SQ compared to what?
What is different in the SQ?
Were you initially running the front speakers directly from the Marantz AVR?
Is the McIntosh an integrated amp or a pre-amp?
If it's a pre-amp, what's the amp and how do you know the amp is not "at fault"?
Does the Marantz have a room correction application you need to re-run?
"Love to know if passive output inside schiit preamp hurts quality of signal." is a totally loaded statement. Why Schiit, specifically? Why not some other pre-amp with passive output? Which Schiit? Who is to say, definitively, what constitutes "hurts"? Either YOU like the way it sounds or YOU don't.
If you decide to use a Schiit pre-amp, make sure you know what you are doing. Search the forums as this has been beaten to death.
In all likelyhood, Schiit is not for you.
Best to search: <http://www.audiophile.no/en/articles-tests-reviews/item/426-amplifiers-with-processor-input>
What is different in the SQ?
Were you initially running the front speakers directly from the Marantz AVR?
Is the McIntosh an integrated amp or a pre-amp?
If it's a pre-amp, what's the amp and how do you know the amp is not "at fault"?
Does the Marantz have a room correction application you need to re-run?
"Love to know if passive output inside schiit preamp hurts quality of signal." is a totally loaded statement. Why Schiit, specifically? Why not some other pre-amp with passive output? Which Schiit? Who is to say, definitively, what constitutes "hurts"? Either YOU like the way it sounds or YOU don't.
If you decide to use a Schiit pre-amp, make sure you know what you are doing. Search the forums as this has been beaten to death.
In all likelyhood, Schiit is not for you.
Best to search: <http://www.audiophile.no/en/articles-tests-reviews/item/426-amplifiers-with-processor-input>