DVD player like an Oppo for about $160 and call it good.
 
Seth=L

Seth=L

Audioholic Overlord
The Denon is better in many ways than the Onkyo. But it,s always better for you to test both the receiver in your system,for a week each before deciding.
That's great, any solid facts to support that?
 
F

Fastbackw

Audiophyte
Yeah upscaling wasnt the major option i was going for in choosing a receiver but it was a deciding factor.I leave all the upscaling to my PS3 or cable box but its nice to know which is the better between the 2. But so far onkyo seems to be on top so ill go ahead and pick that up thanx for the advice everyone... i would rather payless for the onkyo and leave the wifi to my playstation for media content. I have heard that the onkyo runs a little hot but can be solved just by adding and internal fan. But as far as decoding does onkyo have the advantage being that it is THX certified and the denon isnt?
 
P

PENG

Audioholic Slumlord
Yeah upscaling wasnt the major option i was going for in choosing a receiver but it was a deciding factor.I leave all the upscaling to my PS3 or cable box but its nice to know which is the better between the 2. But so far onkyo seems to be on top so ill go ahead and pick that up thanx for the advice everyone... i would rather payless for the onkyo and leave the wifi to my playstation for media content. I have heard that the onkyo runs a little hot but can be solved just by adding and internal fan. But as far as decoding does onkyo have the advantage being that it is THX certified and the denon isnt?
You are correct in all counts. The Onkyo costs less, much less, has the Reon chip that supposedly is better for upscaling, reportedly would run hot but can be cooled with an external fan, and is THX certified whereas the Denon is not. By the way it also offers more power output. It is almost too good to be true, but basically with the Onkyo you get more for much less. It seems that you knew it from the beginning, so go for it.
 
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