Marantz AV8805 Review (13.2 CH 4K AV Receiver)
Marantz AV8805
Pros
- Many Channel Processing
- Audyssey Dynamic Volume
- 4K or 8K Video Passthrough
- Works with Amazon Alexa
Cons
- No Front Wide Channel Suppor
- No HDR10+
- No Dynamic HDR
- No MHL Input
I have reviewed a few of Marantz AV8805 top-tier AV preamps in the past couple of decades, by the AV8802 into the recent review, feature-laden AV7703. The Marantz AV8805 is a goodie-packed 13.2 station chip that supports the most up-to-date in immersive, multi-channel audio formats, such as Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, as well as Auro-3D directly from the box. It allegedly shares a fantastic bit of circuitry together with the AVR-X8500H my buddy Bob Barrett recently reviewed and adored.
Design of Marantz AV8805
The Marantz AV8805 also includes Smart TV connectivity via CEC along with an improved Audio Yield Channel (eARC), which was empowered at a recent firmware upgrade. The one thing missing is MHL, a characteristic I know I’d seldom use but our very own Dennis Burger is a lover of. Before we move from HDMI, I understand many men and women are concerned about spending lots of cash within an AV Processor with HDMI 2.0, since 2.1 is along the way. Marantz AV8805 has made the Marantz AV8805 HDMI board be substituted using an HDMI 2.1 board, which will encourage 8K video if HDMI 2.1 is accessible.
Though the Marantz AV8805 has just about every form of sound and video input, except S-Video (that I doubt anybody will miss)I guess most folks will use HDMI and community audio inputs over anything else. The Marantz AV8805 can connect to a network through dual-band WiFi or even Ethernet and can also be Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 competent. It isn’t compliant (however ), but its own AirPlay compatibility allows it to be a Roon endpoint for all those who utilize Roon.
Though the free Marantz AV8805 AVR distance program makes it effortless to get all the services built into the Marantz AV8805, the system sound feature I enjoyed the most was that the built-in HEOS functionality.
The Marantz AV8805 program worked fine for the majority of purposes, however, the HEOS program made it very easy to get my source of choice and hunt my multi-terabyte assortment of sound files. It turned out to be a night-and-day difference from using the Marantz AVR program to look for and play music files. The accession of HEOS is among the most important feature updates from the 8802.
Even though the Marantz AV8805 shares exactly the identical porthole industrial design as the remainder of Marantz AV8805’s recent lineup, Kevin Arrow of Sound United, the parent firm of Marantz, clarified that there are more than one thousand changes involving the AV8802 and AV8805. A number of these modifications were no doubt designed to integrate the new features or enhanced production procedures, while others were to boost performance.
The Hookup of Marantz AV8805
Taking the AV8805 from this box, I instantly noticed its extra weight in comparison with AV7703. The AV8805 felt exceptionally powerful as I put it in my theatre’s equipment rack. I connected most resources and my screen via HDMI.
The AV8805 includes both balanced and single-ended sparks for 15.2 stations (yes, 15.2 station sparks, regardless of the preamp’s 13.2 stations of processing). The excess channels offer installation flexibility for those seeking to take the whole benefit of the accessible three-dimensional environment formats While I didn’t use more than 1 zone for this particular review, the third and second zones have analog or component video and analog stereo outputs; Zone 2 adds an HDMI output too.
The AV8805 industrial layout will be instantly recognizable to anyone who has perused the recent Marantz AV8805 lineup, with big knobs for volume and origin flanking a little porthole screen. A drop-down hides another screen alongside some extra controls over the bottom half of the middle panel.
Audio Quality of Marantz AV8805
Connections into the amplifiers were produced with balanced audio cables using a Marantz AV8805 forcing the four height stations in my 5.2.4 machine along with a Krell Theater Amplifier Standard forcing front, center, and surround channels. The comprised color-coordinated stickers left from my AV7703 setup made it rather simple to recognize each station.
(The Marantz AV8805 also will come with similar decals.) All links (except that the Ethernet cable) was created with Kimber Cable Select Series wires to your interconnects and 8TC for your speaker connections. I also joined the 12-volt trigger outputs into the external amplifiers. The projector in my mention theatre room is simply 1080p, therefore I had to maneuver the Marantz AV8805 into my living area and join it to some fairly new-school Sony 4K OLED place to try out the movie individually.
For speakers, I utilized MartinLogan Summits along with the fitting MartinLogan Stage center station. A beefy Paradigm Twist SUB25 took up the struggle of the LFE channel within this object-based surround sound arrangement.
