I think its better for someone to answer in this forum, who had a demo of same audio/video played in both THX and Non THX receiver. I would belive in the person who would listen to both and come out with an answer for the above question.
I am confused and I need to buy either 608 or 1910 and I am not able to come to a conclusion. I need your help guys.
I can't answer your first question on THX vs non THX experience. However, as it has been written in this thread and if you go through the link provided by ajinkya, it is clear that a product that is THX certified has to meet certain minimum standards, and so it is an assurance to customers that the product will perform reasonably well. Keep in mind, THX does not certify a product for its expected longevity or reliability but only for its actual performance.
Having said that, in my hunt for a good HT plus music setup, I auditioned both the Denon 1910 and Onkyo 608. The setup for my audition was as follows:
Denon
AVR - AVR-1910
Front Speakers - Wharfedale Diamond 10.1
Surround / Center / Sub -none (stereo audition only)
Source - Denon Blu Ray DVD Player (did not note the model number)
Onkyo
AVR - TX-SR608
Front Speakers - Wharfedale Diamond 10.7
Surround - Wharfedale Diamond 10.1
Centre - Wharfedale Diamond 10.CS
Sub - Wharfedale Diamond 10.GX
Source - Pioneer Blu Ray DVD Player (again unfortunately did not note the model number)
The setup was different because I auditioned Denon & Onkyo in two different showrooms. Without going into too much details, the denon sounded better for music and the Onkyo sounded better for movies. Onkyo did not do well in music and it sounded treble heavy, but that could be because of the source. However, I have gone ahead and purchased the Onkyo 608 AVR and the speaker set as listed above under
Onkyo. Why did I purchase the Onkyo package? Because it was an unbeatable deal, and the Onkyo really did well for movies (you could feel the 747 flying overhead in the hijacking scene of Air Force One) and the Wharfedale speaker combination that's in the package gives me the flexiblity to expand to a dedicated stereo system in the future if I choose to. For now, I am going to make do with the 608 for movies and music. As you can see, I have taken this decision based on a lot of factors and after all it is my decision that I am quite happy to live with.
You have mentioned only these two models, but you have not mentioned what your usage is going to be like. Are you going to use this only for movies? Do you expect to use it for music? Depending on your usage, please select a set of Blu Ray or DVD titles and audio CDs that you regularly listen to and audition both these AVRs. And select the one that you like. As the folks here rightly say, regardless of what anyone might think as a good AVR or speaker (including the most discerning audio or videophile), only your ears & eyes can determine what is "perfect" for you. Once you start auditioning, if you have further questions, there are a lot of members in this forum who would be happy to help
I also would like to respond to S.P.Krishna's response in another thread that you had created about Denon 1910 vs. Onkyo 608 (since you have already started discussing the same here in this thread), where he had mentioned that the Denon 1910 is
superior to Onkyo 608.
These are some of the major differences between Denon 1910 & Onkyo 608
Onkyo TX-SR608
Year 2010 model
100 Watts per channel @ 8 ohms
140 Watts per channel @ 6 ohms
THX Select2 Plus Certified
Supports HDMI 1.4a (technically 3D ready)
Burr Brown DACs for all channels
Supports only Audyssey 2EQ
Faroudja DCDi for 1080 upconversion (not better compared to Denon 1910)
Includes a built in cooling fan (at least in middle east / europe models) - this is important since AVRs especially Onkyos can get hot
Total power consumption 620 Watts
Denon AVR-1910
Year 2009 model
90 Watts per channel @ 8 ohms
125 Watts per channel @ 6 ohms
No THX certification
Supports HDMI 1.3a. Does not support HDMI 1.4a and hence does not support 3D
Unknown DACs (i.e., it is surely not Burr Brown but I do not know what other DAC Denon uses in this model)
Supports Audyssey MultiEQ (technically better than 2EQ)
Anchor Bay Technology 1030 chip used for 1080p upconversion (supposedly better compared to Onkyo 608)
Does not have a cooling fan - but Denons generally do not run hot like Onkyo
Total power consumption 430 Watts
Pay attention to each point, especially the last one. Putting aside the efficiency of the receiver for the moment, you can see the Onkyo 608 is the more powerful receiver of the two and the 608 supports HDMI 1.4. And then the Burr Brown DAC which is supposed to do a good job of converting digital audio signal to analog signals.
However, Onkyo uses a very old chipset for converting normal SD video to HD and does not support Audyssey MutliEQ room correction. For me these were not major deal breakers and hence I decided to go with 608. Plus it has more power in the amplifier block compared to Denon 1910 which will be useful when the receiver is pushed to render short bursts of high power demanded by movies & music.
I am not saying that the Onkyo 608 is superior to Denon 1910, but it is just a more powerful receiver than the 1910. And given my requirements and budgets, Onkyo 608 fit the bill.
Hope this helps.
