Jeez, I forgot all about this thread!
Long story short, I sold the Joule equipment and bought the ARS Sonum Filarmonia. I couldnt really hear that great of a difference between the Joule equipment and the ARS and, more importantly, I really like the idea of the simpler integrated amp approach. As mentioned before, there is that slight price difference
so the money that I saved I bought a turntable. There are so many roads in this fun hobby!