You had Theta in the past, what did you move onto?

Esoteric.

@bdp24 - Please elaborate! What Theta gear did you have and why was Esoteric a logical step for you?

@erik_squires 

I've never experienced a Theta pre/pro, but I have talked in depth with several owners that moved from the Casablanca V on to the Trinnov. Per "their" ownership experience, the move to a Trinnov Altitude provided better if not equal sound quality; this using two channel audio as a reference. Many use Roon which the altitude is set up for.

Maybe I’m just a purist snob, but if 2-channel is very important to me I’m gonna use a stereo amp/pre or integrated and supplement with a good AVR to power the center and do the processing (I assume people here know how easily that’s doable).  Put the $$$ where it matters most and let the AVR handle the rest.  Unless your absolute priority is HT I don’t see spending huge $$$ on surround channels/processing as they’re just such a relatively small portion of the overall experience and decent AVRs can handle that pretty damn well.  I’m sure I’ll get flamed by the HT crowd, but I could live very happily with a separate stereo setup and seamlessly integrate an Anthem AVR handling my HT duties unless I’m HUGE into HT, at which point I’d go another route.  But that’s me. 

Your opinion is justified and I can appreciate your position. To me, purity is equally important for movies. Some of the best musical soundtracks are incorporated into movies that are experienced in a home theater. Personally, I appreciate the higher fidelity and resolution that my Trinnov provides, as compared to what I experienced when I owned a mid-fi marantz HT prepro. Also, I've come to appreciate multi-channel music. My former two channel purist mindset has been expanded to now prefer multichannel. Just my personal experience that I hope you can respect as we obviously differ in what we prefer.