Processor sound comparison- Anthem avm90 vs NAD M17 V2i

Never owned Marantz but owned a couple Denon, a couple Onkyo and a couple Yamaha over the years. Moved to an Anthem AVM 60 years ago and was blown away at the improvement in audio quality and channel separation. Have not had any issues with it. Now also own an MRX 1140 and no issues there either. No issues with ARC Genesis. Fought with Dirac on a different unit for weeks. Talk about buggy and difficult. Have heard a couple NAD 2-channel rigs and was impressed. Haven’t heard any of their HT offerings.

nad processor I’ve had experience with has an interface that’s very easy to follow and not glitchy. Although still most interfaces have their quirky qualities because the people developing them have no insight into what mere humans experience when faced with a learning curve.

As for the interface related to DSP, it’s terribly horrifying it should be a lot easier it’s not like it’s doing terribly complicated things. You can only save 3 DSP settings on a nad processor and that’s really disappointing.

Again the real problem is just the compressed streaming Quality that’s offered and that’s inherent in the environment and that’s going to limit progress creating better processors which probably could sound a lot better where not for the terrible compression movie soundtracks that exist. you would think with 5G and better bandwidth on pipes compression would be less of an issue but it remains the single worst issue facing quality sound for people who stream.

I have had several Yamaha going back to 2070's with dolby surround back in the 1990's, Marantz (agree with you), Denon, reasonable but still with some of the issues of Marantz, Onkyo then another Yamaha separates. Then  Datasat, good but the Dirac could be painful and amps were noisey.  That was 1992 to 2015, 7/8 processors over 23 years. 

In 2016 I got a Trinnov Altitude 32, even then the set-up (whilst you can make it as complex as you like) was far easier to get a fantastic sound and tweaks via ipad are more straight forward than most would have you believe.  Its 2024 and I still have the same 32 in my main room and its just being set up for wave forming. An 8 year old processor that's a 10 year old model. It was not cheap, but I've spent less per year (especially adjusting for inflation) than I did with the others where I was always trying to 'tweak' more out of them.  Never even think of that whilst watching the Trinnov, just notice the difference when the next free software update comes in.

I also have a 16 in the front room (where I use wireless stage XLRs to connect to the rears). I do run 9 speakers in the lounge by the flat kefs I use for surround and atmos sit behind curtains front and rear for very AAF situation.  If you are considering going to the $10k end.  Think about a S/H ex dem Trinnov and I'd anticipate you will still be happy with it in 2032+.

Sorry not AAF, WAF

Ok I had to login so I could post on here. Audiotroy the Anthem AVM90 has 9038 dacs on all channels.

Audio Science review also rated the AVM90 about the same as the Marantz. Andrew Robinson and Gene had arguments over which one of these sounded better.They are both rated as high as possible by all the people that review prepros. The Anthem AVM90 has been said to sound better than the Marantz by a lot of people that have owned both pieces.

Trinnov is better but sound wise not by much. This is from people that owned both.

I own it and have heard lots of gear. And as a pre it is as good as most strictly pre's on the market. Those that have heard the STR pre and amp say that the AVM90 might sound better with the STR Amp. I have heard the NAD and it's not in the same league. Older technology. 

Sorry to chime in but I figured you needed the entire story. I haven't had one issue with my AVM90 either. And the virtual inputs are awesome to setup.