I used to really like NAD. Back in the good old analogue days when things were much simpler. KISS (keep it simple stupid) is one of my favorite sayings. NAD did just that.
But sadly, HDMI put a new twist on things and as Chris stated so well, it stumped the high dollar boutique manufactures. Anthem came the closest, but even they continue to struggle. Now that everyone is finally getting comfortable with the one wire solution and the 1.3 HDMI spec is the standard and appears to be “good enough”, 3D and HDMI are rounding the corner and I think they are coming quicker than any of expected. 1.4 will add a whole new twist.....
As far as I’m concerned, the days of high end Pre/Pro’s for a home theater are over. The companies are generally small, have limited resources to properly beta test and they’ll always be playing catch up with the big players like Denon, Yamaha and Onkyo (yes I left HK out on purpose because they make crap anymore). I believe the best course anymore it just buy an AVR with the features you want, use it a year or two, then dump it and buy the next one that comes out with the latest bells and whistles you might want. Put your money into speakers, room treatments and amplification. I only mention amplification because I believe that is where the AVR’s will really start to skimp on quality as the industry continues to stuff more channels into the boxes……
Now if you want to dump some money into a dedicated stereo rig and you’re not going to listen to HD disks, then that’s another topic entirely.
