I mentioned it on my other post about the Sherwood NC amp, but I did a limited blind test at Magnolia a little while back. At the time, I was fairly set on the Denon 3808. After countless hours of scouring the internet I concluded the Onkyo overheats and has lip syncing issues, the Sony has handshaking and firmware issues, the Yamaha doesn't allow for whiter than white or blacker than black to pass through (my tv is compatible with this feature so it was an issue for me), and the Pioneer had a crappy UI and an outdated video processing chip (faroujda).
Anyways, the blind test was between the Yammy rx-v3800 , Denon 3808, and Pioneer Elite vsx-94txh. The differences were very slight, and not discernable until reasonably loud (which I listen to). Being played through the speakers I was going to buy (Sonus Faber Concertino Domus) I noticed an audible difference between the receivers on the same Audioslave song in the vocals primarily. Chris Cornells voice was (to my vastly untrained and unprofessional ears) more smooth, lifelike and less sharp on the Pioneer than either of the other two. I was not informed of which receiver I was listening to each time, but only privy to the monicker 'Receiver a/b/c.' I was also surprised to find out it was the cheapest of the three.
I'm not sure if he purposely slanted things in the Pio's favor, I find it hard to believe due to the price in comparison to the others (more money, bigger sale) and the only slight difference in sound (would probably be more dramatic if it were a 'set-up'). But I will admit that anything is possible. I can say I am happy with my decision and I hope I didn't come off as a 'know-it-all' fanboy. I really have no brand loyalty whatsoever, so I hope this was of some help to someone.
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