Denon’s AVR-S960H is 8K-Ready to Future-proof Your Home Theatre

Denon’s new AVR-S960H is the company’s first 8K-ready AV receiver in the S-Series line-up, allowing 4K home theatre system owners to enjoy upgraded audio while future-proofing the investment for when 8K becomes mainstream.

“On the heels of the X-Series launch earlier this month, we’re excited to offer another AV receiver that gives users the ability to dramatically upgrade their movie and gaming nights at a price we think is really going to excite people,” says Jake Mendel, Product Marketing Manager for Denon AVR & Hi-Fi components. “The AVR-S960H checks all the boxes to easily build a really excellent 4K home theatre and gaming experience while also arming your system for 8K when you’re ready. While theatres remained closed and family time is more important than ever, now is the time to build the home theatre and gaming system of your dreams.” 

A dedicated “8K” HDMI input enables 8K/60Hz and 4K/120Hz video pass-through while new HDR format support includes HDR10+ and Dynamic HDR. A new HDMI feature called Quick Media Switching (QMS) allows a source to instantly switch the resolution or frame rate to eliminate screen blackout. The latest S-Series models still support HDR10, HLG (Hybrid Log Gamma) and Dolby Vision, as well as 4:4:4 Pure Color subsampling and BT.2020 pass-through. 

Dolby Atmos, Dolby Atmos Height Virtualization Technology, DTS:X, and DTS Virtual:X support lets you add speakers to the system over time. With seven channels of amplification and low impedance driver capability (90W per channel at 8 ohms, 20Hz-20Khz, THD: 0.08%, with 2 channels driven), all speakers can boast balanced, quality sound, says Denon.

There are new features that gamers, and others, will appreciate, including razor sharp motion clarity with 4K/120Hz pass-through and Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to reduce frame tearing and improve overall precision; Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Quick Frame Transport (QFT) to reduce lag and improve stats; and the ability to upscale existing HD and 4K content to 8K.

The new Denon AVR-S960H continues to support eARC (enhanced Audio Return Channel), which delivers uncompressed and object-based audio from the TV to the receiver via a single HDMI cable. TVs play video directly from TV apps at best available picture quality, either 4K or 8K, while the receiver identifies the best available surround format for decoding. 

With eARC and the latest HDMI connectivity up to 8K Ultra HD, the new receiver pairs with the latest 8K TVs, streaming devices, gaming consoles, and other source players without hassle. 

Denon’s Setup Assistant guides you through the set-up process and uses premium room calibration technology from Audyssey to automatically takes precise measurements and optimize the receiver’s performance. The Audyssey MultEQ Editor app is available for purchase for those who want more customization options. 

With HEOS built-in, the AVR-S960H can stream music wirelessly across compatible HEOS components from a variety of free and premium streaming services, including Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music HD, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, SiriusXM, TIDAL, and more. Also enjoy favorite music in any room of the home wirelessly. Play the same song in every room or select a different song for each connected room via a variety of streaming sources. Add Denon Home speakers to more rooms and control it all with the HEOS app. Apart from HEOS, Apple AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth are also supported. Apple Music streaming is supported through AirPlay 2. 

The latest receiver works with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, Josh.ai, and Apple Siri for voice control. Listeners can use Amazon Alexa for a variety of commands, including switching inputs for different media players, while the Google Assistant and Apple’s Siri can be used to adjust volume, skip to the next track, and more. Josh.ai offers custom integrators greater control over voice integration into a variety of existing smart home platforms.

The AVR-S960H is Roon Tested certified so users can get more out of their music libraries through the advanced Roon music interface on their PCs and smart devices. Denon Roon Tested AVRs can be found and setup easily by Roon via AirPlay 2 or hardwired into a Roon Core device. Each receiver features a front-panel USB port that offers convenient audio playback of MP3 and high-resolution audio formats (WAV, FLAC, ALAC and DSD 2.8/5.6 MHz files). 

The AVR-S960H now supports Dual Audyssey Preset function which allows users to store and instantly switch between two Audyssey configurations. For example, users can store both the Audyssey calibration result straight from the receiver and a customized MultEQ curve or frequency range made through the Audyssey MultEQ editor app on the receiver simultaneously, allowing users to easily compare differences and select their preference. Listeners can also perform Audyssey measurements for two different speaker settings, including 2.0 for music listening and 5.1.4 for movie surround. 

The Denon AVR-S960H will be available in July for US$649 at authorized Denon retailers.