It would really help everyone if we all got in the habit of providing links or references to substantiate statements like this. I don't recall seeing any previous discussion about jitter sensitivity causing AVRs to be temporarily non-funtional.
Regarding the points you go on to make (and based on the emerging anecdotal evidence such as those
linked above), I think we are generally in agreement that:
It currently looks as though Denon's move to using ESS DAC chips in recent AVRs may have reduced jitter tolerance, which could lead to an increased ocurrence of audio dropout type problems.
Of course, in the absence of any actual tests or measurements, it may be some time before sufficient anecdotal evidence has accumulated, to make a convincing case.
Then this has to be made very clear at this point.
If current Denon devices have a jitter problem, it is unlikely to be due to the ESS DAC chips, but rather to Denon. If that is really the case and there is a jitter problem at all.
Either the digital audio signal is so bad that it is unusable, or the AVR is so poorly developed that it simply has no right to exist in this day and age. Especially not with the devices you listed in this price range.
It has already been said why the DAC chips in an AVR have nothing to do with it and it doesn't matter whether they are from AKM, ESS, Cirrus Logic, TI or others.
My Yamaha RX-V779 for under €1000 has been fed very poor material from all sorts of sources, including 2 and multi-channel audio, but so far I haven't had any problems. I'm not aware of any problems with AVRs that currently cost less than €500. With more expensive devices this would be ridiculous.
Although I am an AKM fan, half of my DACs have ESS chips (9018, 9028, 9038, 9039) and do not have any higher operating sensitivity than devices with other DAC chips.
Even cheap DAC boards from Aliexpress with ESS 9018, 9028, 9038 with cheap clock and direct i2s input don't cause any problems. Operated on old and simple XU208 XMOS, Amanero (replica) boards or simple SPDIF->i2s converters, with loose i2s connections of 10-25cm without dropouts, without great signal processing.
My experiences relate to over 100 dedicated DACs in the last few years in various projects and all price ranges (100€ to several 1000€) and an additional 20 DIY boards with ESS DAC chips from 5 - 60€.
Based on my experience, I cannot see any functional difference in real-world operation with ESS DAC chips compared to AKM or other manufacturers. I can't see any specific problems or differences in this and other forums either.
For me, the jitter problem with current DACs and AVRs has been solved for years.
It's just the way it is that individual devices are defective or have really poor functionality due to poor development/implementation. If you then draw the wrong conclusions, you will only make life unnecessarily difficult for yourself. Nobody would keep a car with design problems that constantly breaks down.
Apart from classic cars and collector's items.