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What’s New for AV Receivers in 2016?

Al Griffin  |  Mar 16, 2016

Got a tech question for Sound & Vision? Email us at AskSandV@gmail.com

Q What new features are coming to AV receivers in 2016? I guess my question is more about what features might be missing from 2015 models, which already have Wi-Fi, Bluetooth aptX, Airplay, High-res FLAC and DSD support, 4K pass-through, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X processing. I am interested in the latest Marantz receivers, specifically the NR-1506 and SR-5010, but noticed that those models were announced back in June 2015. Should I wait for new 2016 models? —Jason York

A Most of the new receivers released in 2015 are completely up to date on the video connectivity front, with HDMI jacks that support 4K/60p signals, HDCP 2.2 copy protection, High Dynamic Range, and Rec.2020 color.

On the audio front, one feature missing from the Marantz NR1506 receiver you list is DTS:X readiness. While that model can’t be upgraded for DTS:X, a firmware update Marantz has scheduled for this month for its step-up SR5010, SR6010, and SR7010 allows those receivers to be upgraded for up to 11.2 playback, depending on the model.

At this point, I’d consider most of the receivers currently on the market to be fully loaded—you shouldn’t have to wait for 2016 models to come out before taking a plunge. One “new” feature that you may be interested in is Auro-3D, a $199 upgrade option that Marantz plans to make available sometime in 2016 for its flagship SR7010. Auro-3D is another “immersive” surround technology that uses height and overhead speakers to wrap listeners in a full cocoon of sound. The format has been used for a number of theatrical releases and is currently featured on several Blu-rays. I haven’t experienced a demo myself, but show reports in Sound & Vision and elsewhere give Auro-3D a definite thumbs-up.

COMMENTS
davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 16, 2016 - 9:32pm

I don't consider "most of the receivers currently on the market to be fully loaded." I personally know of only two receivers that have Atmos 7.1.4 capability without adding additional amplifiers. That is my most wanted feature, and there is currently very little to choose from in that regard.

jaredjcrandall's picture
Submitted by jaredjcrandall on March 17, 2016 - 6:50am

Well, what you are wanting is that all receivers carry the same features within price constraints. An eleven-channel powered receiver will probably only be able to send 20 watts to each channel...and in order to get a level of healthy watts the receiver would have to weigh 50+ pounds. So, the article is justified in what it asserts. So, all features are available in a receiver, but unrealistic to expect the majority of receivers to have power to eleven channels and be be fairly inexpensive.

brenro's picture
Submitted by brenro on March 17, 2016 - 7:11am

Both of those Onkyo receivers are missing HDMI 2.0a.

jaredjcrandall's picture
Submitted by jaredjcrandall on March 17, 2016 - 8:50am

Now that is legit concern. I have changed pre/pro, added and evolution kit, and changed hdmi cables, all to find out that "4k" native right now means 2k upscaled--not native film--to 4k and placed onto a blu ray. HDR seems like the worthwhile pursuit, but 4k has been such a run-around that I regret making so many changes for little to no gain. My personal experience is all.

brenro's picture
Submitted by brenro on March 17, 2016 - 9:22am

I'm still sitting on the fence with all of this until they decide things once and for all (if they ever do). Is it going to be HDR10 or Dolby Vision or something else entirely once we see more mainstream 4k content? One consolation for you is the one and only 4k UHD blu ray player out there can split the HDMI signal for audio and video so you wouldn't have to worry about your pre/pro being able to decode the video.

davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 17, 2016 - 6:56am

Additional comment on the need for Atmos 7.1.4 receivers. In the past, only a small percentage of movies offered 7.1 audio, so if you had a 5.1 system you were not missing that much (and the difference was not large either). However, 100% of Atmos tracks on blu-ray and UHD blu-ray are in 7.1, so if you are going Atmos and don't have 7.1.4, you are just not getting the full range of what modern disks have to offer. Most receivers haven't caught up with this technology yet. Although I'm certain that 5.1.4 is much better than 7.1.0, ff I'm going to invest in an upgrade to Atmos, I personally will not settle for anything less than 7.1.4.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 17, 2016 - 9:45am

Atmos is a completely different paradigm in surround sound. You don't have "channels" in the source material. You have "objects". Each sound is a different object represented in a three dimensional space. The Atmos processor then takes that information and directs the sounds to the appropriate channels, depending on how many channels are available. This is handled the same way regardless of if you have 32 speakers (and a pro cinema decoder) or if you have 11 (and a sub) or if you have 7 and a sub...you aren't "missing" anything if you have a couple less speakers, but the more speakers you have, the more solid the imaging will be.

davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 17, 2016 - 9:56am

OK, I am certainly willing to learn more about this rather complex topic and what is the practical difference between 5.1.4 and 7.1.4, which is rather difficult (probably impossible) for me to actually test out before I invest in a new system. It is still true that 100% of Atmos disks are 7.1 and not 5.1, and I am very reluctant to invest in a 5.1.4 system that leaves out that extra information that is always there on an Atmos disk.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 17, 2016 - 10:30am

No problem, mate! It's a complicated subject...but again, there is not a 5.1 nor a 7.1 mix on the discs...it's object oriented surround sound.

