Picked up a Denon AVR-A100

[j5th]

Hey guys, I just joined the forum but have been reading up over the last couple of months. After waiting awhile I finally took the plunge and picked up a Denon AVR-A100 Anniversary AVR. So far I like it a lot but I haven't had them hooked up to my Klipsch RF-7II's which will be here Monday.

I will be posting pictures and my impressions in a few days.

I do have a question for 4311CI/A100 owners though... When I put my receiver in Network Standby mode and turn it off (red standby light) it makes a weird triple click that sounds almost like a shorting wire or a weird relay sound. Can someone out there test their 4311CI or A100 to see if that is normal? I don't remember my friend's doing that weird noise. If I turn Network standby off then the noise doesn't happen.

Anyways, more impressions and pics to come!

 

[MADMAN66]

I have a 4311 and mine does it... I also have a 3310 that does not... hope that helps...

 

[edoggrc51]

My recently sold 3311ci did it too.

 

[DenPureSound]

Am waiting on my 4311, will let you know. But my 3311 does it also, but NO Problems with the 3311CI.

 

[j5th]

thanks for checking for me guys! Saves me a call to Denon and I assume it is normal just was odd to me that I didn't notice it on my friends receiver.

So far I love the receiver. I can't wait to get some pictures posted. Right now I mainly use it for stereo with my Klipsch RF-7II's until I get the remaining speakers for 9.2. For those of you who are wondering I have been experimenting with the iPhone app, FLAC 24/96, and Airplay. All work flawlessly however I cannot seem to get Apple lossless to work with 24/96 via Airplay which might be a limitation of the Airplay feature. Flac at all resolutions can be played a couple of ways:

1. You can browse a DLNA media server from the receiver OSD or your iPhone but some servers will not allow you to pause (using the receiver controls) for some reason. I have found foobar (dlna upnp component) and twonky to work the best, however, I don't like twonky's interface and it costs $. Windows media player works fine but doesn't really support FLAC. In any case you cannot seek during playback. A stupid complication of DLNA i suppose..

2. Using foobar or a similar program you can choose to "Play to" the receiver which initiates the stream without using the sometimes clunky OSD of the receiver.

3. iPods or iPhones can use the Denon app which is much like using the OSD of the receiver. It allows you to select the media server or Pandora etc. The only thing that annoys me is the slow artist scrolling which can only show about 8 artists at a time before needing refreshed. Just select the artist and hit play! Full volume, pause, skip, controls depending on the media server used but all of them have volume/skip in my testing.

Airplay works very well. I haven't been able to confirm 24bit Apple lossless streaming yet but everything works seemlessly. I love being able to browse my media collection from the Denon app and then control every function of my receiver. Wherever my media is (Apple lossless on the iPhone or Flac on the Windows server) I can always hit play.

 

[j5th]

I cannot send private messages until I hit 5 posts

 

[PENG]

1. You can browse a DLNA media server from the receiver OSD or your iPhone but some servers will not allow you to pause (using the receiver controls) for some reason. I have found foobar (dlna upnp component) and twonky to work the best, however, I don't like twonky's interface and it costs $. Windows media player works fine but doesn't really support FLAC. In any case you cannot seek during playback. A stupid complication of DLNA i suppose..

2. Using foobar or a similar program you can choose to "Play to" the receiver which initiates the stream without using the sometimes clunky OSD of the receiver.

3. iPods or iPhones can use the Denon app which is much like using the OSD of the receiver. It allows you to select the media server or Pandora etc. The only thing that annoys me is the slow artist scrolling which can only show about 8 artists at a time before needing refreshed. Just select the artist and hit play! Full volume, pause, skip, controls depending on the media server used but all of them have volume/skip in my testing.

Airplay works very well. I haven't been able to confirm 24bit Apple lossless streaming yet but everything works seemlessly. I love being able to browse my media collection from the Denon app and then control every function of my receiver. Wherever my media is (Apple lossless on the iPhone or Flac on the Windows server) I can always hit play.

Have you tried using PS3 media server? It worked with my 4308 but not with my new AV7005 unfortunately so I have to use USB with the Marantz. Denon always seem to be ahead of others in streaming. In fact if I remember correctly my 4308 could stream from my windows 7 desktop and laptops without any media server running but may be I should check that again in case I remember wrong. The 4308 was very slow when streaming though but the 4311 is 3 years newer so hopefully don't have that issue. So far I am very happy with HD flac classical music and feel the violin sounds more like what I would like it to sound from my turntable. If you like classical music you should visit hdtrack.com. I thought the 4311 could play 192/24 flac but apparent not. I doubt too many people could hear the difference between that and 96/24 though so it probably is a moot point.

 

[j5th]

Windows has a media server running by default but it doesn't support FLAC. I haven't tried a PS3 but I don't think that supports FLAC either. Streaming is very fast on the A100 but it has locked up once or twice. I think Denon is releasing a new firmware update this summer which will hopefully fix that.

I'll try and get some 24/192 tracks to test but I know the manual says what it supports I just don't feel like digging it out. And no, I don't think 192 would make much of a difference.

 

[PENG]

Windows has a media server running by default but it doesn't support FLAC. I haven't tried a PS3 but I don't think that supports FLAC either. Streaming is very fast on the A100 but it has locked up once or twice. I think Denon is releasing a new firmware update this summer which will hopefully fix that.

I'll try and get some 24/192 tracks to test but I know the manual says what it supports I just don't feel like digging it out. And no, I don't think 192 would make much of a difference.

PS3 media server does stream 192/24 flac via my Oppo 95 but it wouldn't work with the AV7005. Since it worked with my old Denon 4308 I thought it might work with 4311. I know in your case this is a moot point. I only asked out of curiosity.

For HD flacs I actually don't mind using USB because I can then control it from my laptop using the web interface, without turning on the TV. The AV7005 cannot play multichannel flac though so for those I have to use the Oppo. Have you tried MCH HD flac on the 4311 yet? Sorry about asking so many questions. The 4311 is the AVR (for use as prepro) that I almost bought but went with the 7005 in the end.

 

[DenPureSound]

Windows has a media server running by default but it doesn't support FLAC. I haven't tried a PS3 but I don't think that supports FLAC either. Streaming is very fast on the A100 but it has locked up once or twice. I think Denon is releasing a new firmware update this summer which will hopefully fix that.

I'll try and get some 24/192 tracks to test but I know the manual says what it supports I just don't feel like digging it out. And no, I don't think 192 would make much of a difference.

Per Denon Cust. Support and Manual the Denon 4311 will only support 96/24 .FLAC Files period, it will not work with 192/24 .flac files.

I am using Nero MediaHome 4 Essentials and it does not support .flac files serving them via DLNA.

Thanks, j5th will look into FooBar.