I misunderstood, thought it was an AVR, not separates.
Having said that, it doesn't change my opinion by all that much. The Sonic Impact is a T-Amp, and I think the T-Amps punch way above their weight assuming you pair them with appropriately efficient speakers.
It may be an overly simplistic way to look at it, but take a 7 channel amp for $3K as you say, divide 3K by 7, and you're paying $428 per channel. Add to that the inevitable compromises you get from trying to jam all of those channels into a single box, and the simpler 2-channel amplifier starts to catch up. An over simplification for sure, but there's some merit to it.
To my ears, the AudioSector DAC for $425 (which I once owned) is more musical, more dynamic, and more natural than the twice as expensive Nuforce AVP 16 (which I also owned), which I am guessing in turn is the sonic equal of the heavily feature laden Rotel RSP-1069 (I have not heard or owned). Having said that, there are plenty of reasonably affordable outboard 2-channel DACs out there that should, in my judgement, better the Rotel without trying too hard.
As for amplifier, when I upgraded from my KingRex T-Amp to the Red Wine Audio 30.2 integrated, it was a revelatory experience. My Zu Druids thank for me for the superb pairing.
I don't know if it's in your budget, but if it was in your budget, I'd try a RWA 30.2 on 30 day in-home, risk free audition, and if you still don't think it makes a difference, then be thankful that you saved yourself a bunch of money. If you're looking for lower priced amplifier suggestions, send me a private message and I'll throw in some other recommendations.
Enough chatter from me, I'm sure you're tired of the back and forth. =)