When talking $5,600 you are getting into the range of separates. I would look at what features are most important and see whether those features could be had for the same price and better performance with separates,
If Heos and other internet bells & whistles are not important because you get all the apps on your monitor/TV but video & audio quality are most important then something like an Emotiva sound processor and associated amps may surpass the capabilities of the Flagship Denon receiver for a similar price point.
I used Emotiva as an example, there are offerings from Monoprice, Outlaw and others which may fit the bill as well. I own a budget Denon receiver in my office system and a Marantz sound processor in my main system, so I have nothing against Denon It just seems to me for the higher price I would make sure it meets your primary needs better than other solutions.
Very true, and valid point indeed. Regarding AVP+Power amp vs AVR vs AVR + Power amp, it is not always clear which is a "better" solution as the needs and preference of the individuals are often not the same, but again, I agree with you that before spending so much one should consider all viable solutions carefully.
I have nothing against those brands neither, and I too, have both an D AVR and an M AVP in my systems. One fact to consider is, separate or not, some people simply prefer the one that measured well on the test bench. That is the case with the AVR/AVC-X8500H, it beats the Monoprice and Emotiva separates on the bench overall, by a clear margin in some important category such as IMD, linearity, and seems relatively bug free.
Some also like the fact that its internal power amps are decent enough for powering some of the surround channels. It is among the few, or may even be the only AVR that allows the owner to disconnect any or all or the internal power amps to the preamp outputs.
So for some people it may still be preferred, despite the fact that is not a "separate". Personally, I really don't think the AVP/AVCs are all that "separate" either. Like AVRs, they also pack tons of stuff in one box, and the ones comparable to flag ship AVRs would mostly likely include balanced I/Os that invariably increase parts count significantly, the only parts missing are the power amps that imo people make too much a issue of their supposedly bad effects on the preamp circuitry, I have yet to see any such claimed bad effects show up in measurements.
It is really amazing to see that so far no separate processor manage to measure better in THD+N, that's just one criteria but still, amazing to see even the newly tested $15,000 StormAudio failed to dethrone this Denon.
Again, I am not suggesting the test results are important, but no doubt some people are influenced by them, just like how subjective reviews by professional magazine/online reviewers, REQ features such as Dirac Live, and the perception that "separate" processors are better etc., do influence potential bias.
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