Gotcha. My question was more directing towards Don's reply. Just wanted to see what he has to say.
artemasad,
Go back to page 2 and re-read my post there.
"We're trying to tell you don't blindly believe what people say. Anybody can say anything... especially on the web."
You don't know any of us on this forum. Any one of us could be a good guy with knowledge and helpful intent, or a jerk who enjoys spreading misinformation and causing trouble. Really. You cannot know. But there are some facts you can look at. They won't necessarily tell the whole story, but they are facts, and may be useful.
In this case, you have a guy who has posted on this forum 14 times. He says you can hear the difference between AVRs.
Then you have guys who have posted ~1600, 8300, 1200 and 1000 times questioning his statement.
Like I said, this alone can't reveal the truth. The guy with 14 posts may actually know more than all the rest of us combined. But examine his post carefully. He's not offering any kind of technical explanation. He's simply relating his observation that customers think Denon sounds better than Yamaha.
The problem is that there are literally thousands of technical reasons that would make them sound different. It can be a daunting task when comparing one AVR to another, to make sure none of these settings or technical elements are in play. You'll notice this is the line of questioning initiated by the old timers here.
Bottom line: Just because some guy on the web says Denon AVRs sound better than Yamaha AVRs, doesn't make it true. My suggestion is to follow the thread. See if Don stays and engages in a discussion about settings and setup of the AVRs. See if he is interested in exploring potential technical reasons for his findings, or just wants to declare them as truth.