In the world of high-end home theater, two brands tend to dominate the AV receiver market: Denon and Marantz, so when either one debuts a new flagship product, home theater lovers tend to rise up and take notice.
This week, it’s Marantz with the new theater 30, which is jam-packed with all of the newest features you’d expect to power an elite home theater, including compatibility for 8K video, surround sound formats like Dolby Atmos, and Wi-Fi for watching the best streaming services.
The revelation follows the arrival of Denon’s new 8K AV receiver with Dolby Atmos, which is another extremely stunning product that we thought was the peak of elite home theater gear. But now that the Cinema 30 has come, we might need to reconsider.
How does the Marantz Cinema 30 compare to the Denon AVC-X6800H?
Marantz and Denon are both owned by the same company, Masimo (the firms joined in 2002 before being sold), but they have long histories before to that.
While their respective AV receiver lineups appear to be extremely similar at first glance, when compared side by side, there are some very subtle design differences. The most prominent is the famous Marantz porthole, which is enhanced by a fold-down panel that conceals a display and controls.
On the connection front, the Cinema 30 is just as good on paper as the AVC-X6800H, with 8K support for seven HDMI inputs, three HDMI outputs, and 11 channels of amplification, which Marantz claims can be expanded to 13.4 channels in pre-amp mode if an external amplifier is added. There are also HEOS, Spotify Connect, AirPlay 2, and Bluetooth built-in.
With 140 watts per channel, the Cinema 30 can handle all of the latest spatial audio codecs, such as Dolby Atmos, IMAX Enhanced, DTS:X Pro, and Auro 3D. It operates on a Sharc Dual DSP processor and has a 32-bit ESS Sabre DAC, so it can decode whatever you throw at it.
It’s too early to determine which of the brand’s 2024 flagship models has the upper hand, but in terms of features, they’re both fighting for the top spot. Denon presently tops our list of the finest AV receivers, but that may not last much longer.
The Marantz Cinema 30 is available for purchase now (January 30) at a premium price of $4,500 in the United States and ₹410969.13 in the UK.
