Well it is not conjecture, in Toshiba's literature for their players it clearly states: "HDMI Audio support for 5.1 L-PCM". As to where the the decoding should be done really depends on the quality of the DACs and features of the receiver. For my receiver, when I use the THX feature, there is a noticable difference(improvement) when the receiver does the decoding.
I remember reading that the A35 only decodes up to 5.1 from hi-rez DD, but I can’t recall if it was an official document, or just someone posting that, so thanks for sharing. I’d still like to find a 6 or 7 channel HD disk to find out for myself though. I don’t know of any out yet.
I’m wondering if what you find “better” isn’t in relation to THX post processing, or if you actually prefer the AVR over the player. If you do feel that in-receiver unpacking is better than in-player unpacking, then good for you and it really doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks or says – it’s your opinion. I on the other hand, refuse to take a stand one way or the other without being convinced by means of a blind listening session.
