Denon AVR-2112CI

I can not sing the praises of this receiver high enough. I spent an awful lot of time researching what Airplay capable receiver to buy and settled on two, this and the Pioneer 1121K. I had originally considered getting the Denon 1912 but Batpig's thread on avsforum.com convinced me to upgrade to the 2112 for the better calibration system. Having a hell of a time trying to decide between this and the Pioneer, I ordered both and decided to try them in my home hooked up to a set of fantastic Energy Take Classic speakers. The result: the Denon blew the Pioneer away.

Now maybe Pioneer's MCACC calibration system just can't compare to Denon's incredible Audessy MQ and perhaps with some tweaking it would have approached the Denon in sound quality but I figured if Pioneer couldn't get that right, what else didn't they get right. Whereas the Denon is crystal clear with every note distinct and crisp, the Pioneer had a muddled, muted sound to it. Both I and my spouse could not believe the difference. I honestly don't think I would have kept the speakers had I gotten the Pioneer first, blaming the speakers rather than the receiver for the mediocre sound.

When I Airplay through this receiver, it's like I have never heard this music before. It sounds so good and immediate! Far better than when I Airplay the same music through my Apple TV. I can only assume that Airplaying directly through the receiver takes full advantage of its amplifying and sound processing powers. The fact that I can also Airplay my music to Zone 2 which runs my outdoor speakers is a very nice plus given the great sound.

I've had no network issues whatsoever with this unit unlike others but I do have the receiver hooked up to an Apple Airport Express that is in turn wirelessly communicating with an Apple Extreme Base Station so that may be the reason it works so well for me. I thought setup was far easier than with the Pioneer which I found unnecessarily complicated and convoluted. The onscreen volume indicator is also a nice touch missing from the Pioneer.

No, it doesn't have as many inputs as the Pioneer but since everything I own has an HDMI output this wasn't an issue for me. If there is a weak point about buying this Denon it's with the ridiculous decision to put the owner's manual on a CD rather than provide you with a paper copy. Not only is this highly impractical unless you have a computer or laptop in the same room as the receiver, navigation through the manual, even after copying it to your hard drive, is slow. Out of utter frustration I decided to print out the 100 plus pages to have at the ready. I would have gladly paid a little extra not to have to do this.

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Hope this helps.

Buying a high end receiver means I should not have to pull the power plug to fix a problem. When using the network functions like Rhapsody, the HDMI connection goes down and you can't see the GUI. Switch to Tuner and the GUI returns. Switching the unit off and on doesn't fix the problem, only unplugging the power source. I have fought with Denon's support people and they have no answers other than sending it out for repair somewhere by mail. Not impressed.

I had the Denon AVR-1708 prior to this and the most noticeable difference outside of the expanded ports/functionality it that the setup is much more intuitive. Now, you may have seen reviews in other places that make mention of having problem with streaming audio. In all honesty, this problem is largely due to user error or poor device transmission (if you have an outdated or cheap router you may experience problems, but you are likely already experiencing other network problems and may not even know it).

I highly recommend this receiver. Cheers!