Denon AVR Remote Reviews

by Joey Doanz

I had several Sonos devices before upgrading my Denon receiver several years ago. I am still running Sonos on the second floor of my house. I originally bought some heos devices for the first floor to integrate with the new Denon AVR which had Heos. It seemed like a good idea and offered more power and volume for my outside speakers. It really does have great surround sound when everything works. I regularly have problems with the system finding the Denon receiver. DenonAVRRemote is far from bulletproof and glitches up regularly. Conversely, even when the Heos system is giving me fits, which is often, the Sonos system works like a charm. Sonos is really close to bulletproof, works all the time and seldom glitches, if ever. I am seriously considering dumping all of the Heos devices, and I have several, and replacing them with Sonos. The Heos system has been a disappointment from the beginning and unfortunately it has not improved in the past 3 or so years since I bought these devices. The hardware is good stuff but the software is doggie do do. I can’t understand why they can’t get this working better. I am still hopefully but it seems like they should have had enough time to fix these problems so it is doubtful that it will ever really work well.

by OttoTheOrangeOrange

DenonAVRRemote is emblematic of the rise of tech companies in the A/V space (Sonos) and the fall of A/V companies for not keeping up. I love my Denon receiver, but DenonAVRRemote has been antiquated and frustrating (best case) or plain unusable. Even when working as expected, functionality and interface are outdated. Over the years, it has stopped functioning (crashing on startup, crashing when pressing the Settings button, unable to transmit basic commands) so often, I’ve lost count. Currently, it crashes on startup. I’ve reached out to Denon customer support, who stopped answering after my 2nd email.
If companies like Denon continue to fail to put modern technology and UI/UX front and center, it will be the death of them. I’m at the point that I’ll never buy a traditional receiver again. Moving on to Sonos or similar.

by Jtppgh

I bought a HEOS enabled Denon receiver with two additional HEOS speakers about two months ago. Although the speakers are a bit boomy the sound great and the system was fun to use. Now the HEOS app still works fairly well but the this receiver app won’t even open. And before this started happening DenonAVRRemote was failing to accurately control the receiver. I would turn the volume up and it would return to its original position a few seconds later. I would have to shut DenonAVRRemote immediately so it would not return to the original volume. Now it won’t even open. I have closed and reopened DenonAVRRemote , rebooted my phone, and redownloaded DenonAVRRemote , all to no avail.

Please fix DenonAVRRemote! Or I will have to return the whole system.

by -Mythic-

So uh, this is really something. My receiver works wonderfully. However, I thought that DenonAVRRemote would be a nice way to enhance the functionality of my setup. Boy was I wrong - DenonAVRRemote barely works correctly at all, and often will do the exact opposite of what you want it to do. There seems to be a serious abundance of software bugs and I STRONGLY recommend that anybody who cares for the well being of their sound system avoid DenonAVRRemote at all costs.

I blew more than half the speakers in my setup (well over 1k worth of damage) by simply pressing the volume up button of my phone ONCE when I was in the main screen. Instead of bumping up the volume by only 5 or even 10 dB, it set it to the MAX POSSIBLE VOLUME (even bypassing the limits I put in place to prevent anything like this from ever happening) that the receiver could output and did irreversible damage to my vintage audio setup I had painstakingly spent acquiring and tuning over the years. Extremely disappointed that Denon could accompany such a fantastic receiver with such an atrocious app.

Do NOT download DenonAVRRemote. It WILL destroy your system. Just stick to the remote or the physical buttons on the unit until Denon’s application development team gets their act together.

by Nickname86753092568864322689

Using a receiver with just a remote is confusing unless you understand the whole menu structure and what each button does, an app should fix that right? Not this one, it feels like someone just designed an app to mimic the remote, not an app to control a receiver in an intuitive manner.
-Speaker setup needs to be more obvious and have a section devoted to it, not forcing you back through then receivers on screen setup.
-Selecting output type on the inputs is really corny, I didn’t even think to tap the button again to change the type, had to hunt around online in forums, this should be a drop down
-would be cool if HEOS stuff appeared in here as optional speakers for other room audio. Maybe delays kill that functionality?
-the manual needs to include full navigation paths! It doesn’t help to know you can do something if you have to hunt through every menu to look for it.
-lots of other random stuff, but it seems like the basis for everything is that it was never designed like an app to control it in an intuitive manner. It was either designed by someone who loves the remote or just to mimic it, either one doesn’t help us out.

by Leftyfl1p

Even with Ethernet the stability of DenonAVRRemote and our denon receiver itself is terrible. DenonAVRRemote feels like it was hacked together in 2 months. We have a fairly stable network and even simple tasks like turning on Sirius or changing the channel is a 5-10 minute struggle because buttons just don’t do anything or they produce extremely unpredictable behavior. Meanwhile airplay on my phone and any other kind of streaming on other devices works perfectly fine.

