wcc - You'll have to keep your eyes open, like you said. I don't see any other items in the price range that I could recommend, other than those two. There is a Rotel RC-1570 up for sale, but I don't know what that is going to sound like. Based on a brief look, it seems that Rotel has a similar approach to Emotiva, but they use higher quality components (such as capacitors, op amps, etc.). Hence, the price is somewhat higher as well. You can see the use of polystyrene caps in the Rotel preamp on the op amp feedback circuits (much better than the metallized caps in the Emotiva). The Rotel also has much better local power filtering on the op amps (you can see the higher number of electrolytics mounted next to the op amps) The Rotel may have better resolution than the XSP, or it may be somewhat equal). It might just be a sideways move, I cannot tell.
The XSP does have one discrete circuit, but this preamp is just littered with tons of op amps all over the place. Emotiva likes to use the OPA2134 op amp, and this is the primary reason that the Emotiva dac/pre do not have the higher resolution we want.
There are some Brystons for sale, but I have had lackluster results from Bryston. Either the Brystons are too bright with no body and decay, or the sound is too slow/subdued. It is all a power supply issue I believe. There is a Krell KAV-250p that may be okay, but it is not going to have the resolution of the newer KAV-280p.