The most boring part was manipulating the onscreen keyboard to input my HEOS password and login, but to be honest, this may be accomplished via the HEOS program, as many user inputs and names for each the variety of streaming solutions supported by the stage.
When it arrived a time at the installation procedure to configure the speakers, then I used the discretionary Audyssey MultEQ App. It is well worth the little cost. Combine the ability of this program using the MultEQ XT32 processing onboard the Marantz AV8805, and you’ve got the makings of quite a strong room correction system which means the quality (although not the sophistication ) of Dirac.
Input / Ports
The Audyssey MultEQ program lets you use your cellular device to tweak and control the speaker calibration procedure. The program shows you that the Audyssey speaker detection effects and permits you to alter the installation drawing on your target curve should you decide on, tweaking settings such as the BBC Dip, and also much more significantly setting a max filter frequency–my favorite thing about the program is that it also provides charts of before and after processing, which is useful to find out exactly what your room is performing and what changes are made.
You may even create many copies of the outcome and make various tweaks to every one of these. The curves can then be uploaded in your mobile device to the preamp so that you may try various settings then easily return to your own favorite. This might seem complex, but in actual use was quite simple to accomplish. Nevertheless, if you would like to keep it easy, the conventional Audyssey setup using the Marantz AV8805 remote is an available option.
Another thing worth pointing out in regard to the Marantz AV8805 controller attribute set is the fact that it is supported with a great SDDP (Straightforward Device Discovery Protocol) driver for Control4 systems. This means for you Control4 homeowners from the market is your trader will spend time programming and installing the preamp, as the Composer Pro software automatically recognizes it when it is connected to the system and explains it from MAC address, not the IP speech, which means you don’t need to worry about assigning a static IP.
Additionally, there is also a HEOS network module, in addition to a HEOS endpoint motorist and individual music support modules such as Control4 systems which efficiently produce the AV8805 component of a whole-home dispersed music system which does not ask that you pull out your telephone in case you don’t need to. All told, the AV8805 Provides a level of automation integration that many preamps in its course only
Performance of Marantz AV8805
I obtained an Auro-3D Demo disk a couple of weeks prior to the Marantz AV8805 came so that I was anxious to take a look when I’d the AV8805 configured. Auro-3D has impressed me once I heard it in tradeshow presentations, despite being a channel-based method instead of Dolby Atmos, and it is a station – and – object-based. The object-based encoding provides an object a spot at the 3D location instead of a particular channel. For those of you that are fact-checking me, I admit that Auro-3D is effective at object-based decoding, but just when 20 and stations are in use.
The disk has a range of brief clips, such as a few from pictures that I had in the home and has been comfortable with. Even though the clips were short, everybody who listened to them clearly favored the Auro-3D. This wasn’t surprising, because these clips have been carefully chosen by Auro-3D.
But once I listened to all the Auro-3D clips throughout the Marantz AV8805 I found the audio to be immersive and involving. Whether it was a demonstration containing character sounds, or activity scenes, or audio, the audio field was enveloping, circling around me and over me with persuasive transitions as the items transferred from 1 place to another.
After spending an hour or so together with the Auro-3D disk, I got a petition for my loved ones to play with a Genuine picture, so I picked Fantastic Beasts and Where to See Them. The Marantz AV8805 employs this immersive soundtrack to replicate a three-dimensional audio field that has objects easily moving from 1 station to a different both from overhead places and numerous places at the bottom level.
OS/ Apps / Features of Marantz AV8805
Transformers: Age of Extinction is a normal Michael Bay creation with completely nonstop action. Within this iteration, you will find mini-drones, aircraft, and alien ships over you and plenty of activity around you, all of which offer ample chances for lots of shooting, rockets, and explosions. From the Ratchet pursuit scene, the AB8805’s detail and solving power stored each one the separate objects differently.
The identical scene, together with others, also permitted the AV8805’s lively artwork to glow with rocket blasts, explosions, and crashes which were replicated with excellent dynamics. Throughout my time with all the AV8805, I saw a number of the very same films I saw throughout my AV7703 review, such as Star Trek Beyond. I discovered that the sonic profile to be similar to the AV8802 compared to the AV7703, actually surpassing the detail of this AV8802.
Other pictures I saw on all 3 chips included American Sniper and Gravity. These films confirmed my opinion that the Marantz AV8805 sonic capacities exceed the prior AV7703 and AV8802 concerning controlling power while keeping the heat and liquidity of their AV8802.
I discovered the trail”Bird on a Wire” for a fantastic demonstration of the comparative quantity of resolution and also low-level detail involving the AV7703 and also my mention DAC, the PS Audio DirectStream DAC. The PS Audio DirectStream prices over the Marantz AV8805 and way, way over the AV7703, therefore that I wasn’t amazed that it bested the latter in its general functionality.
