It's a fine receiver, but they weren't comparing the receiver to a pre/pro. Generally speaking, dedicated pre/pro's do a better job as a pre/pro, than receivers used as a pre/pro. That's been my experience over the years. Quite a few people who bought Denon super receivers a few years back, are slowly but surely moving to separates. Often, first they buy external amps and use the Denon receiver as a pre/pro. Next, they buy a dedicated pre/pro to replace the Denon receiver (used as a pre/pro).