I know this thread has not been responded to in a long time but I thought I would bring it to life for thoughts from other SP3 owners.
I am one of the original owners of the SP3 with serial number 112. I still think this is one of the only Pre/Pros on the market that caters to the audiophile because it has 2 channel and 5.1 channel analogue bypass through an analogue volume control. Everything else out there takes an analogue signal converts it to digital (because the volume control is digital) and then converts it back to analogue. I have tried many other pre/pros for pure analogue and I have not found anything that sounds as open and non fatiguing other than a dedicated 2 channel pre amp when I listen to 2 channel. That being said, the Bryston is 8 years old. In tech years that is a lifetime. The advancement in DAC's, HDMI, DSP's etc change (improve?) every year.
I am faced with a decision based on the fact I now have more than 2 UHD 4K/HDR sources and my Bryston still has the original HDMI boards which will not pass 4K. In fact I found out that Bryston is now on there 4th HDMI board since the SP3 was introduced 8 years ago. I have been able to get around that limitation because my Oppo had 2 HDMI output so I run the video direct my my JVC projector and the audio to the SP3. The Oppo also has an HDMI input for my Apple 4 TV with HDMI bypass.
I think the fact that technology is changing every couple of years that any Pre/Pro will need to be upgraded every couple of years. This leads me to my question:
It seems to make sense for me that investing in a high quality analogue pre amp with Home Theatre Bypass (that will not be obsolete for many years) and then getting any AVP for handling my 7.1 home theatre might make the most sense. The advancements in AVP's and receivers is primarily around Immersive audio, video processing, room correction, staying current with HDMI standards etc. For the most part they are disposable in 2 or 3 years.
I also have a latest generation Marantz in another room and I have experimented with it in my media room. I have kept everything else the same and just replaced the SP3 with the Marantz. For 7.1 movies the Marantz sounded as good as the SP3, was easier to set up, passed all 4K signals to my projector etc. but for analogue 2 channel was not even close.
For my particular situation:
Immersive sound is not important, my room is set up for 7.1 channels and that will not change.
I don't require room correction because my room has been treated and measures flat from all seating positions.. In fact when I had the Marantz in the room I used the room calibration feature of the Marantz and found that for 7.1 it actually sounded better when I disabled that feature.
I don't need any video up conversion or processing in my pre pro. I will leave that up to my source (Oppo 203, Apple 4K, Marantz Blu ray) or my JVC projector.
In reality if the SP3 had the latest DAC's, and passed 4K, 60Hz, 4:4:4 12 bit signal with all the HDR standards, plus had a DAC that converted a 2 channel or multi channel DSD signal through HDMI that would be perfect. Until 8K comes out in a couple of years
Upgrading the SP3 to the current latest specs for HDMI board and USB DAC would cost about $3,800 which at best would buy me a couple of years until HDMI standards change again.
Or I could sell the SP3 and put that money into any Receiver from Marantz (with pre outs) or any AVP for 7.1 sound and a good quality 2 channel pre amp with home theatre bypass.
If my overall budget is around $10K that seems to make the most sense. If I look at the Bryston SP4, The McIntosh MX170 and MX123 Trinnov, Marantz AV 8805 they are all catering to videophiles that want all the latest immersive sound capabilities and have very elaborate video processing capabilities.
It seems that they new Theta is more catering to what I am looking for but at a very high price