The Onkyo 886, among others, is a very good Pre-Pro. Realistically speaking, considering the fact that, today, only a "handful" of companies manufacture the processing chips and DACs that go in to most if not ALL of much of recent AVRs and Pre-Pros, from my twenty years experience in the CE business, I always look at the idea that something "blows away" something else as being a "slight" exaggeration.