All this begs the question... Why doesn't anybody manufacture an multi-channel amplifier with HDMI inputs that's dedicated to audio decoding along with video pass-through.
Personally, I don't need a AVR that offers a radio, bluetooth, apps, video processing, weird audio effects or any other fancy features. I just want a device that decodes the major audio formats such as: PCM, the Dolby's, the DTS's and maybe Auro and MPEG-H.
Back in March I had to recycle my Onkyo because the Hate Defecation Murder Interface board died
again and there was no available replacement. I wound getting a NAD T 758 and I like it. I think it has some kind of Bluetooth something or other, but I don't care and haven't seriously looked into it. It does have straight video passthrough, no radio and decoding of the dominant formats (i.e.,no Auro or MPEG-H). It does decode Atmos, though I don't have the speakers or the ambition. I
think it can decode 7.1.4 but you'll need another amp or you'll have to choose between 7.1.2 or 5.1.4. But you definitely would want to confirm that if it's important to you, I may have garbled it.
It includes the ability to configure the sound via Dirac Live and it's really on my to-do list for some day, but it sounded so good right out of the box that I just haven't made it a priority.
With tax it came to $1,767.10, which is probably right around what I paid for the Onkyo years ago. The sales pitch was that 1) NAD believes in keeping it simple and 2) Some of the boards are swappable, allegedly making it possible to upgrade to 8k (it currently works great with 4k).
It also lacks a phono preamp, which is a minor inconvenience for me. It also includes only the latest Dolby Surround option, which I thought sounded good enough for music...until I compared it to the Surround Master in Involve mode, at which point Dolby suddenly sounded a LOT less appealing.
Oh, it also has MQA, which arguably contradicts with the philosophy of keeping it simple and for which I have no use.
It can stream from a local library, but after years of using LMS, it seems clunky and pointless. I tried it once, heard a tiny glitch at a track transition and never used it again.
If I sound like I'm badmouthing it, I'm just trying to think of every possible shortcoming someone might care about. I'm actually very, very happy with it. And boy, am I
done with Onkyo!