Receiver DRA-900H - 2-Channel Stereo Receivers for Home - 100W/Ch. Hi-Fi Amplification, Built-in HEOS, HDCP 2.3 Processing with ARC/eARC Support, Dolby Vision, HLG, Dynamic HDR

I should not have been surprised at the high quality of this product. In 1999 I purchased a Denon AV Surround Receiver (AVR-2800) based on my satisfaction with the Denon Fully Automatic Direct Drive Turntable (DP - 47F) I owned. I was excited about having theatre like surround sound in my home and also bought a Klipsch surround sound speaker system. My enjoyment of movies surpassed that of music. Many years have passed since then and my love of music has returned. I begin listening to more music on CD and FM radio and from my vinyl album record collection. The sound was not as good as it once was, so I downsized to a pair of Klipsch Reference Premiere speakers. The sound reproduction from my CD's and FM radio improved, but the playback from my vinyl album record collection was poor. Upgrading to a better phono cartridge did not help much. Overtime there was also a noticeable deterioration in the sound of my CD's and FM radio. At that time, I realized that my Denon AVR-2800 had reached its endpoint of bringing me hours of listening pleasure and needed to be replaced. Searching brought my attention to the Denon DRA-900H Network Stereo Receiver and another brand name network stereo receiver. I chose the Denon DRA-900H although I was concerned about a 100w per channel stereo receiver being able to power my pair of 125w Klipsch speakers. Once all the connections and setup were completed my concerns were alleviated. The DRA-900H is able to effortlessly power my speakers with room to spare. I hear instruments and background vocals flowing from my speakers when I playback CD's that I had not heard before. New life has been given to my vinyl album record collection. The DRA-900H brings out the best sound from them without having to be pushed to distortion limits. Rather than use the included AM/FM antenna included I connected an external antenna to pull in more stations. The full dynamic sound when watching movies on Blu-ray discs is equal to if not better than the sound reproduced from my retired Denon AVR receiver. The HEOS app and the Denon AVR Remote app gives me easy access and control from my smart phone, where I can connect to my smart tv, wireless headphones and Spotify. HEOS/Internet Radio is another feature I enjoy because it is another way I can explore multiple genres of streaming music. In order to utilize the apps on your smart phone you may have to disconnect from VPN, like I do. One final comment I would like to make is about the setup. It is slightly complicated and will take some time to complete. Patience and tenacity will result in many hours of listening enjoyment for years to come. Oh, by the way my Denon DP - 47F turntable still performs just like brand new.

This is my third Denon receiver starting with the AVR2805 back in 2005 (with AL32) and AVR-S900W more recently. Last week I received the DRA-800H Hi-Fi Network receiver from Amazon since this is exactly what I was looking for. A powerful 2-channel receiver amp that can play Pandora and YouTube music videos with 100W + 100W 8 Ohms discrete, high resolution sound. After hookup and listening to various sources I realized that this new receiver has the same powerful sound that Denon is famous for and the sound that I love so dearly. I hooked it up to my 4K AppleTV with HDMI and to TV HDMI (arc). Setup was a breeze and highly intuitive using the Setup Assistant. Used latest 4K HDR HDMI cables 4.4.4, Cat-8 Ethernet from router, as well as bi-amped (A+B) using 12 AWG Silverback speaker cables to my Monitor Audio Silver 6's toed in and with component isolation using Vibrapods. Still the average man's audiophile setup, but probably sounds just as good as a 100K setup. Make sure your TV has HDMI (arc). Can also hookup a pre-amp such as Shiit Magni3 and use this as an amplifier. A really nice feature is the HEOS button on the remote that gives me access to all my online music sources & tuner channels using one button operation. Same for the Quick Select buttons 1-4. Sound quality of Denon DRA-800H is powerful, detailed and sharp with just the right amount of base. I have heard this sound quality in all my Denon receivers and appears to be in their DNA. After all, it’s all about the sound. Watched Carlos Santana live Europa, Diana Krall, Latin / Cuban music, BB King the Thrill has Gone concert, etc. Denon you just made my life very happy! This is EXACTLY what I wanted. A powerful 2.1 channel receiver, albeit very high quality sound with 100 W/channel and be able to hook up to latest music videos using HDMI / AppleTV / YouTube / AirPlay. A clean setup with top notch sound for music listening. I packed my 7.2 Denon Receiver for future use. One minor downside is that the front USB is not compatible with my iPhone direct input. Surprising change, but can be overcome with AirPlay, BT, HEOS, RCA, etc. The Smart Remote function is a bit confusing for my TV (resolved now). Minor issues nevertheless. My next dream Denon receiver would be this unit with AL32 processing or the PMA-1600NE with the features & inputs from this DRA-800H 2-channel. Thank you Denon. This is posted on Denon website as well as Amazon. My photo needs updating. Updated 08-15-2019: After listening to this for another one week, I realize that the sound is getting even better and everything seems to be falling in sync. Smart Remote function works perfectly with my Panasonic TV remote. HEOS button - I use this every day. One push of the HEOS button or the Quick Select remote button takes me directly to my favorite Pandora station and starts playing. Sound quality is excellent as I have mentioned even through the headphone jack when I use my Beyerdynamic DT770 studio headphones. Highly addictive Network Receiver. I will upgrade my setup with Polk Signature S60's in October and replace the old Monitor Audio's as shown in photo. Will update this at that point. Also now using my EarSound ES100 pre-amp via RCA with excellent results. The matching of Denon DRA-800H with Polk Signature S60’s is perfect as recommended by Sound United. Photos attached. Update 06-06-2020. This receiver is now listed as top pick finalist in March 2020 edition of Sound & Vision magazine Top Picks section. Rightly so.

