If you want a great value 7.2 channel avr that is easy to setup and supports the latest surround sound formats then the denon 1155w is definitely a good choice. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of it’s larger sibling in the AVR-X range but it does cover all of the basics nicely and with very little compromise.
It also has the ability to play back high resolution lossless and MP3 music files as well as Dolby Digital, Dolby Surround and DTS Neural:X upconversion for stereo content. I did find that the lossy MP3s sounded a bit brittle but there is an adjustable "Restorer" mode to help alleviate this problem which is located deep in the audio settings menus. It would be nice to have a button for this mode on the remote though.
For movie watching I was impressed by the avr’s performance with Dolby Atmos content. The rear speakers were active with all of the action happening around us while the front speakers kept dialogue clear and well defined. The bass was powerful and added to the overall sonic experience while being tightly controlled and not overpowering or over-extending.
I also enjoyed listening to Tidal and Apple Music with the avr. Both services support Dolby Atmos and the avr handled these sources with ease. The avr even supported Dolby Vision and HDR10+ video playback as well as variable refresh rate and auto low latency mode.
