For several years now, Marantz believed that receivers have to be huge in order to be good. The new Marantz NR1607 seems to not be part of this solution.
Key Points
The new Marantz NR1607 comes in a compact box and offers an impressive amount of features.
This means, that this new receiver comes with Dolby Atmos, 4K compatibility and DTS:X.
Unfortunately, this receiver is not able to offer multiroom music. We must say that the performance is really good, and it offers a decent sound.
Marantz NR1607 is without a doubt a home theater machine. The company also added a large number of connection options and enough power for a small size system.
The new Marantz NR1607 is dedicated to people who want to keep their home theater systems discrete.
The Marantz NR1607 offers elegant design and an excellent feature set in a compact enclosure. It’s one of the smallest receivers that offers decoding for DTS:X and Dolby Atmos. |
But, one of its biggest downsides is that it is more expensive compared with other competitors on the market, for example Yamaha RX-V681.
This receiver is available at the price of 699 dollars. Let’s talk about the design a little bit. As we know, the company released its first slimline receiver back in 2009.
The NR1501 model was the first receiver that had a slimline design, and then it was followed by the NR1601. Between these two models not much has changed. We must say that the NR1601 is still considered to be an elegantly compact unit.
Marantz NR1607 comes with the same front as the one find on the NR1506 model. This means that it has a plastic fascia with the now-distinctive raised shoulders.
The LED display situated in the middle is really large and it now uses a “porthole” design. After using a black-and-white user interface for years, we must say that this model comes with a full-color menu.
This move brings the company in line with other competitors and it is also easier to use than before. As for the remote control, we must add that it has the same friendly design customers have seen in previous years. The new model’s remote comes with large buttons and is simple to operate.
Let’s move to the features. Customers who are looking for DTS:X and Dolby Atmos stuffed insides a compact unit, should know that they are in the right place.
This new receiver decodes both “object-based” surround formats in a 5.1.2 configuration.
Another great thing to know is that this new model also features eight 4K-compliant HDMI ports (HDCP2.2/HDMi2.0a). One of these ports is also placed on the front.
Another great thing about this 699 dollars receiver is that it also comes with wireless connectivity, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
Moreover, it has compatibility with Spotify Connect, Pandora, AirPlay and Internet radio. Unfortunately, it also has some lacks. For example, this receiver doesn’t come with Chromecast-built-in or the multiroom music features that are found at competitors.
In the end, we must add that customers are able to download the company’s 2016 AVR app and use it to stream high-res music to the device from a phone or networked device.