Best of all our new denon of less than a year old was deemed too old to have native AirPlay 2 support. That is how denon treats it’s $1000 products. The device model itself has less than a year in age and they are already cutting it off from features.

Do not buy denon.

by Atreyu8

Update: My Denon is hardwired. The previous issue with DenonAVRRemote not finding the hardwired receiver seems to be resolved, but now with this latest update, DenonAVRRemote will suddenly say the wireless network is not available, and that I should close DenonAVRRemote until it is available, and then DenonAVRRemote crashes. Some very poor coding and error handling. However when it works, it’s fantastic!

What a great idea for an app! I would use it regularly if it was stable. About once per month I start DenonAVRRemote up and it can't detect my receiver. I have it set to a static IP so there should be no reason for this. When I try to enter the IP DenonAVRRemote says it's not a supported device. I have to delete DenonAVRRemote and reinstall it to get it working again. Unbelievably poor development. I suspect some idiot VP at D&M decided to outsource the development because they don't know what they are doing. Really hope someone hires a real dev team and fixes DenonAVRRemote so it works, because it really is a fantastic idea.

by Burnszy33

Found DenonAVRRemote very handy on iPad and used it often when got my S960H - and then there was an iOS update and poof DenonAVRRemote is just useless as it can never find my AVR. Open DenonAVRRemote and looks for receiver but can never find it no matter how many times I tap Refresh button it never shows up. I actually miss it as standard remote is very basic and DenonAVRRemote made it easier to change settings. Would’ve given app 4 stars if could use it! DM is a big company and have no excuse not to have enough people to keep DenonAVRRemote up to date.

by Jimboseibo

This is a decent app that gives pretty good control over the receiver functions. In my situation the amp is tucked away in another room so WiFi control is key. Airplay2 works great as well.

The one additional feature would be an option to set “scenes” for speaker control. In my case I have the b speakers on my patio and the a speakers plus a subwoofer in my living room. If I run the outdoor speaker (B) only, the indoor sub still plays. I can manually turn it off in DenonAVRRemote , but a macro or scene setting that does that automatically would be awesome. As is it takes a number of steps to turn on the b speakers then turn off the sub. And reversal to play in other room....that’s why I gave it three rather than five stars. Add that feature and this is a five star app.

by Coyote-1

I like DenonAVRRemote. A lot. I would like it a lot more if it would control both my AVRs. The other Denon remote app effortlessly sees both receivers, and third party remote apps have no problem seeing these two amps. Why can’t DenonAVRRemote do likewise? In fact, my iPad does not even show DenonAVRRemote in my Settings area. It’s like a stealth app or something.

The issue is I’m using the X3000 as a distribution amp, and I really need the ability to control its individual speaker channel volume levels. DenonAVRRemote does exactly that on my 3300. Please make it work on the 3000!

by WyattE2012

While it’s not “intuitive” that some might desire, it does what is intended and is easier than using e remote. I think there’s a lot of features and customization that just don’t allow a quick setup. Setting up an a/v with all of the features and functionality it todays electronic world is not easy. There’s not just home theater sounds and simple music playback, but multi-room configurations, setting up for gaming and other inputs.
I love the fact that I can tweak and make adjustments on the fly with DenonAVRRemote. My wife doesn’t like the bass rattling her art off the walls watching movies. SoI can have DenonAVRRemote open and reduce the sub a few decibels to her liking for this input only. I can have music playing in multiple rooms and quickly make volume adjustments as needed.
The bottom line is, every a/v system I’ve owned takes both time and patience to learn and perfect the settings. Patience Grasshopper!

by JayEllis

I purchased my Denon AVR-S650H a month ago and installed DenonAVRRemote to control multiple settings. I love the receiver and DenonAVRRemote worked great until an iOS update on my phone the week of Jan 4, 2021. When I opened DenonAVRRemote and selected my receiver name, I had this loading or spinning graphic but DenonAVRRemote never opened the control screen. I tried removing DenonAVRRemote and re-installing but that didn’t help. I have my receiver hard wired not wireless.

