After having 2 different Denons I felt I was missing something in terms of sound. I felt the quality, although good was somewhat "flat" and dull. I eventually did a bit of testing and found Yamaha much better in delivering a better tone and more defined soundstage (especially with movies). At the time I have to admit I was testing the higher end models of each. I also had so many problems with Denon DVD players, in terms of compatibility I eventually dropped them completely as a advertiser from my site and stopped using the player all together. There were too many compatibility issues with too many discs. I admit I do go though a larger amount of discs than most but I could review not knowing if it was the disc that had issues or the player. Having a deadline I got a SONY for just under $100 and found to better than the $1200 Denon in every way. Even better I have found OPPO to out do the SONY for a player. Even the DENON DVD player had that same "dull" sound as the receiver.
Having to choose between the two I would not go back to Denon. Eventually I went with the Sherbourn - but that's a completly different monster. In terms of the Yamaha, they will have a 1.3 HDMI model out by Oct/Nov, so my friend says.
