At what volume level? I myself haven't taken my RX-A4A up to reference level yet, about -15 db is as high as I've taken it. We can all guess on what Gene has found on Yamaha's RX-A6A, he did state that his findings on the pre-amp was state of the art. I did read up on the higher slow rate thing, and if not design right can introduce distortion or raise the distortion level. Maybe someone with more expertise will chime in on the (higher slew rate).