Here is the fix...unplug your receiver from the power source and wait 15 seconds then plug it back in. Wait another minute or 2 for the receiver to reboot. Finally, open your app and it should work. It worked for me!

by Streaming ...

I have recently installed in late May, early June, 2021, the Denon 2016 AVR Remote app upgrade on one iPhone and I haven’t yet on another phone. I am unable to switch between sound modes—Dolby Surround, multichannel stereo, DTS Neural X, DTS Virtual X, Matrix, Virtual, rock concert, jazz club, stereo etc., on either cellphone. Update on September 1, 2021, it now seems that we are able to select between the various sound modes, but for a while we were unable to. I have it installed on a number of cell phones, but use it on an old iPhone SE most often.

There was a Denon AVR X2700H FIRMWARE update (late Q1 or early Q2, 2021) we installed about the same time, which may be causing this problem. So, my sound mode is ‘stuck’ on Dolby Surround. Not a bad choice, but I liked the ability to choose from the various modes.

This is my second Denon app review.

by Sjsdoc

Yes, the name is old and interface blocky. I just swapped an older Pioneer Elite for new x3700H. Did not expect much after reading reviews here. I use wired Ethernet, static IP, google DNS, iPadOS and iPhone 11 Pro Max. I can say that DenonAVRRemote works perfectly. Have access to everything the OSD has. Can set up presets etc. Yes, it takes maybe 4-7sec to load but after that is quick enough. Interface is old but it just works when you figure out how to use it. DenonAVRRemote for Pioneer is ALSO old and hasn’t changed name in years and does not work as well as this. Call me pleasantly surprised.

by Shep88

DenonAVRRemote works great for controlling my system while listening to music in my zone 2 room. You can also access almost all of the system settings from DenonAVRRemote which I find more convenient than the system remote since that isn’t backlit. HEOS native integration would be nice instead of a separate app but not a big deal. Love that I can control my Blu-ray player that’s connected to my AVR using DenonAVRRemote . This is a plus since it’s in a console behind IR unfriendly doors so it’s own remote won’t work with it there.

by Pharmdogg

Perhaps DenonAVRRemote did not work well in the past but it's current iteration has been pretty flawless for me. I'm using it to control both my X3400 and X4400 and it's pretty responsive. I'm also able to group them together and use it with the HEOS Music app to access all my FLAC files via a USB thumb drive on my x3400. Overall I can quickly access my settings directly without using the on screen menus which is a huge plus bc it's just faster via DenonAVRRemote . I know in the past DenonAVRRemote would not recognize one or both receivers for whatever reason but I think they have worked that out and I can see both on my netowkr and switch between both fiarly quickly. The interface could be a little more modern and less drab looking but it is functional. That's really my only issue. It's not a pretty interface. But functionality is as intended so I won't take away a star for just looks.

by ZnprFan

I wanted DenonAVRRemote to work, was discouraged by the ratings, and am very impressed by how good it is.

As long as your phone or tablet are on SAME network as the receiver it all goes smoothly. I had then on different ones at first and it took awhile to figure it out. Once Firmware is updated (there was one in Dec17) app immediately worked and supported most functions of the physical remote. Even better, I don’t need to have the remote out anymore cluttering up the room or getting misplaced.

DenonAVRRemote works great for me, highly recommend it.

by Dyoungyizzy

DenonAVRRemote lets you setup the eq for different listening positions. For instance, I have my eq setup for sitting in the center of the couch, the right side of the couch, and the left side of the couch.

It is true you can setup your eq on the receiver, but it will only setup the receiver to set the eq for one listening position.

For those, people who like to sit in different areas of the room, you can set the specific eq you saved for that listening position, since DenonAVRRemote lets you save multiple eq positions.

by Denise TTYTYBGHJIBB

I was looking for the simple feature of being able to control zone 2 without being in line of site of the amp. DenonAVRRemote meets my needs!!! I can easily turn on my amp and listen to my speakers upstairs without running downstairs. I can adjust volume on zone 2 and select my source such as Apple Music via airplay or cable TV. At night I can listen to music and turn off my amp without running downstairs. I was looking at RF remotes at over $100 to accomplish this. DenonAVRRemote is so easy to use and works perfectly. I almost didn’t download after reading reviews. I ensure that my phone is on low volume so I do not have turn on a zone and have it blast. I can also set a maximum volume on the amp to protect in the event phone volume is highest and I turn on a zone.

