By the way, I am not really sure if analog filters used in the P6 are better than the digital ones used in the AVR related/derived integrated amps. I actually tend to think that digital may actually be better. Imo, if you reality either you believe in purity then you have to forgo bass management altogether and stick with traditional preamps that don't use ICs and dsps (or the minimal),or if you can "trust" technological advance made in ICs/DSPs, bass management or even REQ then may as well go for units fitted with Dirac/Anthem ARC or even Audyssey XT32. The latter 2 are only available for multichannel units obviously.
You still have your PM 8005 right? I think it has a very high quality preamp section, but then again no bass management.
Since I'm in the midst of testing some products like this, thought I would weigh in. In a perfect world, I tend to agree that digital is better. Using the best quality DSP based systems, I think you can achieve better results with digital chips than with analog equivalents. They are more accurate, channel to channel balance can be maintained at just fractions of a decibel at all levels (very hard to do with analog parts). Crossover points can be set precisely. Group delay can be addressed and minimized. EQ can be added without adding problems. Channel separation can be huge, like 100db plus huge, without using expensive and large parts.
And in my best digital gear, that is what I see. Everything is as good as it gets.
Consumer gear, even pretty expensive consumer gear is another issue. While there are always compromises with all designs, I am finding that consumer-grade DSP implementations are really noisy.
https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/r-n803/index.html
Here is a good example. I have one of these in for review/long term loan to use as the basis of modestly priced 2-channel gear. The thought was I would use this because it is more similar to what most people use and thus the sound would be good, but I wouldn't be telling people that a $1000 a pair bookshelf sounded awesome when paired with my preamp/DAC/Amps that cost many times as much. And...I actually really like this thing. Musicast is great, the amplifier section sounds good, the entire analog design is great for this price. The DAC is very good, upgraded DAC's didn't sound much different at all.
But the DSP used in this that runs the sub out, does bass management, and does YPAO is very noisy. Most people won't notice with speakers of modest sensitivity. I didn't notice until I measured it, and it wasn't obviously audible until I used it to power a really sensitive pair of speakers. But, the reality is, that DSP chip is VERY noisy compared to the rest of the amplifier. Put it in bypass mode and its night and day. If you turn the volume up to unity gain, there is a loud hiss that turns to total silence in bypass mode.
Digital is probably better, but unless it's a pro-audio piece or really high-end home audio piece, these DSP chips that are commonly used are kind of awful from a fidelity standpoint.
