There are so many receivers with so many combinations of features, benefits, ports, port types, etc. Much like buying a Silicon Mac, you are best served to consider both current and long-term future needs (a good Receiver is probably going to last you 10+ years, so buy for 2034 instead of only 2024).
Don't fall into believing claims about any one brand being blanket best or worst. Like pretty much all other electronics, there are good and bad products from
every brand.
Don't overly focus on price here. In very broad generalities, you mostly get what you pay for. So if you focus hard on cheapest-cheaper, you are probably trading off some very desirable features to get that pricing. Work out your features & benefit targets and then find a good price that gets you
ALL of your wants. Especially in A/V tech, people seem to prioritize price above all else and that tends to get them junk.
A good way to START a search is to type "best AV Receivers 2023" and then read articles written by sources who are probably not biased towards some brand and/or likely paid by one brand to (happen to) favor the sponsors brand in the final recommendations. For example, if (nearly) all recommendations are a single brand, I bet that brand buys advertising from that source of information. That search will yield
many such articles, so read through
all of them. Each will teach you some of the many things that might be important to your final selection.
Another good search is to type "How to choose an AV Receiver" and then read ALL of those articles. They will generally cover the basics, so you get a good feel of much of what a Receiver can do for you. Make a list of all wants. That list will help you find that one best choice for you.
Youtube videos on the same subjects will do some show & tell of good info. It's worth watching some
OBJECTIVE ones, not trying to get you to buy any one specific receiver (that's called a sales pitch or infomercial/commercial, not an objective lesson).
One little feature that is very useful for us Apple people is getting one with airplay 2 built in. Then you can "throw" any apple audio from any Apple device to the best speakers in the house. I use this almost nothing feature frequently. Yes, you can airplay to an attached AppleTV to then play the audio on the Receiver too but native airplay on receiver has some distinct advantages.
Consider how many HDMI inputs you might EVER need. That will filter some Receivers out. You need enough for everything you have now and devices you might add in the future...
Look over there at the far right in that picture. If you have a wired network (access), connect via ethernet instead of wifi. That USB jack could let you dig that old iPod out of retirement, load it up with favorite playlists and play music from that iPod instead of tying up some wifi with airplay.
Look through the jacks on the backs of various Receivers to get a sense of all you might use. Be sure the one you choose has that list of jacks.
Consider what kind of home theater speaker setup you will
ultimately want: only 3.1 (3 speakers up front plus sub), 5.1, 7.1, 9.1, 11.1, (true) ATMOS. That choice can filter
many out.
Want it to also play some speakers in
another room or area? Look for Zone 2 Receivers that can play one thing to Zone 2 and the same or something else to the main area (zone 1). Want zone 3? Look for that too...
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Do you need any other kinds of inputs? Perhaps you've got some old A/V tech that has only optical, or only RCA, or super VHS, etc? If so, perhaps look for a Receiver with the jacks so you have the flexibility of directly connecting that stuff too... even if rarely.
Need an easy access input(s) on the front for some occasional need? What inputs? Then screen for that input as you narrow it down. Usually, that's at least a HDMI input on the front side... but maybe something else is important to you too?
Present & future TV 1080p, 4K or 8K? Be sure to choose a receiver that can pass through the max of what your (present and maybe NEXT) TV can receive. HDR10, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, DTS audio processing, etc. Imagine your
future needs so that you get a Receiver capable of continuing to work with future purchases.
If you go to the trouble of really doing your research to make a great decision, you'll buy something for likely less than you pay for any given Apple computing device that you then replace only a few years later... and then replace again only a few years after that. However, chosen well, the Receiver will sustain through 2, 3, 4 or more cycles of Apple tech replacements. So choose it well and budget accordingly.
Once you have a short list of ideal receivers for your specific wants, read reviews for all of them... not on a brand biased site like this one but on sites that seem brand agnostic. Read user reviews posted on sites like Amazon (some of which are payola based but others are bona-fide reviews by purchasers). That should help you narrow in on one best receiver for you.
Buy it from a retailer with a
return policy. Take it home and thoroughly test it as much as you can. Then hook up your A/V stuff to it and let your new central hub rule all. Enjoy it as "brains" of everything and key cog for true surround sound or better audio for the next 10+ years. 5 years from now, when you opt to add that new <whatever device>, just link it in with one cable and enjoy it on the best speakers in the house.
Easily add speakers to build out your surround or true ATMOS setup over time. At some point, you'll be truly immersed in a surround sound field (with actual sound coming from behind you). Your ears will definitely notice vs. all of the fake surround approaches from a single soundbar or only 1-2 speakers physically out front.
And in your case, you'll completely dodge the much inferior Bluetooth-based connections which cut quality of sound (because Bluetooth doesn't have the bandwidth) and readily introduce the lag you've noticed. Like your projector is delivering a BIG picture for your eyes, this is the
BEST way to BIG sound for your ears.
