Spent some time reconstructing a turntable and when finished plugged it in to my Luxman R-3045 receiver and the phono stage died.

So, I have been without the ability to play records, thus I went back to my dusty old cd collection. Was really satisfied with my cd setup with my AV receiver (Pioneer VSX-919). So, I thought I could settle with the AV receiver as my main amp.

Was going to sell or give away the Luxman, as I had just ordered a Cambridge 640p stage and really used the Luxman for vinyl only.Well on a day I had time to kill i thought I would hook up the cd player ( Sony DVP-NS755V SACD player) just to give the Luxman one last try before getting rid of it.

Wow. What the hell!?!?! It sounds really really good. CD's still sound thin compared to vinyl, but they sound better than I have ever heard them.

I don't get it. Why is this combo through ic's smoking my new AV receiver through digital inputs?

Is it Luxman, or amps back then were better made, the DAC in the Sony, what? I am now dubious about new affordable amps.

Are the new channed British makes comparable to the older mid-fi to hi-fi stuff?