The final 10% for ten times the cost has never been something that has impressed me. Call it having bad hearing, or call it just not caring enough. Maybe I was never an audiophile, and I'm perfectly fine with that.
Having a properly installed AV system is far more important IMO. Decent sound, at a fair price is often something I see my clients get actively giddy about. Sitting down on a tile floor, because they have no furniture, and watching an entire movie in 5.1 surround sound, using in-wall Monoprice speakers, and a sub $1,000 Yamaha/Denon receiver, with a $1,500 projector on a 130" Silver Ticket screen.
It blows people away who are coming from their non-surround sound TV setup.
That joy may keep going forever until people actually are audiophiles, but most people are overjoyed at that simple step up in quality at a reasonable price, and as you spend more and more and more, there is very little gained except from those who just have nothing better to do than spend money.
The author of the article falls into a category few of us ever actually enter. Using a 11+ channel surround receiver (or preamp) with amplifiers, is something that I imagine less than 1% of the home theater market utilizes. So, those building those products are catering to an already small group of the whole. Even worse are those boutique brands because of the price tag.
One thing I emphasize, is that you are no longer paying for the build quality. You are paying for the software support. This is, absolutely, the biggest rub. Software changes constantly in the modern era. Any product with integrated streaming services, must keep those services up to date with an ever changing backbone.
I think the best of the best really just DON'T go there. They keep their products simple. An AV receiver without ANY streaming service and with minimal add on's such as Airplay, or Bluetooth. This way they can focus on getting the best audio and video possible through their product and lock it in with few firmware update requirements. Let those who want streaming do so with a Roku, or a HTPC or similar. Let those who want other functions, get them elsewhere. Want audio streaming? Get a Sonos, or a Bluesound product instead of using something built in.
This mentality is tough because Yamaha and Denon build a lot of these features into their products. The downside, is that there is no possible way for them to maintain firmware updates for decades to come. Kind of like all the phone manufacturers. You get a few years of updates. Maybe up to ten years. But, beyond that, the old processors can't keep up with modern requirements and they are no longer supported. So, why pay a ton more for something that you know will be obsolete?
It causes me headaches. Most of all with pre-pros which are very hard to get at a reasonable price. A nice 7.2.4 pre-pro at a great price is really hard to find. It's darn near impossible to get under $1,000. When you find them, they have a LONG list of additional features that are mostly useless. 12 HDMI inputs (WTF?), component, composite, maybe some s-video connections... why? A slimmed down, basic full surround sound receiver that I can hook up to my existing quality amps, which go to my existing quality speakers is all I am looking for. I might upgrade it every few years to the newest model if pricing were right. It never is.
Not sure it makes sense, or is even possible for a Denon/Yamaha product to fit that niche. It certainly isn't something a smaller company can afford to get into either. But, I will always struggle with the concept of paying thousands for that last 10% in quality on a new product at full price. On a used set of Meridian speakers? Yeah, that's something I could consider at a great price. But, those products are really designed for the multi-millionaire crowd. Which there is a scary number of.
