The present review is aimed to compare two AV receivers - Denon AVR-X540BT vs Marantz CINEMA 70s that are meant to satisfy the needs of cinema and music lovers.
A significant difference between the receivers in the number of channels, Denon AVR-X540BT has 5.2 versus 7.2 for Marantz CINEMA 70s. Regarding power, then AVR-X540BT has such a W/Ohm ratio - 70/8, 90/6 when CINEMA 70s has a power of 50/8, 70/6. The THD is the same and is 0.08%.
Characteristics of digital to analog converter (DAC) are different, 192 KHz/24-bit for AVR-X540BT and 192 KHz/32-bit for the CINEMA 70s. Only the CINEMA 70s 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. Spotify can be used on each receiver. The AVR-X540BT can work with the audio stream from TIDAL, Pandora, and the CINEMA 70s can receive a content from Deezer, TIDAL, Pandora, SiriusXM, Napster, SoundCloud, Amazon Music, Amazon Music HD, MOOD:Mix. HDMI signal transmission in standby mode is implemented in each of the devices. The CINEMA 70s can scale the input HDMI signal, unlike the AVR-X540BT. The HDR standard - Dolby Vision is supported by these receivers.
The Denon AVR-X540BT has 5/1 HDMI inputs/outputs versus 6/1 HDMI connectors of the Marantz CINEMA 70s. The HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) feature supports both devices. The HDMI eARC is available only on the CINEMA 70s. The Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) feature is present in most modern AV receivers and the models in our comparison are no exception. The AVR-X540BT supports the protection of digital content of the standard HDCP 2.2, versus HDCP 2.3 in the CINEMA 70s. The CINEMA 70s has a built-in phono stage for connecting a vinyl player. It is also worth noting that the ECO mode is presented in each of the receivers. Both AVR-X540BT and CINEMA 70s can be configured using the Setup assistant.
Only the CINEMA 70s has a Dolby Atmos multichannel audio format support. A surround technology DTS:X is supported only by the CINEMA 70s.