Looking to get a new receiver, had some questions

[GotToyota?]

Originally Posted by crackinhedz

Sir T,

since audio via HDMI bitstream and LPCM is decoded with the same quality, and eventually passed through the same DAC ...what do you think the reasoning is for why people feel that one sounds better than the other? Is it all psychological or can there be some truth to it?

I'm getting my tax return shortly, so I figured it would be a good opportunity to upgrade my receiver.

But concerning this post here I saw in a sticky, I'm looking to get a new receiver, and it seems like he's saying it is NOT worth the extra money to get a receiver that can process sound via HDMI? I'm looking at two Harman Kardon receivers, and one basically does not process HDMI sound and one does. Is it worth the money? Here are the two receivers in particular:

Non-HDMI:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1170289629617

HDMI:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1170289629684

-Matt