So you have a great hi end stereo preamp, but

You hurt my feelings.  Time for some uplifting Barry Manilow youtube vids from my amazing ht system.

@millercarbon

"Oh, he can. For sure. Probably does. So what? Its still ruining the sound merely having the thing in the same room. People probably think I’m kidding, or exaggerating. I am not. I tried all this stuff, and with much better processors than any avr! HT is a wasteland. Guaranteed to bring down any system, any price, even just being in the room and turned on. Not even necessary to connect it to anything. Its that bad."

Nonsense.

There's plenty of products known to improve sound merely being plugged into an outlet. So we know for a fact things plugged in can affect the sound quality of other things that are plugged in. You seem to think this is a one-way street. That things connected to the grid cannot harm sound quality.

Nonsense.

It's pretty simple really, AVR's suck for 2 channel audio! They were designed for multi channel surround sound, and that's the domain that they should stay in. If you desire quality 2 channel sound, then you will need to open your wallet. Anything else is just a compromise.