When my CD player died a while back, I bought the Marantz DV4300 to serve both my film and music needs. I know that purists say that a CD player will outperform a DVD player for music, but I really did not want two machines in my rack (and besides, there's also the extra money consideration). So far, I have only a straight, old fashioned stereo rig with no digital processing. I now want to expand my system into full surround by getting a good AV receiver and intend to use the stereo rig for the fronts by using the pre-out on whatever I happen to get.

My question - are the DACs in receivers better quality than those built into the DVD players? In other words, will I be better off using the receiver's dacs to process my CDs and just use the DVD player as a transport, or should I continue using the analogue outs on the player which are connected directly to my Rotel pre-amp RC995? The amp is a Musical Fidelity A3.2cr mated to B&W 703s.

At the moment, I'm tossing up between a Marantz (perhaps the 5500) or a Harmon Kardon. Marantz I have researched, but don't know all that much (yet) about the HK. This is my second question - has any body done a comparison between the two?

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts and suggestions.

I jus love this forum - although I have posted infrequently, I am often with you. The discussions are always so informative. I love this hobby.