I want to give this receiver 5 stars for sound quality and features, but a few things hold it back. In general, I'm happy that this receiver is 2.1 optimized as I have no need or want for more speakers, but the reality these days is that you need HDMI switching, so this receiver fills a real need. Sound quality: I give it 5 stars for the price. It sounds excellent--excellent resolution, clarity, and flat non-colored response. It punches well above its price point. Plus the amps are large enough to give it authority for playing loud. I appreciate the sound mode options (which can be changed with a button push on the remote). I originally bought this thinking about the 'good old days' when you had tone controls on the receiver. However, I end up playing this in Pure Direct mode which bypasses the tone circuits, balance, Restorer and even the unit's display. In fact it sounds so good that I replaced my 35-yr old 3-way speakers and subwoofer with a pair of Tekton Pendragons, and I'm truly happy with the fantastic sound quality with this pairing. Features: again 5 stars. Lots of inputs and outputs including the ability to use the receiver as a preamp only so you can put in the amp of your choice if you want. I have a firestick, blueray, and rasperry pi connected to the HDMIs. There is both optical and coax spdif inputs as well as the ability to play your music directly from a usb stick (more on that later). All of the input selections available on the display can be renamed so you know exactly what input you have selected. HEOS: I'll give it 3 stars for my purposes. I don't have a need to use the features to direct sound to another room nor do I want to get my smartphone involved in HEOS operation. I do not stream. Playing music from a USB stick or from a computer on the network is fantastic (both HEOS operations), however, the play buffer is limited to 300 songs. This is a real shortcoming. I had hoped to simply load my music on a USB stick, hit shuffle, and then be done with it. But the music is sorted alphabetically and the first 300 songs are put in the play buffer and you can only shuffle these songs. Bluetooth: 2 stars. It only supports SBC which sounds awful. My sony DAP supports bluetooth with LDAC, but it will only connect to this unit with SBC. Also this receiver does not support aptX or aptX-HD which is a true shortoming. ECO mode is interesting. It appears to use lower power for volumes below 50. Above that, you can hear a click as the receiver turns something on for more power. It keeps the unit cool for low volume listening. I got around the HEOS and bluetooth limitations by purchasing an Xduoo 10T-ii digital transport player which I dedicate to the DRA800h. I connect directly to the DRA's coax spdif and use the DRA's internal DAC for music, and it sounds awesome with flat detailed response, high clarity and resolution. I would have used an AES digital connection, but the DRA800H does not have one. A BNC connection would have been nice rather than RCA spdif but that probably doesn't matter much in a practical sense. Be warned that you have to configure the inputs. I could not get get the unit to play the analog out of my sony DAP and thought the unit was defective, but I had to configure the input for analog, and then all was fine. I also had to configure the digital input to be coax rather than optical. Another 'con' (LOL) is that I had to dump all my mp3s in favor of flac as the difference is immediately obvious due to the high sound quality of the DRA and the Pendragon speakers. Bob Dylan now sounds like he is in the room! In short, I think the DRA800H is a fantastic buy at it's price point and is loaded with lots of options and features. HEOS (300 song playlist) and bluetooth support for modern codecs need improvement, but are easily worked around with a digital transport using the DRA's spdif inputs and its internal DAC. The sound quality punches well above its price point and the Pure Direct sound mode is awesome. The DRA's dedication to 2 speakers (plus a subwoofer) is excellent. I can concentrate on putting my money into the highest quality speaker pair.

