Are you correcting the entire curve? I limit mine to 3x the Schroeder frequency for my room (around 1KHz) and let the speakers do their thing above that. You said you have run Denon's room correction. Those things combine to make a speaker sound oddly quieter for the same SPL, but also very real, effortless, and alive. Also possibly the awesome low frequency extension and very dead cabinet. If I had to guess, in addition to room and directivity (how a speaker's dispersion patterns interact with the room), you are hearing lower distortion and higher dynamic range in those 802s. The question is, is any combination of those things your problem? The 2nd question is, will any given preamp perform better in the right areas? Lower crosstalk (better channel separation) What you could hope to gain by switching to a dedicated preamp:ģ. It is very difficult to compare different systems in different rooms in different places. The Modius DAC is objectively a better performer than the Denon as a DAC, but I cannot hear any difference. I do not hear any differences in realism or anything else that would make me want to swap electronics. When I compare music listening experiences through the 2 pathways, I hear the difference between Dirac Live and Audyssey room correction and the addition of the subs (for some material). My media room is dual purpose like yours, and I spent a lot of time on setup and treatment to get it right. This, for example, is a good place to start:
There is a lot of great information out there on how to diagnose your problem and solve it without switching electronics around. Your main "complaint" being lack of realism focuses me on the room and the speakers' interaction with it (especially cancellations). Once electronics pass a certain threshold of performance, the audible differences between them become very slight.
I think your problem lies with your room and/or your speaker placement. What specific problem do you think your AVR has, and how do you think adding external gear will solve it?