The present review is aimed to compare two AV receivers - Denon AVR-S960H vs Denon AVR-X3400H that are meant to satisfy the needs of cinema and music lovers.
Considered AV receivers have the same number of channels 7.2. Regarding power, then AVR-S960H has such a W/Ohm ratio - 90/8, 125/6 when AVR-X3400H has a power of 105/8, 135/6. The THD is the same and is 0.08%. Only the AVR-X3400H supports Bi-amping feature. Each of the AV receivers can transmit an audio signal directly to the amplifier and bypasses any DSP processing. Rivals from our review have Bluetooth support. The Apple Music service is implemented on considered devices: AirPlay, AirPlay 2. Spotify can be used on each receiver. The AVR-S960H can work with the audio stream from Deezer, TIDAL, Pandora, SiriusXM, Qobuz, TuneIn Radio, and the AVR-X3400H can receive a content from Deezer, TIDAL, Pandora,iHeart Radio, Sirius XM, Sound Cloud, Napster. HDMI signal transmission in standby mode is implemented in each of the devices. Both rivals can scale the resolution of the incoming HDMI signal. The HDR standard - Dolby Vision is supported by these receivers.
The Denon AVR-S960H has 6/2 HDMI inputs/outputs versus 8/3 HDMI connectors of the Denon AVR-X3400H. The HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) feature supports both devices. The HDMI eARC is available only on the AVR-S960H. The Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) feature is present in most modern AV receivers and the models in our comparison are no exception. The AVR-S960H supports the protection of digital content of the standard HDCP 2.3, versus HDCP 2.2 in the AVR-X3400H. These compared receivers have a built-in phono stage for connecting a vinyl player.
Each of the AV receivers from our review supports 2 Multi-room zones. Supported voice control technologies are identical - Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri, Josh.AI. It is also worth noting that the ECO mode is presented in each of the receivers. Both AVR-S960H and AVR-X3400H can be configured using the Setup assistant.
Both devices have support for Dolby Atmos multichannel audio format. The surround sound technology DTS:X is supported by devices under review.