Returning to the AVR-S920W softened the sound, so some of the detail was a bit smeared. We could almost "see" Jones' bassist's fingers on the strings.
At first we didn't notice the background singers on "Carry On," the mix is that subtle, but subtlety is what you get with a receiver as fine as the AVR-S920W.Ī quick changeover to a Sony STR DN1070 receiver lightened the tonal balance a wee bit, and it sounded clearer, though a little more rounded in the bass. The AVR-S920W lets it all through, the sweet and clear sound of Jones on piano and her band. The rich sound we've heard on so many other Denons over the years was present on Norah Jones latest release, "Day Breaks." She's right on top of the mike, so close, and with saxophonist Wayne Shorter by her side there's a quiet urgency to their music. The AVR-S920W proved its mettle over and over with home theater trials, but we were also pleased with its performance with stereo music. For bass management we ran everything, including the towers as "small" speakers, with an 80 Hertz crossover setting. We partnered the AVR-S920W with our Pioneer Elite SP-EFS73 tower speakers, SP-EC73 center channel speaker, SP-EBS73 bookshelves as surround speakers, and a Klipsch SW-110 subwoofer for all of our listening tests. It had a tendency to crash when we tried to stream music from a phone. We found it more powerful than Sony's SongPal application, but it's also more flaky. The AVR-S920W does include a nifty control app called the Denon AVR Remote 2016, which integrates streaming from your phone or network with the ability to fine tune your inputs and modify the volume. With the impending release of Google Home, the Google Cast system promises a greater level of sophistication than any other digital assistant or multiroom system. While we're on the topic of expectations dashed, Denon announced at CES 2015 that it would be incorporating Google Cast and then later conceded it was no longer happening.