Sound United, the parent company of Denon and Marantz, has announced factory upgrades for the Denon AVR-X8500H and Marantz AV8805 preamplifier/processor.
The newly upgraded products will receive “A” designations to symbolize their status as HDMI 2.1-equipped solutions.
Sound United points out the updates that will be available through authorized Denon and Marantz dealers beginning on June 15 for a fee of $599. The company also points out that eventually the new versions of the the Denon AVR-X8500HA and Marantz AV8805A will replace the existing models, and the products will retail for $4,299, and $4,799 each respectively.
According to Sound United, once the Denon AVR-8500H and Marantz AV8805 are upgraded to “A” status the products will provide 8K upscaling at 60Hz, along with 4K at 120Hz pass-through; HDR10+, dynamic HDR capabilities, and HDCP 2.3 copyright protection.
Elaborating on some of the other benefits of offering the HDMI 2.1 upgrade for its flagship products, the brands state the AVR-X8500HA and AV8805A will provide quick media switching (QMS) to instantly switch frame rates to eliminate screen blackout.
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Other technologies and formats the AV components will support include Hybrid Log Gamma (HLG) HDR, Dolby Vision HDR, 4:4:4 Pure Color subsampling and BT.2020 color gamut pass-through. To support gamers, the HDMI 2.1 format upgrade will provide Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) to reduce frame tearing, as well as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM) and Quick Frame Transport (QFT), which are technologies designed to reduce image lag.
In addition, Sound United notes the new upgraded versions of the AVR-X8500H and AV8805 will support Enhanced Audio Return Channel (eARC) to enable lossless and object-based audio audio formats such as DTS:X and Dolby Atmos to be transmitted via a single HDMI cable.
Sound United recommends to follow these steps to participate in the upgrade program:
- Go to the Denon or Marantz websites. Follows instructions, and check out
- United Radio, official repair partner of Denon and Marantz, will ship a box to the customer or dealer
- A confirmation will be sent to the customer or dealer via email with instructions on what to do with the shipping carton. This will include details on how to affix an upgrade kit label to the box, and a prepaid shipping label
- Customer ships carton to United Radio
- United Radio receives product and performs upgrade within 48 hours
- Return shipment sent out, customer or dealer receives shipping notification from United Radio with tracking
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