Anyone own one of these preamps ?

Those preamps are sonically all over the place hence you’re predictably getting recommendations all over the place.  What’s he using now, what specific improvements is he looking for, and what amp is he using (need to know input impedance for proper matching).  Without that critical info this is just a random crapshoot. 

Folks the fact the remote is metal is not the important point. It is the fact the engineers wanted to give as much thought to the remote as the Anthem STR itself.

They were concerned in the complete product experience. This carries on to the complete product, The ARC room correction is worth the price alone. The MC and MM phono inputs add significant value. It has no HDMI but is designed for 2 channel Stereo listening, they make a unit for home theater AVM70. I love well engineered products having enjoyed B&W,Yamaha,Luxman,phase Linear,Nakamichi and may other well known well engineered products.

The STR is well engineered to the point that it has a remote to match, No the remote does not make it sound better, but the rest ois just as engineered to match.

I love mine and will buy its replacement from Anthem knowing it will be just as well designed. Thanks

I had an RP-7. Even after finding tubes that were quiet, it was just "meh."

@soix these are units that more or less intrigued him in one way or another over the past 5 or 10 years but as I said in the original post, he’ll need to determine synergies (or lack of) with the rest of his system.    He’s running Parasound A21+ as power amp now but it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he may upgrade his amp too at some point.    
 

He’s more or less anti-social-(media), or I’d make him do this himself.    

I have a Mark Levinson 326S preamp.  Love it. $5100 on US audio mart, just checked.