Stereo Listening - Move to Emotiva XSP-1 or Stay with Marantz AV8801

[lovinthehd]

There’s no doubt the GoldenEars improved the SQ and I don’t believe I could have had better in that price level.
As for the Emos, haven’t done A-B sound test against the old Anthem as it is not a trivial task to do if you don’t have amp switcher such as in stereo shops. I plan to do some experiments but it would have to relay on memory rather than have a seamless switching between the amps.
And speaking of memory, playing the same material I used to play on the Anthem, my internal feeling is that there is an improvement.

I agree it can be difficult to properly compare amps.

Also hard to get away from the consumerism side of things, i.e. the gratification/expectation involved with something you've bought.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I mean more transparency and realism.
I’m trying to understand which is the weakest link now and my initial thought was the lack of pure stereo preamp and maybe better CD player (with better DAC).

The weakest links include the Room Acoustics (if your Room is bad), the Processor (EQ), and Speakers/Subs.

The strongest links include the preamp, amp, CD player, DAC, and wires.