I upgraded from a Denon 7.1 3805 to this processor. I had my family and friends over and I did a side by side as well as I could using my Polk Towers. Noboby in the audience knew much about audio equipment and all I asked of them was to tell me what they liked the best. Hands down the Atlantic Technology P-2000 won. Granted, I was also using a dedicated 7 channel amp to push the AT and I am not claiming that this test would hold up to scrutiny by the scientific community. My OPINION and that of my friends was that we could tell a difference. The music and movies were more detailed and there seemed to be seperation of sounds, voices and background noise.
The processor is easy to use and didn't require any intense reading to figure it out. The worst quality of the processor is the remote, but since I use a universal, this isn't a big negative for me. I am very happy with this unit and wish that Atlantic Technology had a newer version. I doubt I will ever use a regular receiver again and will stick to the seperate processor/amp combo. Enjoy!