Summary: This is the second Denon receiver I have owned for a reason. I was so impressed with the sound quality of my original unit(which recently died on me after 5 years of great sound)that even after shopping around extensively and comparing other brands, I came back to Denon. I didn't want to risk trying out some other brand to save a few bucks to sacrifice sound quality.

I have only owned it for a couple of days, but after watching a few movies on it last night, the sound quality blew me away! Once I figured out the ideal configuration after playing around with the settings a bit, the sound just keeps getting better. I'm sure once I get more familiar with the features and functions, it will continue to impress.

I don't think I could have purchased any other brand model with the same features and overall sound quality in this price range. So, if you are considering this model compared to another brand, I highly recommend it---as long as you have patience to sort through the setup process in the confusing manual. Believe me, the sound you will hear is worth it!