Something I've noticed, a lot later than most of you I'm sure, is the death of audio outputs on most hardware: laptops, PCs, media streamers. Years ago I bought a Shuttle PC barebones kit that just required CPU, RAM and a hard disk. The tiny motherboard had integrated  sound with 6 channels output (3 x 3.5mm jacks) and optical (spdif/toslink). My old 2015 Macbook Pro even had optical output built into the 3.5mm headphone jack. Practically every computer I owned for over a decade provided at least one way to get surround sound: separate amps, a 5.1 PC speaker setup , an AV receiver...  Something for every budget!All of the newer surround sound formats that emerged from Dolby are HDMI-only because it's got built in content protection. This brings a bunch of problems. Do you have the "right" HDMI cable that supports v2.0? Will your AV receiver play music when the 200 watt TV is switched off? "Maybe".I'm perfectly happy with 5.1 sound - I'm not going to wire up two ceiling speakers for Dolby Atmos. So why should I upgrade my receiver? And if I don't, what other options so I have in 2021?Answer: Not many.