I just wanted to pass along my experience with the above amp, new to my system as of today.
Let me qualify this by saying I am not a big audiophile, nor is my system killer. I have older Boston Acoustics front, center and sub, and some small Koss satellites in a 5.1 deal. The old amp was a 10yo Denon, which frankly sounded fine, but quit passing video. Plus I got a JVC HD-ILA 52" with HDMI input, so it was time to upgrade.
I spent the day in the swapover, including the obligitory clean out of the cabinet. And when I fired it all up, it worked from the get go.
The only cable to the monitor is the HDMI. The dvd is coming in on component, the satellite comes in on S-video. Both audio are optical. They both upconvert without any problem, and no audio sync issues, although that is adjustable were it to be a problem. It runs pretty hot, but not significantly more so than the Denon.
I havn't run the audio setup with the mic, and I'm still working it into my big Sony remote, but all in all, I would say it was everything I wanted out of an av reciever. The bass is much stronger than the Denon, I had to back my sub down. The volume is much easier to control than Denon's progressive style, always a peeve of mine.
I hope someone finds this helpful. If I learn anything further I"ll certainly post it. zz03