moving on from Emotiva UMC-200 pre/processor

No no..not needed anymore, thx. No one reading hear needs care if some specific inference or special form of answer to your question gets answered in some unique manner! Thx for the games though.
You know what you are!...and that's all that counts, "Mr avoid THE IMPORTANT POINTS IN QUESTION!" - which was making your case of the Adcom actually being what some paid off biased review in an audio rag said it was..when CCCLLLEEEEAAARLY the entire audiophile community found out otherwise, including myself! That's fine..just skirt around the meat of the matter here, for what anyone cares to discuss. Surely we all think you're cool and edgy with your redirect of a redirect! WWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! Isn't this fun.??!!

Summation, apparently without rebutal: Adcom GFP750 was/is NOT so special!..so as we all could share in your heart felt sentiment towards this overrated piece of mind-first gear!!! If it was, I surely woulda bought one for a few rooms in the house, years ago, when I had the chance at dealer cost!
Thx fer the giggles! Don't bother with anymore circumventions of actual audio talk...cause that's all u got

Mid-fi gear..my bad.
..Same goes fer the Oppo, it seems, as no stepped forward to defend its direct analog connect to an amplifier, passive application merits vs others, nor active pre comparison.
Oh well...tried

The JC-2 is packed for shipping to Parasound for the by-pass mod, so I've been listening to the Oppo 105 direct to Proceed HPA 2 & 3 amps that drive KEF Reference 107/2 mains and 102 surrounds. I think the sound is pretty damn good, a quality of sound I could easily be happy with.

db

Great! So direct Oppo vs Oppo to passive pre vs Oppo to active pre should be easy to judge the differences and quantify??. Like to hear the results posted, if u dare?? Yes,please compare difficult dynamic large scale stuff to compare would be awesome, n inform us all what differences u found comparing the diff connect arrangements?
Yes, oppo is as I suspected, read reviews as better than most, but bellow world class disc spinners for more money. From what I gather, I'm sure I could live with moded versions. Which ver is best bang fer???
yeah yeah...probably look into getting one for all it accomplishes.
Then again we WILL be going 4k and even disc-less real soon. Soooooooo.......

Avoground, you're reading far too much into my posts. For stereo, I prefer my Ayre C-5xeMP for CD and SACD or my Thorens TD 124 with SME Series III arm and Ortofon SMS 30H cartridge through the Parasound JC-3 for vinyl. Of course, both of those sources go through the JC-2. OTOH, an opera on Blu-ray DTS HD MA played on the Oppo 105 and projected onto our 100" screen is a treat.

db