I recently purchased a denon 5308ci that is supposed to have the $1000 dynamic volume, 3d pass-thru upgrade. My question is how can I tell if it really has this upgrade?

The 3D one is easy.
Based on the Denon customer help section, this is related to HDMI versions and a recent firmware update.
http://denon.custhelp.com/app/answers/de...3d-pass-through

Either using the HDMI feed through your receiver will allow for 3D content on your tv, or it won't. Test out a 3D content movie running HDMI through the receiver then into the tv. If 3D works, then it works.


As for the Audyseey dynamic volume, i'm not sure as much exactly what it does.
http://www.audyssey.com/technologies/dynamic-volume
There should be a setting to turn this on and off. Try both and see which you prefer.
Now if this is a volume control for sound that increases and decreases throughout a tv or movie signal, i would LOVE to use this on Spike TV channel where the SPL are constantly going up and down and then blast loud during commercials.
It is the only channel we receive that does this so flagrantly that one needs some type of control on the damn thing.

Pretty well every manufacturer incorporates some form of the "dynamic volume" feature your Denon should have which is designed for the purpose of evening out the low and high frequencies when listening at moderate to low volume levels. When on, while listening at low levels in particular, it will be slightly louder. Once you boost the volume level up, it will have no affect whatsoever. If it was an update, it should show up in the menu somewhere and you should be able to turn it on and off.

If you can't find it, then I would suggest go in to the Denon website under the "support" area and see what the latest firmware update is and see if your AVR shows that it contains that your unit has the most recent update.

I find if you keep the dynamic volume on medium it works really well for being able to keep a low volume. Especially for T.V. it doesn't help with the Adds due to they control the channels volume levels. But it does help me not crank the volume to hear the show I'm watching.