Do Integrateds sound better than Receivers?

Posting to a thread that has been idle for 8 years, I am obviously wacko.
I have a Rotel RX-1052 receiver. I'd love to experiment with a pre-amp upgrade; but the 1052 does not have a mains-in or any way to bypass the pre-amp that I am aware of. It does have a pre-out, so I could experiment with different amps and use the 1052 as a pre only.

Does anyone think that would be a worthwhile step between where I am and moving to separates, or would it be better to chuck it and get an integrated? I was really looking for an integrated when I bought the 1052 used for $200 (well worth it!!!), but could not find one with the power I was looking for that was manufactured in the last 10 years.

I'd love to upgrade to a Prima Luna or Belles Aria, but I'm not at that budget level yet. Also, since I have Stax headphones, I really need A+B speaker connections to avoid running my speakers through the Stax power supply.

Yes they do sound much better because of build quality and design.

I'm reading these posts about all the buy/sell issues.   I bet I've spend close to a million dollars on that same quest.   If I had my youth again, I'd wait/save/then buy really good stuff.  I know someone will say, but all that really good stuff will be bettered next year.  I have found that nearly always, its the faceplates that get upgraded....not so much the sound.

"Really good stuff" is available without the premium cost of seriously hyped items that may not be better sounding at all. So to people who still have their youth I say, don’t wait! "Sorry Marge, no sound until I get a few years of bonus checks saved up and then it’s D’Agostino all the way!" Get something gently used or new and less precious…Primaluna spends a lot of money to get noticed, as does ARC and many others, and you pay for that. Bigly. I feel buying carefully by reading about what you hope will work generally does…my upgraded Jolida 502p amp (actually bought new for 1200 bucks or something, although I have rolled about $162,000 of tubes around in it) is a case in point as it’s friggin’ great sounding, even when compared (did this comparison in my listening room by the way) to WAY more expensive tube amps…my serious (!) cables bought mostly previously owned, etc…do that…I think it’s more fun.

Good advice wolf_garcia,

always buy used/demo on everything. Get out to your local dealer/retailer and listen, listen, listen prior to any purchase. Happy Listening!