I also “herd” a difference between receivers when I started shopping around for a new one. I went to the local audio store and demoed a Denon 1905 and a Yamaha 650. And I herd a difference. The Yamaha was brighter. A few days later I went a different store and listened to the same receivers again. Could not here one bit of difference between the two. I got the Denon and I’m very happy with it. After hooking it up when I got home I could not here a difference between it and my Sony HTiB receiver accept at very high levels. The Denon has some head room and my old Sony didn’t. The salesman at the first store was a Yamaha fan. The salesman at the second store did not seem to have a preference and focused on the features of the receivers. After all this the next time I buy a piece of equipment I’ll bring the items home give them a try and take back the ones I don’t want.
