As you know my Marantz AV 10 has revealed a significant improvement in SQ over my 7705 and 7706.
A year or so ago, I bought a 2 BD Atmos disc set for the BPO, it was to highlight their prowess in Atmos production.
When I played the discs on my Marantz 7705 I was very disappointed. The sound was weak and not "immersive" at all. Now the same programs were available to stream in Atmos from the BPO. The stream was significantly better than the discs.
So I put the discs assides as duds. I don't think I ever played them on the 7706 and I only had that for 3 months.
Anyhow last week just for kicks I got out those Atmos discs. I had to think hard were I had put them, as I did not think I would play them again.
However when played back via the AV 10 the sound was absolutely spectacular, exciting and true to life.
Now I don't think there is anything in test results from these units that would give a hint of this dramatic difference in sound and presentation.
Now Dolby Atmos is streamed in Dolby Digital Plus and the discs Dolby True HD.
So, it seems that the 7705 was incapable of properly decoding Dolby True HD at the very least.
This came as a surprise to me. I note that there has been discussion about this on Audio Science Review and Amir has called the situation a total mess and I would agree.
So, I have to report that there are huge differences in SQ between devices you would not expect from specs and even reviews containing standard measurements.
