I just had an in my room and system demo of the Integra DTC-9.8 processor that many people have high hopes of on AVSForum. The first person to report owning one is local to me and he brought it round to compare to my 561 this afternoon. This thing has excellent deinterlacing and scaling via a Silicon Optix Reon chipset, 4x HDMI in with audio and Dolby TruHD support and latest Burr-Brown DACs for a MSRP of $1600.

We went through the full setup procedure, including its Audyssey room correction, and yes the video quality is very good but the audio quality was not even close to the 561 (which is now a 9 or 10 year old design). The Integra sounds over warm, congested, has muddy highs and sloppy bass. The likes of Alison Krauss and even the 90s remastered Moby Dick from Led Zeppelin II were a pretty much night and day comparison. Bonham's cymbols have crisp crashes and long decays on the 561, but just get lost on the Integra.

I will admit that in its price range for a new piece it is a good unit, but it would seem that in 10 years audio quality hasn't moved closer between the mid and high end. Yes as Meridian owners we are missing out on how wonderful lossles soundtracks could be, but unless you are prepared to switch to maybe Anthem (but I've not heard the AVM-50 or D2 to qualify that, they are just about the most relevant competition) the other options out there are nothing to cry home about.

Living room: DSP5000.3
WFH Office: M33
Bedroom: P200ZQ