Marantz’s latest A/V receiver slims down in size, but doesn’t skimp on features

By Kris Wouk Published April 21, 2016

Generally when you’re looking at an A/V receiver, you can opt for a slim, sleek model that offers only the essentials, or a hulking, feature-packed model that dominates your living room. Marantz’s Slim Design Receivers have aimed to combine the best of both worlds and have done a great job so far — and the latest member of the family looks like it could be the best yet.

On Wednesday, the company announced the first model of its 2016 home theater line-up with the NR1607, a follow-up to last year’s NR1606. This 7.2-channel network A/V receiver claims 50 watts of power per channel, packed into a chassis that is just a little over four inches tall.

Recommended Videos

The NR1607 features a total of 8 HDMI inputs including one on the front, all of which support HDMI 2.0a and HDCP 2.2 and offer BT.2020 pass-through. Each input also support 4K/60Hz video with 4:4:4 color as well as HDR, Wide Color Gamut compatibility, and the 21:9 aspect ratio. On the off chance your 4K TV doesn’t feature upscaling, the NR1607 even offers a built-in scaler.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

In addition to standard 7.1 or 5.1 setups, the NR1607 also supports 3D surround sound via Dolby Atmos, and a firmware update planned for September will bring support for DTS:X as well. Dolby TrueHD lossless decoding is supported, as are high-resolution audio files in FLAC, AIFF, WAV and DSD (2.8/5.6MHz) formats.

Connectivity comes in the form of 2.4GHz/5GHz dual band Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth. Local music can be streamed from NAS devices or by using AirPlay, while Spotify Connect and Pandora streaming and both Internet radio and SiriusXM radio are supported as well.

All the features in the world don’t count for much if you can’t get the receiver set up in the first place, and Marantz has gone a long way toward making that process easy for users with a graphical user interface, setup assistant, and Audyssey MultEQ room calibration. The company is also offering a remote app for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire devices, so there’s no need to sweat if you’ve temporarily lost the remote in the couch.

The Marantz NR1607 will retail for $700, and the company expects it to be available starting next month. For more information, see the product page on the company’s website.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Audio / Video

This 85-inch Samsung QLED is normally $4,000 — today it’s $2,150

The Samsung 55-inch QNX1D Neo QLED on a white background.

Samsung is one of the most popular TV brands on the market, and we here at Digital Trends have given glowing reviews to numerous Samsung sets over the years. If you’ve been shopping around for a great deal on a massive TV, we’d like to bring your attention to this phenomenal Samsung promo:

Right now, when you order the Samsung 85-inch QNX1D 4K QLED TV through the manufacturer, you’ll only end up paying $2,150. The full MSRP on this model is $4,000.

Audio / Video

A smarter Alexa? Sign me up

Amazon Echo Show 8 on tabletop from Best Buy for Prime Big Deal Days

To say that folks have misgivings about AI is probably an understatement. From long-term fears over what the technology might do as it acquires more power and more capability, to the immediate concerns of those in creative roles who see themselves as unpaid trainers of AI models (and their first professional victims), there is no shortage of legitimate criticisms. And as someone who writes words for a living, I’m painfully and frighteningly aware that AI represents a clear and present danger to my income.

But if my smart speakers can finally turn into something more useful than a voice-activated egg timer -- as Amazon has promised with its new AI-driven Alexa+ -- I consider that a silver lining to the oncoming AI apocalypse, not something to be avoided.
From gimmick to magic
Like a lot of you, I was less than blown away by Siri when Apple debuted its voice assistant on the iPhone 4S. There was a novelty to it, for sure, and I know some folks who, to this day get genuine utility from being able to create reminders, respond to text messages, and place calls with their voice. But as someone who seldom drives (and who would rather die than be overheard barking commands into their phone in public), Siri felt like a gimmick.

Audio / Video

I’m kicking Alexa out of my home and maybe you should, too

An Apple HomePod and an Amazon Alexa Echo on a wooden bookshelf next to a small fountain.

We've been an Amazon Alexa family since the company started releasing products, but Amazon's announcement of a new and improved Alexa -- named Alexa+ -- has us questioning how much longer we want to be surrounded by our various Alexa devices. We're already Amazon Prime subscribers, so it's not like it will cost us anything more, but I also don't like being forced to upgrade to a product I don't think is an actual upgrade. (The new Alexa will cost $20 per month for non-Prime subscribers and be free for those with Prime. The fact that Prime is only $15 per month shows that Alexa+ is mainly a way to drive Prime subscriptions.)

For a brief rundown, the new Alexa+ should be easier and faster to interact with, it will integrate with "tens of thousands of services and devices you use in your daily life," Alexa Routines can be created by voice instead of only in the app, and will continue to control devices as it has for years. Alexa+ will also be able to use AI to create songs in the moment with Suno -- killing the souls of musicians everywhere, mine included, little by little.