Rightly or wrongly in this audio adventure, I finally decided that how it sounds is the bottom line for me. That's why I sold the Oppo and various Emotiva gear and ended up with Parasound and some Nad pieces.
Anyway, as for this P5, it does look a little empty on the inside for sure(the Oppo 95 looked amazing on the inside but was bested by a Nad C565bee), but I've never heard one. I do remember that the early ones had an issue with the volume pot, and Parasound had owners ship them back for warranty repair.
If I was in the market for a $1100 pre today, I'd have the P5 on my short list, because I've come to trust Shram, it's a solid company that really does put audio first. Still, I'm quite happy with the P7.