rjwood said:
Has anyone had any experience with this unit? I am debating between this unit or buying the Denon 4311. I understand that the Denon is a receiver and the Onkyo is a pre-pro. However, the Denon 4311 has the option of switching the unit to become a pre-pro when hooked to an external amp. I would love to buy a Krell or Mcintosh pre-pro, but they do not support hdmi 1.4 or have bells and whistles like ipod hook up. If I am wrong, please correct me. Last question, do amps sound different with different pre-pros? Meaning, if I would buy a Krell amp, would it sound or perform better or worse with the above mentioned units? Thanks
Welcome aboard RJ!
If that feature disables the amplifier section of the Denon, it's possibe the noise floor would be comparable to the Onkyo, however, you're spending money on an amplifier section that will never be used. In addition, if you're using all digital connections, the DAC issue does not come into play. I mention this because the Onkyo/Integra pre/pro's, according to some, have a less desirable digital to analog conversion, compared to Anthem, Krell and McIntosh. Then again, the Onkyo/Integra are several thousand dollars less.
I'm not sure, even though the Denon has the "prepro" feature, that you're getting a full fledged prepro with the flick of a switch. That remains to be an issue, in my mind. As they say, you can dress a pig in a tuxedo, but it's still a pig.
Rope