I had the 300 which I bought from a dealer in '06+. After all these years I decided to hunt on Kijiji for a 350 to see what the difference was. After a few months, talked a seller of a 350 down to $500. Then I listed and sold the 300 for $480. BEST $20 dollar upgrade ever.
AVR 300
- Fan noise at moderate volume... really annoying and service never fixed!
- Had the whole logic board replaced 3 years in... glitchy... random shut downs
- CR80 Remote had become beaten up over past 6-7 years (which was my fault)... so had switched to a Harmony One.
AVR 350
- No fan noise at any volume and with extended periods of no use while on
- Sound has same tone as 300, but depth/clarity/punch is improved
- More power, even though similarly rated... new donut torroid
- More gold plating and upgraded transistors when looking under the hood
- CR80 remote is like new... I love this remote better than Harmony One!
Downside of 350 is that they switched phono plug from large to small, but not like I use it anyway.
350 also comes with original HDMI spec which can't handle audio. So a mute point that was instantly bypassed just like I was doing with the 300. My Sony XBR 55" handles all video switching. Sat, AppleTV and PS3 route out of TV via optical to the Arcam into its "Sat" input.
7.1 analog decoding of HD/Master Audio on BD handled by the OPPO 93 Blu-Ray player. The Oppo HDMI is routed directly to the 4th input on the TV and the 7.1 analog to ARCAM, accessible through "MCH" button for Multichannel audio.
Getting back to the main gear, the Arcam 350 and Oppo 93, I don't think any new combos could beat this 1K+ challenger.
Speakers - Paradigm Studio 40 / cc590 - all v4, adp390 v6 surrounds. Rythmik Audio F12SE sub.
AVR 300
- Fan noise at moderate volume... really annoying and service never fixed!
- Had the whole logic board replaced 3 years in... glitchy... random shut downs
- CR80 Remote had become beaten up over past 6-7 years (which was my fault)... so had switched to a Harmony One.
AVR 350
- No fan noise at any volume and with extended periods of no use while on
- Sound has same tone as 300, but depth/clarity/punch is improved
- More power, even though similarly rated... new donut torroid
- More gold plating and upgraded transistors when looking under the hood
- CR80 remote is like new... I love this remote better than Harmony One!
Downside of 350 is that they switched phono plug from large to small, but not like I use it anyway.
350 also comes with original HDMI spec which can't handle audio. So a mute point that was instantly bypassed just like I was doing with the 300. My Sony XBR 55" handles all video switching. Sat, AppleTV and PS3 route out of TV via optical to the Arcam into its "Sat" input.
7.1 analog decoding of HD/Master Audio on BD handled by the OPPO 93 Blu-Ray player. The Oppo HDMI is routed directly to the 4th input on the TV and the 7.1 analog to ARCAM, accessible through "MCH" button for Multichannel audio.
Getting back to the main gear, the Arcam 350 and Oppo 93, I don't think any new combos could beat this 1K+ challenger.
Speakers - Paradigm Studio 40 / cc590 - all v4, adp390 v6 surrounds. Rythmik Audio F12SE sub.