I was just tonight listening to my AVR in stereo/direct mode vs surround. The surround music mode beats the pants off of stereo. Not even close. Stereo sounds old. It is ok and sounds like stereo, the surround music just fills the room with great music that just sounds so much belter. Luckily surround music is coming in a big way. Stereo is just like cassette tapes, old, outdated and just on its way out. I am very sorry to bring this bad news to the discussion. Long live good surround music!