I wouldn't say tinny! Merely suffers slightly more from the typical AV receiver flaws when it comes to music - timing issues, for example. The Denon - while no musical maestro - sounds more convincing, and is a more refined listen, too.
I'm also interested in replacing my A/V receiver in the same price range. I'd narrowed it down to the Denon AVR-1909 or the Sony STR DA2400ES so I was interested in your recommending the Sony ahead of the Denon.
Is this purely based upon the sound quality (as both have all the connections/decoding etc. that I need)? I'm not interested in the Yamahas because I want a receiver and not an amplifier, but I will wait until your review of the Denon 2309 in next months issue as I'll try and find the extra cash if its much better than the ones I'm looking at now.