How I Set up My Denon Receiver
… specifically the DRA-800H:
I used a surge protector. It has three output sockets, and I use only one, so that the surge protector is hopefully more effective.
I connected the ARC port on the receiver to the ARC port on the TV.
I configured my TV to send PCM output to my receiver1.
I connect my laptop to the HDMI input marked Media Player2. When I want to play from my laptop, I press the Media Player3 button on the receiver’s remote4, and then on the TV, select HDMI 35.
The HDMI cable I had didn’t support all the features of the TV — UHD at 60 FPS with HDR and 4:2:2 chroma subsampling. So I bought this cable, which supports all the above plus 48 Gbps bandwidth, Ethernet, eARC and 8K at 60 FPS.
I plugged in the receiver to Ethernet, since WiFi was causing interruptions in AirPlay6.
On the remote I pressed SETUP:
and changed the following settings:
Set Video > 4K Signal Format: Enhanced7.
Set Video > On Screen Disp. >
Video > TV Format: NTSC (otherwise the Denon UI runs at 50 FPS rather than 60)
I used a tape measure to measure the distances from the speakers to my ear10 in my normal seating position11 and entered it in Speakers > Distances.
On the remote, I pressed:
till I was in Pure Direct12.
After configuring everything, I plugged my laptop into the receiver, pressed the MEDIA PLAYER button on the receiver’s remote, and using the TV’s remote, switched it to the receiver. I played a HDR video full screen. On the TV, I selected Detailed signal info and verified that the TV is receiving UHD HDR at 60 FPS at 4:2:2:
In the HEOS app, I selected Quality High.
Features I don’t use
I don’t use Bluetooth, since it sounds worse13. I clicked Forget on all my devices so that I don’t accidentally connect.
AirPlay 2 doesn’t sound audibly worse, so it’s fine to use. When you’re done, terminate the connection by turning the receiver off, rather than from the Apple device (because that leaves the receiver on).
I don’t use analog input, since it sounds worse14.
Limitations of this receiver
The receiver’s USB port can’t accept digital input from a laptop. It can play only audio (not video) from a FAT32 mass storage device (not HFS+ or exFAT).
No VRR.
Only 60Hz.
Only ARC, not eARC.
No Google Cast15.
Otherwise, the sound doesn’t play when using the Youtube app on the TV. Why? Because Youtube uses Opus, which the TV passes through to the receiver, but the receiver doesn’t support Opus, calling it an unknown format. So the sound doesn’t play at all. When I select Digital audio output to PCM, the TV decodes the Opus and sends the uncompressed audio to the receiver. Another reason to select PCM is that the receiver doesn’t support multichannel audio (not even downmixing it to stereo), so again you won’t hear any sound at all if the content you’re consuming uses multichannel audio.
I can plug your laptop in to either the receiver or TV:
Laptop → Receiver <=> TV
or:
Laptop → TV <=> Receiver
and it will work, since the receiver and TV have a bidirectional connection via ARC.
The advantage of the former is that I can listen to music without turning on your TV, which would be bright and distracting.
The advantage of the latter is that I can use VRR, which my laptop and TV both support, but not my receiver.
I wish there were an input labeled Laptop or Computer, but there isn’t. The other inputs are Cable / Satellite, DVD, Blu-ray and Game, none of which don’t describe my laptop. It’s confusing to press the Cable / Satellite button to switch to my laptop. Media Player somewhat fits the bill, since I use my laptop as a media player when I connect it to my TV.
… to tell the receiver to switch to the laptop
… if the TV doesn’t automatically switch. This is the HDMI port into which the receiver is plugged in.
This also required buying a 5-port gigabit ethernet switch.
Otherwise you don’t get 4K HDR 10-bit 60 FPS at 4:2:2 chroma subsampling.
Otherwise, whenever I change volume using the receiver’s remote, I get this annoying on-screen display:
This is redundant since the receiver itself has a screen that shows me the volume level when I change it.
Otherwise, when I press the MEDIA PLAYER button on the remote to switch the receiver to the laptop, I get this ugly and unhelpful on-screen display:
Not the distance to the receiver.
You can’t measure the distance on the ground from the speaker to the beginning of the sofa, since that’s where your legs are, not where your ear is.
Which is better than Direct, which is better than Stereo. In Pure Direct, the sound was crystal clear and when there was a vocal, it seemed like that man was in my room, between the speaker and the receiver.
It sounds noticeably worse than HDMI, like a good rather than a great audio system.
I tried with three devices:
Macbook Pro (M1 Pro, 16-inch)
Audio-Technica ATR2x-USB adapter plugged into the same Mac
Sony A95L TV
All three have a 3.5mm jack, and I plugged in a 3.5mm - RCA cable.
Irrespective of the device, HDMI sounds better than analog. You want the digital-to-analog conversion happening in the receiver, not in the source device, even if the latter are high-end.
You can cast via the connected TV, which sounds worse than AirPlaying directly to the receiver. You get a video of the Chrome tab playing the FLAC file, rather than just the audio being cast as you’d want.