Processor question

auxinput, I have used the Bryston SP3 as a stereo preamp and it is very good, but I prefer the sound with the Ayre KX-5 Twenty.  That preference is compounded with the KX-5 being used with a DX-5 DSD disc player and QX-5 Twenty Roon endpoint as sources and a VX-5 Twenty amp, all balanced of course in the Ayre fashion.

db 

I just had the McIntosh MC257 delivered today and the MX123 is on order. At the moment I run B&W 702 S2 with matching center and  B&W DB4S subwoofer using a older MC7270 thru a Marantz A/V receiver and it sounds really nice. The new set up should be 100% improvement.
But getting to the point. I have researched A/V preamps going on 2 years and decided on the MX123 because of sound, build quality almost future proof and its a Mac. Lets face it, nothing is future proof but this will be my last system excluding speakers.
I’ve heard this system and I think I made a good choice.
Bottomline, let your ears do the spending and not someone else’s.

@millercarbon

  My experience after trying a whole slew of these things is there is no way to add a processor without your stereo taking a hit.

Actually, I found a great way.

My power amp has both SE and Balanced inputs that are active at the same time.  I run the front channel pre out from my AVR to the RCA jacks on the power amp, and I run balanced from my stereo preamp to the amp.  When the stereo is active, the HT system is off, which results in no adverse affects to the 2 channel system.  When the HT system is active, the 2 channel preamp is off.

Great stereo, surprisingly good 5.1.2  HT (this is not the main HT system).  This works great without sacrificing any sound quality on the 2 channel system.

I run the front channel pre out from my AVR to the RCA jacks on the power amp, and I run balanced from my stereo preamp to the amp. When the stereo is active, the HT system is off, which results in no adverse affects to the 2 channel system. When the HT system is active, the 2 channel preamp is off.

I would be extremely careful if you do this.  If the amp has switch that allow you to select between RCA and XLR inputs, then great!

If the amp does not have a switch, it is likely that the RCA input is wired directly to the XLR "positive polarity" pin.  You could potentially cause damage on the unused preamp because the voltage is feeding back into the analog output stage of the preamp/processor that is turned off.

Thanks for that.  It's easy enough to test.