George,

I said "I heard" not I tried......

I was told by Meridian Tech's that the AO13 Card and the 861 were superior to the G68 as I was interested in both and wanted to take a decision between the 2 based on analog performance.

I went with the 861 based on that reference.

However, the question was has anybody compared either the 861 or G68 to a good preamp and since I had, I put in my 2 cents.

The 861 as a Preamp is the only processor I have owned that actually crossed over and could do both after owning Lexicon 12B, and many other top Processors including Krell, Parasound, McIntosh, Anthem etc...

when you say "should be comparable" are you saying the AO13 is exactly the same as the G68XXV then ?

Meridian 861V4, 808i, McIntosh MC1201(2), MC252, MC501, DVDO VP50PRO, Sony Bravia 52inch, Sony BDS500, B&W 800D's(2), 804s(2), ASW825, HTM1D, Nordost Frey, Transparent RR