I have an AV10, my third Marantz AVR. I previously had the AV8805A, and from a sound perspective, the upgrade to an AV10 was noticeable. Not a quantum leap, but improved. I don’t care to try and make sense of settings on the limited real estate of a phone app, and I also find using a tablet to change settings clumsy. I therefore appreciate the AV10’s on-screen menus and overall, the system is rock solid and reliable. I had issues with eARC (not alone on this) and since connecting the streamer output to one of the HDMI inputs, with a second HDMI cable from the Monitor 1 output to the TV, it has been flawless.
My routine is streaming from the usual suspects (Netflix, Apple TV) and despite different audio formats, the AV10 recognizes them automatically. The backlit remote works well and can be more easily read than that of the AV8805A, although I wish it were a learning remote so I can winnow down the army of remotes next to me. While I have a constant itch to upgrade, with my compromised home theatre space and streaming based on less than ideal audio quality versus other sources, the jump to one of the heralded five figure AV processors is unnecessary with the AV10 in place. The learning curve and setup options are daunting, but as someone mentioned, getting a Dirac license is a worthwhile investment, as I felt my system really came alive.
Robert