In a "traditional" 5.1 or 7.1 mix, a sound engineer sits at a mixing board and manually directs which sounds get sent to which speakers at which volumes, typically in a "reference" theater. So the mix is "set" at the time of production, and it's all done MANUALLY. If the mix was originally 5.1, the AVR can "fake it" and use DSP processing to send information to the surround back speakers in a "traditional" 7.1 setup, but it's not nearly as effective as having the source material mixed in 7.1 originally.

Atmos is different. With Atmos, you have the sound engineer sit at a computer. On the computer is a 3 dimensional space representing the theater environment. The engineer then takes individual sounds and positions them in that three dimensional space...and can have that sound "sit" in one place, or move across the space from point to point. I believe (although I am not 100% certain) that the system supports up to 128 individual sounds at a time. So ALL of that information is encoded on the disc...this is the EXACT SAME information that is used in a movie theater, even though movie theaters have significantly more channels than home theaters! The Atmos processor is then responsible for taking that information and deciding which speakers the individual sounds should go to. More information (and better vocabulary and writing skills) can be found here:

http://blog.dolby.com/2014/06/dolby-atmos-home-theaters-questions-answered/

davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 17, 2016 - 11:01am

Ah, so are you saying that TrueHD 7.1 audio track with Atmos really only plays 7.1 on a non-Atmos system? And that with an Atmos system, it makes no difference except that if you have a 7.1 setup you have a couple of additional speakers to help spread out the object-based sound? In other words, that with an Atmos system, a 5.1 audio track (which is never found with Atmos) and a 7.1 audio track would sound the same because you are actually not using the extra two tracks but using the object-based information instead?

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 17, 2016 - 11:44am

TrueHD 7.1 is indeed a 7.1 manually mixed soundtrack, it will play as 7.1 on 7.1 system. Atmos is a SEPARATE audio track that will support ANY speaker configuration you have...from 5.1 to 7.2.4 (or more if you have a pro decoder). It will still recreate a three dimensional soundspace in your theater and steer the sounds around the room regardless of how many channels you are using...but the more channels you have, the more accurate that steering will be.

If you have an Atmos AVR and feed it 5.1 or 7.1 source material, then the AVR will use DSP processing to "guess" where to send the sounds to the additional channels. It still sounds good, and still uses all of your speakers during playback, but it's not as good as having a "true" Atmos mix. Hope that helps!

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 17, 2016 - 11:44am

TrueHD 7.1 is indeed a 7.1 manually mixed soundtrack, it will play as 7.1 on 7.1 system. Atmos is a SEPARATE audio track that will support ANY speaker configuration you have...from 5.1 to 7.2.4 (or more if you have a pro decoder). It will still recreate a three dimensional soundspace in your theater and steer the sounds around the room regardless of how many channels you are using...but the more channels you have, the more accurate that steering will be.

If you have an Atmos AVR and feed it 5.1 or 7.1 source material, then the AVR will use DSP processing to "guess" where to send the sounds to the additional channels. It still sounds good, and still uses all of your speakers during playback, but it's not as good as having a "true" Atmos mix. Hope that helps!

davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 17, 2016 - 12:17pm

I'm learning a lot here. So what does an Atmos AVR do with a 2-channel source? And how much control do you have over what it does? For example, I would probably want very different results with a CD music source than I would with a movie with 2.0 sound. I wouldn't want movie dialog spread around the room but I WOULD want the music from a CD spread around the room.

It looks like I will have to visit a showroom and see how this stuff actually works before I buy. Reading about it hasn't so far answered all my questions.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 17, 2016 - 12:40pm

The Atmos "upmixing" if you will, is designed for movies...there are specific cues, even in a 2 channel movie mix, that the algorithm the AVR uses to steer the audio looks for...music won't have that info. You are better off selecting one of the other DSP modes if you want to listen to 2 channel music through all of your speakers...but my advice would be to listen to it in 2 channels...if you have good speakers, and a good AVR, you won't need the other speakers to create a 3 dimensional soundstage!

davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 18, 2016 - 8:25am

"DTS:X can spatially reformat stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 content to take full advantage of all speakers in a surround system."
Quote from: http://www.audioholics.com/audio-technologies/dts-x-immersive-surround-f...

How this works in practice I have no idea. How do you turn this on or off? Most soundtracks are detected automatically, so if DTS:X is not present, it would seem you would need to turn it on manually if you wanted to use this feature. Will receivers let you do that?

The receiver manuals, so far, are no help (I've been reading several). The Yamaha flagship RX-A3050 manual still has pre-Atmos speaker diagrams and provides no information at all about how Atmos works or if any of their DSP modes will work properly with an Atmos speaker setup.

