Best AV processors for under $10K

Best of both can be had in the Marantz 8801 and in conjunction with an Oppo 105 is what i consider an Audiophile and Videophile dream setup! after sufficient burn in of both units one is easily satisfied with the 2/ch and multichannel performance of both they are indeed a killer combo! All inputs are covered xlr and hdmi 32 bit dac's in both units. As a test of the 8801's preamp abilities I ran the Oppo strait to my Parasound A21 which is sheer audio nirvana! and when using the 8801 in the chain the performance was very close indeed and given the fact of Audyssey XT32 multi ch is unlike anything I've heard, sounds glowing? yeah!, but it is what it is. I'll say this the performance in this setup is the current SOTA!

Very good points and this is why I consider the 8801/Oppo105 a killer combo , I run my mains fullrange with no sub at times for 2/ch sacd,usb or redbook playback because my room is well treated and the performance is stellar and having said that now that I have a pre/pro with XT32 on board I have the best of both worlds at the touch of a button prior to the addition of the 8801 the 2 box solution did sound best but now unnecessary in my case, it even sounds stellar doing 2/ch mains set to small and using Audyssey with the sub at an 80hz crossover! having this kind of processing power is what its all about!

Dbphd
Yes it does bass management for DSD and LPCM and Audyssey as well for both, For the XLR inputs there is a processed by the 8801 via XLR inputs and a "Direct" and "Pure Direct" on the XLR inputs for the 105's Sabre dac's to be heard with the pure direct disabling the video as well as processing in the 8801 and while of course not fully balanced it gets the job done well.

JDUB39 - does the Marantz do bass management for DSD by changing it to LPCM? My guess is it converts to LPCM. Most people who use DSD do not want it converted to LPCM.

While it will accept a native DSD via hdmi to add bass mngt it will convert the signal, but with Audyssey performing Rc in addition to that bass mngt my classical has taken a substantial increase in fidelity, my room is well treated and speakers well placed and I'm a DSD purist at heart and would primarily listen to the 2/ch sacd for that reason. But the 8801 is a powerful processor and can preserve that signal and produce stellar results in the room and most importantly at your listening position due to the better phase and time domain of the music , its indeed very impressive. I had the opportunity to run my Oppo 105 direct to my Halo A21 using Morrow Audio MA4 balanced cables ( dont do this if you like your preamp!) and while DSD was as analog sounding as I believe digital can get the 8801 in the chain proved its salt as 2/ch preamp not giving up much in SQ compared to the 105 direct to the amp which says alot. Coming from such a comparison to DSD via hdmi multich sacd with Audyssey engaged can produce sonics I never new possible which again says alot of 8801's implementation of Audyssey with no perceived signal alteration with even better harmonic structure and tonality! there are things in a performance of familiar reference sacd's in the mix that become engaging as you hear the hall and the brass and strings are heard from there beginning, middle and ending sounds and when that tympani strike in such performances as Ivan fisher's Mahler's 1st and 2nd sacd's chime in, one could bat the eyes from the increase of dynamics and fidelity, sorry to run long in this reply but this is what this hobby and pursuit is all about and I'm that much closer to the performance than ever before!

Many DSD users are purist, who think that changing the signal to LPCM degrades the sound. Jdub39, on the other hand, thinks the 8801 bass management and room correction is a great improvement over the straight DSD sound.

That is a long winded overview. Fortunately, there are lot of very good engineers who can make all this magic happen. The mathematics of it is pretty complicated.

Just to clarify my stance here, I'm a DSD purist at heart and for 2/ch DSD I use no conversion to PCM, the comparison I was speaking of are on the merits of taking that DSD signal and preserving its sonic merits when its converted to PCM for additional processing by the 8801 with Audyssey in particular for multich playback of the same source. Its the listening experience at the heart of my opinion and the trade off of that conversion to PCM with the additional processing out weighs listening to straight DSD in terms of sonics and sheer "High fidelity" which is our pursuit, this is a first for me and as you say " there are lot of very good engineers who can make all this magic happen. The mathematics of it is pretty complicated".

Its a great time to be an Audiophile !

Dtc, I was referring to the stereo vs.5.1 the mix of the same disc.For the stereo version on an given sacd I prefer pure DSD but if that same disc has a 5.1 mix I prefer to covert it to PCM with Audyssey!

My Oppo 105 is set to DSD for sacd output (stereo default) as the 8801 can accept a native DSD bitstream over hdmi from there I can leave it un touched or convert it to PCM and apply bass mgnt and Audyssey. I also use the Balanced outs from the Oppo 105 to the 8801's balanced inputs and I use the 8801's Pure Direct mode ( its an assignable to what ever mode you choose I use CD))for 2/ch DSD no need to go back into the menu and switch because I use hdmi for multi/ch and xlr for the analog outs on the 105 for 2/ch, so once setup its done!
You can also toggle between the stereo and 5.1 tracks on an sacd by using the Audio button on the Oppo 105, of course if I want the Oppo 105 to do the conversion I set it to LPCM instead of bitstream for hdmi out and the same applies in the 8801 you can still add Audyssey!