Predecessor
What did surprise me was just how much nearer the AV8805 came into the expensive PS Audio’s functionality level. While the principles in distance, rhythm, and detail nonetheless put the PS Audio forward, the Marantz AV8805 easily surpassed the DACs in my different Oppo gamers (BDP-83SE, BDP-95, also UDP-203) and came really near the benchmark DAC.
To be able to make the most of this Marantz AV8805 lower noise floor and larger solving capacities, I listened to both CD and DSD variations of”The Girl from Ipanema” from Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto in the album).
The Marantz AV8805 managed to use the greater resolution of the DSD file, elevating the breeding form quite good to absolutely exceptional. Together with the DSD record, I found there to be far greater nuance using the saxophone, which makes the reproduction believable and very lifelike.
Listening to this DSD version of the song many times in a row I discovered new information inside her voice every time that work together to create this track raw, sensual, and psychological. Any sound element that may reach down and replicate the nuanced details of a bit of music using a balanced and natural tone since the Marantz AV8805 did get my seal of acceptance.
Getting connected
Last, the AV8805 includes a headset jack. Inside my area, the positioning of this theater rack isn’t conducive to headphone listening, but I did proceed in a seat so I could sit by the stand to give it a go. The headset is silent and contains more detail than that I find in many parts in this class or course (significance non-dedicated headphone amps).
When used together with my comparatively sensitive in-ear paths, there was a higher noise floor than using a different dedicated headphone amplifier, but it wasn’t large enough to be easily noticeable except for very silent passages. The AV8805’s headset jack had no difficulty driving nearly all of my cans, but harder-to-drive headphones, like the ones from HiFiMan, or AKG K701s, will nevertheless reap from a dedicated headphone amplifier to attain their full dynamic capacities.
In my eyes, the movie performance was quite much like that of this AV7703. It did a fantastic job scaling conventional and higher definition signals to 4K and passed every 4K sign I can through at it. If I had been playing non-4K disks during my Oppo, I’d still utilize the Oppo’s inner chip, as it had marginally fewer artifacts. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be afraid to utilize Marantz AV8805 scaler. The AV8805 also comes with a whole lot of video processing options that can let people that have numerous resources and/or screens get the absolute most from the own systems.
Scaling new heights of Marantz AV8805
Like I mentioned above, the Audyssey MultEQ App encouraged by the AV8805 improved upon the foundation Audyssey program, but I nevertheless find the pre-defined Audyssey curves to be lacking until you correct them. If you aren’t scared to experiment with various curves and curves, you can get superior results, but you have to work somewhat for your pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Another slight concern is that sound style presets are configured with an incoming sound signal and can not be set individually for every input signal, except via the utilization of Marantz Marantz AV8805 Quick Select performance. The Marantz AV8805 does recall the past sound manner used for every input signal, however.
Since the Marantz AV8805 is charged as an audiophile piece and rightly so I would also prefer to see it completely compatible with all the top music server applications, Roon. The Marantz AV8805 could be retrieved on Roon through AirPlay but less an immediate Roon endpoint. While this doesn’t affect the ease of playback, it may affect sound quality. I guess this may feasibly be remedied using a firmware update and expect this really is in the works since it provides an additional succulent attribute that can make the Marantz 8805 irresistible for music fans as far as film lovers.
Worthwhile upgrade of Marantz AV8805
In the end, the absence of HDMI 2.1 connectivity is well worth noting. Obviously, this is an issue with any fresh AV preamp or receiver now, provided that HDMI 2.1 is simply not accessible as of the moment, but it is looming over AV fans just like you and I enjoy a technological anvil.
Marantz AV8805 has an excellent history of upgrading HDMI boards to adopt newer standards, therefore the most important downside is losing using their Marantz AV8805 during the update procedure, not to mention the expenses related to the update. I would not say”do not purchase this preamp since it doesn’t have HDMI 2.1,” because –actually –what else are you likely to purchase right now which does? However, I had to mention it as a concern for anybody buying an AV preamp anytime soon.
Final Thoughts
It unites a high-definition object-based surround with cutting-edge video direction, paired with an excellent room correction, in addition to a feature set that is really hard to replicate at any given cost. investment, and now that I say that fully aware that many people have taken a tub (or 2 ) on previous AV preamps that just could not keep up with the ever-changing criteria of home entertainment formats.
At this time, I simply don’t believe that you can get this combination of characteristics and functionality wrapped up in 1 part for anywhere near the cost of this Marantz AV8805. The checkbook is outside since this sucker is not leaving for quite a while.
