Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Denon 3805 or Onkyo 901 or Integra DTR 7.4

Yes John, in my previous reply I probably should have said 2805/985. The 985 is a model in Denon's "specialty audio" line which is sold at a different group of retailers at a slightly lower price. It's exactly identical to the 2805(but only available in silver). The best deal for shipment to Canada that I'm aware of is this , which should make an outstanding buy.

So far as the DAC discussion goes, this is something that was useful many years ago, but as Alan and others have pointed out, DACs are now a mature technology and should be of no concern to the consumer. Equipment makers have a choice of excellent DACs available at low cost(as little as $1 apiece in OEM quantities) from suppliers such as Analog Devices, Cirrus Logic, Texas Instruments(Burr-Brown), Wolfson and others. They pick what meets their specs at the best price they can negotiate and there's no audible difference, although slight measurable differences still exist. The 2805/985 in particular uses the very fine Analog Devices AD1835A codec(an acronym for COder/DECoder, combining both ADCs and DACs on one chip), which you can see described here on the data sheet.

JohnK, thanks for the post. I was not aware that the 985 and 2805 are basically the same. I have seen a few posts that said it but I was not positive. I'm lost as to why Denon does this. Sells the same unit under various model numbers.

So I guess now I need to look a little harder at the 985/2805 vs the 3805,

Does the 3805 or 2805 for that matter hold level settings for each input? For example if I set the sub to +2 on the DVD input and say -2 on the CD input does it store those settings or does one setting do all inputs like my current Onkyo?

Thanks again!

I found the answer to the question I posted above. Yes it does in case anybody cares.....and I went with the 3805. Picked it up about an hour ago. I'm keeping it for a few day's just to see what all the fuss is about with this thing. Who knows if I like it I may just pass along my Onkyo to the father-inlaw! :-)

.........and I almost forgot, thanks for all the feedback folks!

neverhappy-

alan is right concerning the onkyos pushing the M80's. the 80's are a 4ohm load, so the onkyos would have a little problem.. and my 701 gets pretty hot as it is.

and not that the integras are bad, but just a higher priced version..

hope you enjoy your denon, and good luck in building the rest of the system.

bigjohn

Well I got the 3805 hooked up. No other amps. All my other stuff is sitting on the side watching! :-) First thoughts on the 3805 are not to bad. The set-up menu was a little odd for me with all the surround A & B and then back stuff but I think I got worked out. One thing it does way better then my Onkyo is with 5 channel stereo.

One thing I do not like at all is what Alan was talking about. The auto set on the room EQ is to me a joke. You set it all up only to move 3 feet over and everything sounds out of whack....but....gotta go time to play some more.

All my Onkyo people HELP ME! The more I play with this thing the more I don't want to pass it over to my father-inlaw. What has me is this upconverting of Super Video to Component. Dam that works nice! Also the power! This thing has just a little more control over my 50's then the Onkyo. I have been sitting here all day with 2 Stratos amps sitting beside me and I have zero desire to hook them back up.

I'm using an Onk 797, but I'm gonna be no help at all. I've been coveting a 3805 since it came out. It's just not in the budget. Do you notice a difference in timbre (warmer, brighter, etc.) with the Denon as opposed to the Onkyo? I don't really subscribe to the idea that receivers sound different, but I have an open mind, and thought I would ask if you felt you noticed any difference.

The Denon has a setting for tone defeat. With that bypassed and there silly room EQ off they sound more or less the same. With tone on and everything at 0, the Denon is brighter. There is no doubt there but it's not a huge change but I hear it. The big change is when you get going on the volume, the Denon has far more control and composure.

This is a nice unit. It does almost everything well. I have been playing with it for about 7 hours now. Is it heads and tails above my 800?............no. It has more power and a few more bells and whistles but the Onkyo holds its own. Biggest compliment I pay the 3805 is exactly what I said above. I could run this all on it's own and be very happy. That includes music and movies. I could then dump a total of 5 other amps (And some of these are very highly regarded) and pay some bills and buy more speakers or something! :-)......what to do?, what to do?