Yes, Corelli, I seem to be mirroring your view on this machine. I'm trying to motivate myself to plug the Chinook in to compare the Marantz's phono stage. For now, all I know is that I'm stunned at how good this phono stage is.
I was not in the market for a Marantz and did 0 research on this guy before buying it. I just wanted to try it. I think my confirmation bias was on the low end of the spectrum. I wasn't expecting anything--maybe a slightly dry picture given it is solid state and Class D. It surprised me!
You must have been very pleased to land on this amp, as it sounds great and it solved your issue. Sometimes that an take multiple purchases, returns, sales, etc. to get right.