Can't say enough about this unit. I wanted a two-channel setup for our small family room. Every AV Integrated receiver has way too many features for me (i.e. Multiroom, 5.1, 7.2, 9.2, Roon ready, etc.) overkill in my opinion. I just wanted something I could get better sound for movies, sports, and stereo listening. I have the Denon PMA-1600 hooked up to a pair of KEF R-3s in our living room. This amp is in a smaller room connected to some Totem Acoustic Signature 1 speakers and sounds just as good. for TV listening Dialog is clear, music is full-spectrum. There's plenty of bass friends who ask where is the sub-woofer? I tell them I don't use one. The amp has all the features you need, an easy-to-use remote, and even tone controls! I watched "Dune" incredible sound, watched "Peaky Blinders" incredible sound, played my records, CDs, steamed music everything sounds fantastic. Wow! One thing that should be noted on some TVs, ours is a Sony, you have to switch the sound output for the amp to work. I almost sent it back because I could get no sound out of it. Read the manual made the adjustment and now everything works fine. The Manual is online. A cool feature is you can set the volume and when you tune the amp on it automatically starts on that set volume. I have mine set to around 45. So when I turn it on I can hear it. If there's a football game on I can turn it up or down. Also, the amp comes on and responds to my cable remote (Xfinity in my case). Didn't have to do anything it just works. Get yourself a good set of speakers and you are done.

Absolutely wonderful sounding amplifier playing flac files via wifi. Would never buy agai though because the heos ap os so poorly designed. Frequently crashes, app must be open on device to control volume, and Amazon and Tidal are limited in functions, ie play similar tracks.

I was looking specifically for a DENON 2 channel receiver with A+B speaker support, and this unit fit the bill perfectly. It seems like stereo receivers have come a long way since I last purchased one. I wasn't expecting wired/wireless Internet and Bluetooth connectivity, so those options were a pleasant surprise. I can play Pandora, Amazon Prime Music and SiriusXM directly from my phone, or have access to those same apps through the HEOS feature. It did take me a few days to figure out all the features, but if you've set up a more complicated surround sound system with an AVR receiver, TV screen and 5 or 7 speakers, then you've seen a lot of these options before. I use this stereo in my office, so I didn't really need a subwoofer, but since this unit supports one, I added it anyway! The sound is rich and soft (i.e., not too bright), especially when playing from a good digital source like a CD player. I still don't understand (or need) all the options that come with HEOS, but it's a fun option that's there if I ever want to research it in more depth. It's also something that a buyer can ignore completely if they're looking for a simple setup. I'm happy with this purchase.

I Absolutely love this receiver-setup was easy and the unit easily communicates with my smart TV. (Samsung Q6FN) The sound is warm, rich, and detailed. I definitely noticed a sound improvement from my old receiver. The HDMI functionality is the icing on the cake!!!! My ONE and ONLY complaint is that it WILL NOT pass 1440P/120Hz through via HDMI. I connected my Xfinity cable box and my gaming PC to corresponding HDMI inputs and ran one HDMI out to my TV. (All HIGH bandwidth HDMIs-22 Gbps) GPU is 1080Ti, anyway long story short I could never select 1440P/120Hz as a resolution despite restarting, updating, deleting devices in Windows and restarting etc etc. I could select 1080P/120Hz, 4k60/4k30/1440P60 and various other resolutions, but NOT 2560 x1440 120Hz which the Q6FN does. (soon as I connected directly to TV BAIM! there it was) Again, this is my only complaint and might be fixed down the road with an update. I just ran the 1080Ti's HDMI to the Samsung directly, and in a way this is better because I can have separate TV calibration settings for my PC input and Xfinity input. The ARC functionality works great and allowed for the whole system to work with all HDMI and therefore less cable clutter. Overall, I'm quite pleased and HIGHLY recommend this.

