IMO the way to go is use a good AVR as a preamp (mine is a Yammy Aventage AVR) and get a good amp (mine is a Schiit Vidar) and have the amp drive a really good speaker (mine are maggie LRS). This way you can enjoy the benefits of an AVR (DVD, bluray, 4K, streaming, cable TV, netflix, etc.) and still have audiophile sq when you want it. Preamps do not have sound quality despite all the audiophile nonsense.