The present review is aimed to compare two AV receivers - Marantz NR1504 vs Marantz NR1510 that are meant to satisfy the needs of cinema and music lovers.
A significant difference between the receivers in the number of channels, Marantz NR1504 has 5.1 versus 5.2 for Marantz NR1510. And as for power, it is the same and equal to 50/8, 60/6. The THD is the same and is 0.08%.
Characteristics of digital to analog converter (DAC) are different, 192 KHz/24-bit for NR1504 and 192 KHz/32-bit for the NR1510. None of the models support Bi-amping. 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 Marantz NR1504 has support for AirPlay, and its competitor in our comparison - AirPlay, AirPlay 2. Spotify can be used on each receiver. The NR1504 can work with the audio stream from Pandora, SiriusXM, and the NR1510 can receive a content from Deezer, TIDAL, Pandora, Napster, SiriusXM, TuneIn Radio. HDMI signal transmission in standby mode is implemented in each of the devices. Both competitors are not able to scale the HDMI signal. Dolby Vision technology found support only on the NR1510.
The Marantz NR1504 has 6/1 HDMI inputs/outputs versus 8/1 HDMI connectors of the Marantz NR1510. The HDMI Audio Return Channel (ARC) feature supports both devices. The HDMI eARC is available only on the NR1510. The Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) feature is present in most modern AV receivers and the models in our comparison are no exception. The NR1504 supports the protection of digital content of the standard HDCP 2.2, versus HDCP 2.3 in the NR1510. The NR1510 has a built-in phono stage for connecting a vinyl player. An ECO mode is only available for the NR1510. Both NR1504 and NR1510 can be configured using the Setup assistant.
None of the rivals equipped with Dolby Atmos multichannel audio decoder. The receivers do not support the surround sound technology DTS:X.