Terry we have unfortunately had more than just a couple exchanges and each time reaffirms my impression that you are an idiot. Yes, that's personal but you have a way of bringing that out in me. You talk out of all sides of your mouth.

First of all if some of the $500k was spent on the room I'd assume it would have had, at least, as much acoustic care as yours.

Most CD players also use the same decoding chip yet there's a big difference in the players sound. I'll take your word for it that A/V DAC's are standard but even so there still is a big difference in sound between a receiver and a better processor and that's made in the analog stages and how the signal is treated after it's decoded. Like I said and it failed to sink into your head, Onkyo in my opinion is one of the better mass market receivers but the bottomline is you are still using a receiver preamp that pales in comparison to a real preamp processor. If you can't hear the difference sad for you but you look stupid waving the banner that all things are the same to those like me who know and can hear a difference. I don't have to prove one cable sounds better than another, I can hear a difference so therefore I'm convinced. It's up to each person to try a product and make up their own mind. How much of a difference depends on the gear and it's ability to reflect the difference in resolution. Who knows which camp a poster will be in but I can honestly tell them I can hear a difference in hopes they can and will benefit as well.

You are hearing impaired and closed minded which makes you dependent on your little gadgets and magazines to tell you what to think and if something is on or off. Others must be able to hear some differences as well as I based on the fact that the cable industry is flurrishing. If you are happy with your receiver then good for you but here's a newsflash your system isn't the benchmark that all other manufacturer's are striving to equal or beat. When it is then maybe you will have a point.