Denon AVR-5308 HDCI AV Receiver Reviewed

Subscribe to our FREE weekly newsletter Print this article

HTR Product Rating

Performance: 4 Stars
Value: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars

Disagree with our product rating? Email us and tell us why you think this product should receive a higher rating.

Page 1 | Page 2

The AV receiver market is one of the fastest evolving areas in modern home theater. Just a few years ago, HDMI didn't exist and, shortly before that, DVI-D was only an odd AV experiment that never really caught on. Today's high-definition discs (think Blu-ray) provide us all these wonderful, new uncompressed 7.1 movie soundtracks that all tend to require HDMI connections. Denon, which has been in the high-performance AV receiver business for quite a long time, has always managed to keep pace with the latest industry trends and provide a strong product for the money. The current big dog in their receiver line, the AVR-5308HDCI proves that point very clearly. At a price of $5,500, the AVR-5308HDCI costs as much or even more than some separate components, but comes so feature-packed you couldn't come close getting all the bells and whistles this has for anything like a comparable amount in separates.

Additional Resources
• Read more reviews of AV receivers on HomeTheaterReview.com.
• Find a Blu-ray player to take full advantage of the AVR-5308 HDCI.

The AVR-5308HDCI offers 150 watts per channel of power for all seven channels, Audyssey MultiEQ XT auto calibration and room correction and, for a small fee, you can easily upgrade to the MultiEQ Pro calibration if you or your dealer want more comprehensive room correction. It is XM satellite radio-ready and has its own HD radio tuner, as well as FM and AM tuners. Of course, the unit is THX Ultra2-certified, ensuring the best sonics for your film experience. It also decodes all the new codecs via its six HDMI 1.3a inputs and dual outputs, which can handle 24/96 uncompressed audio for SACD playback over HDMI, too. All the legacy video connections are here as well, including composite (video eight in, three out), S-Video (eight in, three out) and component video (six in, three out). The receiver has a total of nine digital inputs, five optical and four coaxial. Four optical digital outputs are here, too, as well as digital to analog record out to any of the three rec. outputs. Analog inputs abound, totaling total 15, including USB/Net for streaming audio from your computer, for which it will decode MP3 and WMA, XM and iPod inputs, stereo analog and even include a moving magnet phono input. In case that isn't enough, there's an eight-channel analog input. All connectors are gold-plated and the speaker terminals are high-quality five-way binding posts. Two RS-232 controls are also here, as well as an Ethernet port. Oh, and, of course, the AV-5308 is DNLA-compliant, so you can control the entire unit from your home network or even your iPhone for any of its four different zones. Video is transcoded between all analog sources and HDMI, with scaling up to 1080p, using the Silicon Optix Realta HQV chipset, allowing very good video up-conversion from your legacy sources.

With all that connectivity, this receiver is huge at over 17 inches wide, eight inches tall and 19 inches deep, weighing over 62 pounds, but what did you expect? Denon pulled out all the stops here and made a receiver that can easily not just be the hub of a high-end home theater, but the center control unit for a medium to large-sized home. Not only is it flexible, but the AVR-5308HDCI offers great sound with smooth highs and mids and powerful bass. Thanks to the Audyssey room correction and the extra attention to detail, including the eight independent power supplies powered from the one main toroidal transformer and four sub-transformers, the sound won't get blurred together with this unit.

Read about the high points and the low points of the AVR-5308 on Page 2.

Page 1 | Page 2

Featured Audio-Video News

Are AV Retailers To Blame For Lofty High End AV Prices? -

The audio video has been in a state of flux or some time, splitting sales up between specialty dealers, big box stores, and online sellers. However, the dealers may have had more to do with this than they think.

Latest AV Receiver Reviews

Onkyo TX-NR5009 AV Receiver Reviewed -

Onkyo has pulled out all the stops with the TX-NR5009 AV receiver, packing the unit with features such as 3D and 4K video scaling. But how well do these features perform? HomeTheaterReview.com reviewer Dr. Ken Taraszka investigates.

NAD T 757 A/V Surround Sound Receiver Reviewed -

Andrew Robinson, editor of HomeTheaterReview.com, got the NAD T 757 AV receiver in for review and went about connecting to his system, including a variety of speakers, as he prepared to put the receiver to the test.

Home Theater Review's 2011 Best Of Awards -

For a third time, the editorial staff of Home Theater Review have examined the year's offerings in AV gear and decided what they deem to be the best in every category. Find out who is the best of the best.

NAD T 748 AV Receiver Reviewed -

NAD has taken a novel approach with the NAD T 748, meaning that they have decided to neglect all the bells and whistles of modern receivers and concentrate on performance. Andrew Robinson evaluates the T 748 to see how that idea paid off.

Anthem MRX 700 AV Receiver Reviewed -

Andrew Robinson was a little skeptical about the Anthem MRX 700 AV receiver, thinking that the price and features didn't quite add up. But after he put the receiver through its paces, he saw that the MRX 700 is greater than the sum of its parts.

Samsung HW-D7000 Receiver/Blu-ray Combination Unit -

Samsung offers a home theater solution more unique than many of their other offerings. The Samsung HW-D7000 is a combination AV receiver and Blu-ray player. Convenient? Yes. But does it perform? Adrienne Maxwell finds out.

Pioneer SC-37 Elite AV Receiver Reviewed -

The Pioneer SC-37 Elite AV receiver is a receiver that brings the goods. Not only does the receiver produces impressive sound, it comes packed with a wide range of features to trick out any theater.

Pioneer Elite SC-35 AV Receiver Reviewed -

The Pioneer Elite SC-35 suffers from a problem that can be common amongst many consumer electronics. Reviewer Andrew Robinson investigates this problem as he reviews the Pioneer Elite SC-35 AV receiver.

Arcam AVR500 AV Receiver Reviewed -

The AVR500 is designed to reproduce movie theater sound and studio music inside your home. For performance when compared to $8,000 separates, our reviewer noted it "comes pretty damn close for a lot less money." It has "more than ample power" and is "brilliantly designed and engineered"...

Sony STR-DA3600ES AV Receiver Reviewed -

The sound on this Sony possesses more than adequate power and finesse and like most Sony's, it is very reliable. In addition, the Auto Calibration on the STR-DA3600 "was by far the smoothest, fastest and also one of the most accurate I've ever had with a receiver," according to our reviewer...