Yuck. Denon. Lol. Just kidding.
Matt, do you have 2 preamps you can compare now in your possession? The pioneer and something else? That way you canmuck around and do a dry run first. You would almost need to make measurements between setups to be sure you werent imagining changes.... Or go to a store and listen to a few side by side for fun.
The reason I would say there is differences is not so much the preamp itself, but all of the processing choices and filters within the unit that make it different than something else. Example, high res decoding in my oppo vs my AVR sounds different. Not a subtle difference either.
But seriously, yuck Denon.