by Drums Slot

When I first purchased our Denon receiver I discovered there was an app to remotely control it. At the time it worked but periodically wouldn’t connect to the receiver - I’d have to reboot the receiver and it would work for a while and then stop. After giving up on DenonAVRRemote on a whim a few months ago I tried it and was surprised to see it working. It’s been rock solid - any time I want to use it it’s working. Not sure if it was firmware updates on the receiver or DenonAVRRemote being updated but now it works reliably and I can make the adjustments I want without grabbing a regular remote.

by Jumpin_Jack

DenonAVRRemote used to “work.” well, at least it would connect to my receiver. Now neither DenonAVRRemote or the HEOS app can find my receiver. Nothing has changed on my LAN or WiFi. So, it’s either a receiver firmware update issue (would be no shock, given the track record), or something that has changed in DenonAVRRemote (s) related to network connectivity.

Denon’s products are great! I’ve had several units over the years now. DenonAVRRemote, however, not so much. Lemme go out on a limb and say that maybe it’s time to roll out a new app. After all, it is 2019 and we’re still stuck using the 2016 app.

by GrilledcheeseZero

First time using the new version and it wont change input to tv audio. Well, changes it, but i dont get the tv audio display in DenonAVRRemote anymore. Also, doesnt turn off the avr anymore. Power button in app doesn’t work for some reason.

Still cant turn on with alexa or choose input. “Sorry, i cannot find a device named den”. Guess i will try changing its name in Alexa. Sometimes i cant change its volume with alexa either. Sometime works setting volume to 55. Sometimes says volume can only be set from 1-10. Wish it worked better.

Still no google play music support.

by Clayton Richards

We have invested our money in your product, Denon. DenonAVRRemote needs error handling and time out procedures. If DenonAVRRemote detects a receiver (I have three X2400H receivers on my network), but it is unable to connect to it for some reason, have DenonAVRRemote stop trying to connect. Upon opening, if DenonAVRRemote is unable to connect to the receiver you were controlling previously, well you pretty much have to uninstall DenonAVRRemote and reinstall it. I have had to do this at least 20 times. I have a robust network so it is not my connection.

by MP505MP

Latest update = zone 2 is gone. Can I downgrade to two versions ago? DenonAVRRemote mostly worked then.

Simply cannot use app to turn on the receiver and then quickly set input to online music. Does not work. Receiver does not respond. Force close app and try again, and you get to wait for it to scan the network looking for a compatible unit. Then it still doesn't act right so I end up grabbing the stock remote and everything works. Receiver seems to work fine and has no problem responding to commands from the IR remote.

DenonAVRRemote works great once the receiver has been on for a while, but by then I've already set my input and volume with the IR remote so who cares. Focus your efforts on cold starts. I switched from an onkyo for the same frustration with that garbage app.

by MattMoJumbo

DenonAVRRemote is pretty good. It provides all of the UI controls that you get with the remote control in an easy-to-use format, works really well on my ipad. I tend to change receiver settings for different inputs, ie lower the bass for PS4, different settings for music, streaming shows/movies, etc. It makes it easier to manage all the settings with the mobile app rather than with the remote, more quickly for me at least.

by Cheetos72

EDITED
Love the idea of DenonAVRRemote. When it works it's great - why is this so difficult? The web site hosted by the device is stable - doesn't DenonAVRRemote simply use it?

Had Zone 2 control and then the update now no longer can see Zone 2 on my 720w - found where you can hide it in settings. Maybe it would be better to hide it if it's not configured or say something about this configuration setting.

by KVB-FM

Others have groused about connectivity which I believe has everything to do with the robustness of their home networks, especially the WiFi kind. My hardwired Denon AVR responds quickly to DenonAVRRemote, displaying all of the AVR's settings at a glance and enabling instant tweaks — a huge improvement over repeatedly punching the Setup, Back and arrow buttons on the AVR's supplied remote while overcoming its need for line of sight transmission. Controlling or shutting down the system from elsewhere in my home? Brilliant!

by BayouBengal63

Read a lot of the reviews before downloading as I always do. So I was expecting trouble everywhere but have been pleasantly surprised! Connectivity was simple and hasn’t dropped out since, app does everything I’ve needed to do, and no app freezes or shutdowns... The best thing is not having to search for the remote. I always have my iPhone handy so I wish there was an app for my other remotes.

by Brian A. S.

I'm using this with my AVR-S920W and it's been very easy and intuitive from the moment I opened it. After installing, it started right up with my receiver's current state (volume, current audio selection, custom-named inputs, etc). You can get to most (maybe all?) of the physical remote's functions and more: to my surprise, I can control my Panasonic Blu-ray from it - with no setup!