Maggie 1.7i's lack detail. Ideas?

you likely need a hearing checkup indeed. That or your sources/amplification are not that revealing.

Or perhaps I just need to chill out when I see something egregious like this comment yet meaningless in the grand scheme of things.

You do realize this is effectively an ad hominem attack rather than addressing the point directly?  When an opinionated audiophile has no other arguments to make, they call the other person deaf or insult their gear.  

To be clear, my Maggies are true ribbon models. Perhaps the QR versions are less detailed, I would not know.  But I would not generalize on all Magnepans regarding this issue.

Specifically regarding the Focals, I would not call it more detail.  I would call it more forward detail.  I think it's a matter of taste which is preferable.  

I have a pair.  The crossovers in them are made of cheap low quality parts.  I had my crossovers rebuilt with high quality identical spec parts and they improved dramatically.  Detail was quite good post mod.

I have a pair.  

If you're referring to Maggies. I had a similar experience. True active bi-amping made a world of difference on these.  I assumed it was because the crossovers are quite old.  

If you are using the marantz as a preamp that is a big part of the problem, I used a marantz AVR as a preamp with a Krell amp and apogee duetta speakers, couldn't get it out of there fast enough. I bought a dedicated preamp and everything fell into place.

your depressing me helomech.  I'm going to try upgrading the DAC and pre-amp.  See what happens.   Maybe what I am hearing is the difference between a true ribbon and quasi.   And there are definitely levels of audio they are mainly a question of budget.   I am not going full out financially on this.   Will see what happens.