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Lip sync delay setting is across the board, not per source. I am mildly disappointed in a couple of things. I am still using my 20-year-old JBL speakers, and when I plugged them in to the 354, I felt like I had come home. Harman Kardon was where I had begun, more than 20 years ago, and I knew it had sounded good.
My PC is completely fanless. My NAD did that too, so I'm used to it. I don't think anything could sound better than this. I am a fanatic about this. I use it for my outdoor speakers, and it's annoying that I have to put in analog connections just to use those. When I reported that, HK said, "We thought it was per source too," so it's probably a bug they will fix.But to me, it's all about the sound. Noisy fan.
HK is addressing them through firmware updates, and hopefully they will keep improving. I have no other word for it. I'm also very satisfied with the video. But it's not too bad, better than the NAD was.
Zone 2 has separate source and volume control, which is nice, but it works with analog input only, no digital. But why pay so much more. So I have room for HDMI from my media server, DVD player, and HD cable/satellite. If my unit has a fan, which I doubt, either it's never on or a stethescope couldn't hear it. What's not to like. I can listen to this for hours on end, and enjoy the bliss of warmth, clarity, and resonance. I know I would have liked the NAD. If you like to listen to music, especially classical music, which is what I listen to most, you won't be disappointed.
I think every product has them. I am a musician, and to me, it's all about the sound. I had to tweak the brightness on my TV up a hair, no big deal. The NAD did not upscale, by the way.Be ready for a few quirks. I was getting ready to pull the trigger on the NAD's successor, T-785, which would have run about $2,000, when I saw this on sale for $599 and read the specs. The PCM lock can be a little slow, so you can miss the beginning of a CD track occasionally, if it starts very quickly. I can bust at least one myth you may read about.
I hope HK will improve this one. I would encourage anyone to purchase this product. The upscaling works very well, ordinary DVDs look almost HD, and my ROKU Netflix player, which is putting out SD at best, looks better than DVD when upscaled through this. I have been researching and listening to receivers for more than three months, ever since a lightning strike wiped out my NAD T-762. I really wanted 4 HDMI inputs, and this has only 3, but I worked around that using component for a non-HD source - ROKU Netflix player - that happens to have an HDMI output, and that has worked out well. The sound is heavenly. I've been listening to Denon, Pioneer Elite, Yamaha high end products on high end speakers at Best Buy Magnolia, and couldn't quite go ahead.
This is a fine piece of gear.
Just a side note, one of my buddies was the one who brought this "weakness" to my attention because he said it didn't have enough high range. HK doesn't disappoint in my opinion with this receiver and it's too bad one customer, and the only review had a experience that is honestly out of this world. I told him well watch the whole movie and lets see how fatigued your ears feel. HK customer support is probably one of the best in the world, and are often recognized for that fact. Afterward, he was amazed how nice and easy it is to listen to this HK. The strength is it's punch and ability in the home theater to make gun fire sound like gun fire and not rocks being thrown against a tin roof. It's unfortunate about the previous poster but I have the same unit and it is incredible.
The weakness of this receiver is that it can sometimes be too rich of a sound and lacks the crisp high that some look for because, honestly the degraded sound that we have received from companies like Sony and what we listen to in our cars have ruined our idea of what even sounds are. The unit has all the bells and whistles that you would expect on a much higher priced receiver. Do some research on the the chips used in this thing, they are incredible and are found only in a $5000 high end competitors line. Besides one month old and breaks, why not take it back to Best Buy.
I would never ever buy a HK again or go through their archaic customer service system. I called back HK infuriated about this and I get another autobot instead of a live person. I will update this review with the conclusion to my woes, but get this piece of advice from me: buy an extended warranty on a brick and mortar retailer and cross your fingers that the product won't crap on you.
I will have to call during their business hours to get a live person and ask for my money back. For $800 I expect A LOT better. I purchased this receiver from Best Buy since I liked the features and trusted the brand name, although I never had owned a HK before.
1 month later they were supposed to send me a new unit and instead I got a refurbished unit that was probably 1 year old, not to mention missing button switches etc. A little more than 1 month later the HDMI connections died on me. I called HK and talked to an autobot and paid $40 to ship it back to them.
I think I will go with a Denon instead.
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