Amplifiers/Processors

Marantz’s flagship AV processor has received the A suffix it perhaps always should have. The AV8802A comes to the table boasting HDCP 2.2 – so is compatible with protected 4K content from forthcoming UHD Blu-ray spinners. Bought a non-A model earlier in the year? HDCP 2.2 is also available as an aftermarket upgrade.

The brand on the front of this massive pre/power combo may not be the first that springs readily to mind when it comes to high-end home theatre, but Datasat has more rights than most to call dibs on the market. Having played an intrinsic role in the birth of multichannel digital movie sound, this UK-based outfit has credibility in spades.

Every now and again something comes along that is so focused and so madly different from the mainstream that it stands in a category virtually of its own. While the big Japanese brands cram ever more licensed and bespoke home cinema technology into ever cheaper AV receivers, there are brands that just refuse to choose the same inevitable path – a path that logically can only lead to a reduction in outright performance as R&D cash is poured into features, logos and gadgetry rather than sound quality.

If you enjoy spending as much time fettling and tweaking your home cinema system as you do watching movies, you might want to skip this review. For what we have here is the latest version of Audiolab’s stripped-down AV processor that puts almost its entire R&D spend into audiophile components rather than features. In fact, there isn’t any video processing under that stylish aluminium case at all, so even the term ‘AV processor’ is a bit remiss. What you do get is a tuned and upgraded 8000AP, which we liked a lot, now with v1.4 HDMI pass-through switching.