I really want to upgrade to Atmos (and DTS:X) this year but I have so many unanswered questions that I am holding off for now. Should I settle for 5.1.4 or hold out for a 7.1.4 receiver? What DSP modes are available on a particular receiver, and what ones will give me what I want (I currently have a Yamaha with a 7.1 channel stereo mode that works terrific for 2-channel music sources and I want a similar capability with an Atmos speaker setup). I'm having great trouble getting answers to all these questions, partly because it is so new (DTS:X firmware still pending, manuals not updated, etc.).

P.S. I was wrong about 100% of Atmos disks having 7.1 audio. The movie Tumbledown is being released with 5.1 and Atmos.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 18, 2016 - 9:18am

Well, first, for non-native soundtracks, DTS:X is to Atmos what DTS Neo is to Dolby Prologic IIx. Its doing the same thing as Atmos, but with a slightly different algorithm. They both will "upscale" the source to support all of the speakers in your theater.

You would select that surround mode like you would any other. If a DTS:X soundtrack is detected, it will play that back as intended, if you select DTS:X mode (or Atmos mode) and then playback 2.0 (stereo) 5.1, or 7.1 material, then both of those modes will convert the soundtrack and spread the sound to all speakers. Again, DTS:X and Atmos modes are for MOVIES (and TV)...NOT music. DTS:Neo (music) would be a better mode for music...or 7 channel stereo.

As for the other DSP modes? They SHOULD be listed in the manual (with the exception of DTS:X). Personally I despise DSP modes for music, because it messes with the sound (I am more of a purist...if I am listening to 2 channel music, I keep my AVR in stereo)...but I understand that some people prefer the DSP modes to "fill the room" more...I am of the opinion that if you aren't "filling the room" with 2 speakers and a good source, there's something wrong with the setup!

As to which AVR you should buy? Go for the best one you can afford! You won't regret it! If your room supports 7.1.4, go for it! Note that you will more than likely need to buy an external amp if you want 11 channels...I would also recommend 7.2.4 instead of 7.1.4. Atmos has support for TWO SEPARATE sub channels and more than one sub will prevent you from having areas in the room with little to no bass!

I personally have a Marantz SR7007 (no Atmos for me, dang it!) and I can not recommend the Marantz brand highly enough! Yamaha is also a good choice, but I have less experience with them lately. Denon is good, but usually the similarly priced Marantz will sound better than the Denon...and the features are identical between Marantz and Denon (they are both owned by D&M Holdings). Pioneer Elites have been getting good reviews, but I prefer class AB amps to class D...always have. The only brand I would AVOID is Onkyo/Integra. I don't care for their sound quality (especially for music), and their HDMI implementation can be flaky. Reply back if you have any other questions, I will try to answer them the best I can!

davidbe's picture
Submitted by davidbe on March 18, 2016 - 10:06am

Thanks for all your help. I agree with your selection of brands (the Anthem 1120 also looks interesting and it does 7.1.4), but I don't yet have confidence in getting the combination of features that I'm looking for (and I refuse to add additional amps), so I may need to wait for the next crop of receivers before I upgrade.

jnemesh's picture
Submitted by jnemesh on March 18, 2016 - 10:22am

There are only a couple AVRS out there with 11 channels of amplification...and when you spread out the available power (even on a 20 amp connection...not that any AVRs have them!), you don't have enough juice to fully power all channels anyway! Stick with a 9 channel AVR and add a 2 channel amp to it. Use the 2 ch amp to power the main left and right speakers and the AVRs amp to power the rest!

dvdwilly's picture
Submitted by dvdwilly on March 20, 2016 - 7:27am

I have had both. Hold off for 7.1.4. It will be a bit more expensive, but it will be a complete immsersive soundfield in a "normal" room.
By normal, I mean not overly long or wide. My room is 15' x 20' and Atmos rendering is exceptional. If my room were, say, 15' x 25', it would work, but not as well. There would be gaps in the soundfield along the sides.
The chief benefit in having 7.1.4 over 7.1.2 is that overhead sounds can clearly pan from front to back and vice versa. With 7.1.2, they are overhead, but do not pan very well.
With 5.1.2 vs 7.1.2, sounds from the side and from the back are not as distinct in 5.1.2 as 7.1.2. No great mystery...in 5.1.2, you have the same speaker positioned on the back reproducing sounds that should come from the side as well as those from the back.
Again, 5.1.2 will work, but 7.1.2 is a better illusion.
It is all an illusion...you just want the illusion to be as realistic as possible.

Kal Rubinson's picture
Submitted by Kal Rubinson on March 18, 2016 - 7:20am

The review mentions the streaming abilities and notes issues with DSD. No mention is made about multichannel files. Is this possible?

SimonTC's picture
Submitted by SimonTC on March 24, 2016 - 7:53am

"Auro-3D is another “immersive” surround technology that uses height and overhead speakers to wrap listeners in a full cocoon of sound. The format has been used for a number of theatrical releases and is currently featured on several Blu-rays."

No actual movies on Blu-ray on US discs, just some music and demo discs. A few movie BDs in Europe have it. It also requires a different speaker configuration than Atmos. Something to consider when plunking down $200 for an upgrade you may never use.

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