This section shows those features and specifications which are the reason to choose Denon AVR-X3600H over Denon AVR-X3500H.

Denon AVR-X3600H has more channels, more channel processing, more analog pre-outs, bigger power supply and higher bluetooth standard. It supports IMAX Enhanced. In video department only Denon AVR-X3600H supports HDCP 2.3 copy protection.

Denon AVR-X3600H and Denon AVR-X3500H share common strengths such as Dolby Atmos support, DTS:X support, HDR10, Dolby Vision, DLNA 1.5 support, HEOS, Amazon Alexa, ethernet connection, wi-fi, bluetooth, phono input, analog pre-outs, internet radio, Pandora, Spotify, Tidal, Deezer, Napster and SiriusXM.

Denon AVR-X3600H and Denon AVR-X3500H share common weaknesses such as no front wide channel support, no Auro3D support, no MHL input, no ChromeCast, no DTS Play-Fi, no SONOS and no analog multi-channel input.

Amplifier

Denon AVR-X3600H has 9 channel and Denon AVR-X3500H has 7 channel amplifiers. They both deliver 105 W (8 Ω, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, 2 channel driven) and have stable performance at 4 Ω load. Since 2016 all receiver manufacturers have dropped front wide channel support and these models are no exceptions.

Video Features

Both receivers support 4K passthrough up to 60p. They both do 4K upscaling up to 60p. The receivers support HDR10, Dolby Vision.

HDR10

High-dynamic-range (HDR) video has greater dynamic range than standard-dynamic-range (SDR) video with brigter whites and deeper blacks. HDR10 was announced on August 27, 2015, by the Consumer Technology Association and uses the wide-gamut Rec. 2020 color space. It sends static metadata via video stream to the TV which calibrates its screen brightness and color according to that. HDR10 supports up to 1000 nits of brightness and 10-bit color which corresponds to 1024 shades of the primary RGB colors.

Dolby Vision

Dolby Vision is an update to HDR10 by adding dynamic metadata that can be used to more accurately adjust brightness levels up to 10,000 nits maximum brightness on a scene-by-scene or frame-by-frame basis and supports up to 12-bit color depth (4096 shades of RGB) and 8K resolution.

Dolby Atmos and Dolby Surround upmixer

Denon AVR-X3600H and Denon AVR-X3500H support Dolby Atmos with its Dolby Surround upmixer. The Denon AVR-X3600H can be configured upto 7.1.2 or 5.1.4 channels using internal amplifiers or upto 7.1.4 channels by adding 2 channel external amplifier and the Denon AVR-X3500H can be configured upto 5.1.2 channels using internal amplifiers.

Dolby Atmos is the first cinematic audio format in which sounds exist as individual entities, called audio objects. In Dolby Atmos, any sound – the helicopter, a car screeching around a corner, a melodic bird call – can exist as an independent audio object, free of channel restrictions. They can be precisely placed and moved anywhere in your room, including overhead, to flow above and around you in three-dimensional space. Through the use of audio objects, overhead sound, and all the richness, clarity, and power of Dolby sound, Dolby Atmos turns your room into an amazing place for entertainment. You’ll feel like you’re inside the action, in ways you’ve never experienced before.

Dolby Atmos for the home represents every sound in the original cinema mix as an audio object. Extensions to the Dolby Audio™ codecs, along with an advanced scalable algorithm, allow Dolby Atmos to be delivered via Blu-ray Disc and streaming media. A spatially-coded substream is added to Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. A Dolby Atmos audio/video receiver (AVR) adapts the cinema experience to your home theater from seven speakers to as many as 34 in 24.1.10 configuration, recreating the original artistic concept. The format supports up to 128 simultaneous independent audio objects in a mix for rich, realistic, and breathtaking sound. It recreates the director’s original concept through descriptive metadata to provide customized playback for home theater and delivers sounds above you through overhead speakers, special upward-firing Dolby Atmos speakers, or a Dolby Atmos enabled sound bar.

If the content is not mixed in Dolby Atmos then the Dolby surround upmixer will expand the audio to all channels including ceiling speakers. The upmixer has replaced the Dolby Pro Logic II family with improved upmixing algorithms.

DTS:X and Neural:X upmixer

Denon AVR-X3600H and Denon AVR-X3500H support DTS:X with its Neural:X upmixer. The Denon AVR-X3600H can be configured upto 7.1.2 or 5.1.4 channels using internal amplifiers or upto 7.1.4 channels by adding 2 channel external amplifier. The Denon AVR-X3500H can be configured upto 5.1.2 channels using internal amplifiers.

A technique used in DTS:X is similar to the one used in Dolby Atmos. Instead of a fixed number of channels, DTS:X defines object locations from the listener in polar coordinates. An a/v receiver then dynamically renders sound according to the current speaker configuration. The speaker layout employed by DTS:X is the sum of Dolby Atmos and Auro-3D. It has standard 7.1 channel base layer, a 5 channel height layer above the base layer on the front and side walls, and 3 rows of speakers on the ceiling.

DTS Neural:X is an upmixer that can take non DTS:X content and upmix it to the DTS:X speaker layout. It has replaced the DTS Neo family with improved flexibility.

Connectivity

Denon AVR-X3600H

Denon AVR-X3600H can be connected to internet using ethernet cable or built-in wi-fi adapter. It can also connect to bluetooth devices via built-in bluetooth adapter. The Receiver works with Amazon Alexa and supports AirPlay 2. It has 8 HDMI inputs with HDCP 2.3 copy protection. There is a phono input with built-in phono stage for connecting the cartridge output of the turntable directly to the Receiver. There are 11.2 channel analog pre-outs for external amplification.

Front panel has HDMI and USB inputs.

Denon AVR-X3500H

Denon AVR-X3500H can be connected to internet using ethernet cable or built-in wi-fi adapter. It can also connect to bluetooth devices via built-in bluetooth adapter. The Receiver works with Amazon Alexa and supports AirPlay 2. It has 8 HDMI inputs with HDCP 2.2 copy protection. There is a phono input with built-in phono stage for connecting the cartridge output of the turntable directly to the Receiver. There are 7.2 channel analog pre-outs for external amplification.

Front panel has HDMI and USB inputs.

And in the end let us list the detailed specifications of the receivers side-by-side.

Note: The following table shows only those details which are applicable for both models and excludes the ones that are applicable for only one model. If you want to see a full list of specs for each model please visit their individual pages here – Denon AVR-X3600H and here – Denon AVR-X3500H.

* – 480i/576i and 480p/576p only
** – 480i/576i only
*** – no 1080p/24 upconversion
**** – 1080p signal is not converted