Thanks. I ask to many questions here.
My issue is that I have nowhere to try anything out. There is one hifi shop within reasonable distance from me with limited stock. I would't ask to try anything there because everything they sell is at inflated prices. I like to support local but I am talking anything up to 50 percent difference in price in comparison to getting it shipped from up the country, so cannot afford to support them.
I have an amp with usb dac connection in my mind for a while. I could go down the route of the Onkyo (again without listening to it) but I'd be keeping my dac (which was 50 pounds and works great, but I just think and maybe wrongly that a dac that is more upmarket, or indeed intergrated to a good amp may be better than my current set up). The pm6005/6 is almost ideal only for the usb. The pm7005 has usb, and at the moment is more affordable than it was. My only concern is that if I buy it blind that it turns out to be one of Marantz poorer products, which I suspect could be the reason for relatively few reviews.
It will be a while anyway so I'll read bits and pieces. I had hifi money a few weeks ago and my boiler crapped out, so that was the end of that, but the idea was in my head and I'll slowly get a few upgrades