which one sounds best either a AV receiver or a DVD player with excellent Multi channel Ampflier

multi channel amplifier preferably Monoblocks...

how do you propose to control the volume ? (I guess by DAC you mean the DTS/DD decoder ..)

volume ctrl its with the multi channel amp
cheers,
Sandeep

volume ctrls may be in the DVD player itself...
generally volume ctrls degrade the sound quality that our ears can distinguish with highend equipment...

cheers,
Sandeep

If you are going for the Dact attenuators then the quality will be almost same... (very little degraded)..
cheers,
Sandeep

ok so you were not talking about a plain power amp .

Yeah thats very possible and very very much done.

But again it depends on the choice of amps.. and very similiar to the Int Amp Vs Pre Power kind of discussion

When it comes to HT, the extra features than a receiver offers like individual control on the attenuation level of each channel, subwoofer coontrol options and many others are advantages which an amp cannot really offer. In that case perhaps an integrated like the ones by NAD/Linnn/Arcam which do the DVD, pre as well as amps might be a good option.

or else you go the DVD, Pre processor and Amp route

so without knowing the brands it is difficult to generalise

else you can just go for a surround processor of the Avant series from Sonodyne....and add on power amps.
Believe me their surround processing in much better than many hifi brands.

Im not familiar with the Maranz DVD player but a receiver or a HT proc is a much better way to go as you have all the bass mgmt settings and a half decent power section with brands like HK.

Even better get a dedicated 7-ch amp with a sep proc costly but the possibilities are endless if one chooses the right proc.

Regards,

Satyam.