NewB asking Separate Amp vs. Receiver

[E-Stat]

In all honesty, I suspect if we were to employ known measurement techniques, the differences would be much, much smaller.

Indeed. Similarly, we share 98% of the same DNA as the chimpanze. That last 2%, however, does make quite a difference!

Do you have a tested, proven scale of reference you use when making such comparisons?

Certainly not as none exists. Conventional audio metrics exhibit very poor correlation to perceived performance. Also, what's important to me may not be important to you. I think the only current basis for comparison is for one to identify their preferences and point(s) of reference as best as they can to put their comments into perspective.

rw