Anthem Statement D2 with ARC Room Correction Reviewed
HTR Product Rating
- Performance
- Value
- Overall
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High Points
• Anthem's sound, which has made
this the go-to processor for many, now is even better, thanks to the
new ARC Anthem Room Correction system.
• The Anthem D2 offers plenty
of HDMI inputs for even the most source-crazy home theater enthusiast,
and Anthem's HDMI switcher is one of the most reliable in the business.
•
The exceptionally flexible and versatile video scaler in the D2 can
scale to 1080p/24 or 60 and even vertically stretch for use with
anamorphic lenses, making this unit at home in even the most advanced
AV systems.
• Both balanced and single-ended outputs included in the
Anthem Statement D2 allow enhanced flexibility in set-up and amplifier
choices.
• Anthem's ARC is one of the best room correction softwares
going and the $399 add-on for previous users really shows how committed
they are to their customers. This is a major step up in performance for
a minor cost and one all prior users should buy.
Low Points
• The Anthem Statement D2 is missing
HDMI 1.3a, so you will not get all of the new uncompressed audio codecs
for now. Anthem has been amazing at keeping their customers up to date,
and I am sure it will only be a matter of time until this unit gets
what may need to be a hardware update for the new codecs. Given
Anthem's history, I suspect they will offer it to prior owners at a
reasonable cost.
• The unit has only a single 5.1 analog input,
which will limit those who use 7.1 systems and Blu-ray or the now
defunct HD DVD players, as the D2 doesn't decode the new formats yet.
It is to be hoped that new updates will allow these new codecs to be
processed by these wonderful Anthem pieces, but only time will tell.
Conclusion
The Anthem D2 is unquestionably one of the best AV
preamps made and the addition of the ARC is a huge step towards making
a great product even better. You will still miss out on all the new
audio codecs but, given Anthem's reputation for keeping up with the
Joneses, I suspect you will see an upgrade to this piece soon that
allows decoding of these formats as well.
You could spend more and get less, you could spend less and, well, get less, especially in the sound quality department. This is why the Anthem Statement D2 AV preamp is so popular in the AV industry. It offers sonics that are smooth and clear, with great separation and total system control. If you want a finished home theater that will handle movies to excite all and music to entice the audiophiles, then the Anthem Statement is for you.
Additional Resources
• Read more preamplifier reviews by the staff at HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Find an AV receiver to integrate with the D2.
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