Only just received this Denon DRA-800H Receiver yesterday , using primarily as a Stereo Music Receiver for my Basement Music Setup. The overall sound is terrific, great clarity playing Vinyl LPs , CDs, and even old Cassettes. But first observation : Man, its a bit complicated to setup - lots of functions and controls. I used to think as myself as pretty good with electronics and such, but at 68 years old, lately I've fallen off that wagon a little. For instance, I thought I could just plug in a Flashdrive which has recorded music , hit play and here we go ! Nope, you have to configure and make selections using the Remote control. I still can't get to play the Flashdrive..... Granted I have my Denon Receiver connected to cheap Boytone Multi- Player (includes Phono, CD, Cassette , USB [player and recorder], so the source player can be upgraded for sure (doing just that now). But I can plug the Flashdrive into the Boytone, select USB, and in few seconds after reading it, it plays..... EASY .... The Denon is far too complicated so far. The same for just accessing the FM radio.......whew !!! It should be a simple matter to attach the a tenna (I did), select FM and sele t a station and play it......no not that easy. Maybe after I go through the Manual (which is on line only - another PIA in today's world of "paperlessness" - the Car Makers do it too), I may grow to understand the many features and also use them. Unfortuantel;y, I am a Manual Reader - I like doing that and understanding my product fully. I'll try to update my review after a few weeks of playing. By the way, I have the Deomn connected to two sets of Bookshelf Speakers and a Sub Woofer : a Pair of Fluance Signature Series speakers , a air of Elac Debut 6.2 speakers and a Momoprice 60 Watt SW. Although the speakers have different "sounds" , they seem to balance very nicely delivering great sound , and the SW is perfect for the space too. I play MY Music to accompany my "retirement Hobby - Playing Drums . Returned to that after 50 year layoff.... Really enjoying that - and I will more after the retirement is Officially completed in the upcoming months...:):) Update to original review in 8/2020. After using the Receiver for some months now, I still keep the rating at 4 Stars. Performance is 5 stars, delivering a clear , precise and powerful sound from my Elac Speakers, but particularly since I have not connected to a TV, the setup and features are still confusing to me, it takes lots of patience to get through it. It took several calls to a Denon rep to go through some of the features to be setup. Maybe it's me, but I am unable to simply plug in a flashdrive into the USB front port, and have it plug and play. It should be noted that I am using this Receiver solely as a 2.1 stereo unit , and hope to expand its use in the futre to connect to TV, etc. But note ,it is not a full Surround Sound Receiver. Update of Review 8/2022. 2 years of ownership. The Denon plays very well. I learned from AV Forums that I was "overloading" it by connecting 2 pairs (channel A &B) of Elac Bookshelf speakers that are rated 4-8 Ohms, BUT are nominal at 6 Ohms. The 2 , 6 Ohm speakers create a 3 Ohm impedance on the Receiver. At 60 Volume levels (max is 95), the Denon runs pretty Hot. If i connect 8 Ohm nominal speakers, resulting in a 4 Ohm total impedance draw, it runs cooler. However, the 2 pairs of Elacs sound fantastic played simultaneously!! I just learned of a "trick" on the AV Forum of how to change (manipulate) the selection of the Ohms settings. That seems to help a little by selecting a 6 Ohms settings in the software. To date, I still have NOT used all the features of this well behaved and great sounding Receiever. The availablility of Zone 2 (adding another Amp) is great feature. I have the Zone 2 connected to a IOTA SA3 /PA3 stack that are connected to 2 other differnet pairs of bookshelf speakers, playing in the same room. When both systems are playing together - WOW - sounds like a concert hall.