I thought I would experiment with using the RD160 as a preamp and bypass the preamp in the RA180. Turns out you can only set the RA180 into bypass on Input 3 which is single ended, so I just set the RA180 to around 80-90% volume and enabled the preamp on the RD160. With the RA180 set to 100% there was noticeable static/distortion without anything playing, so I dialed it back. Not sure what the passthrough/bypass volume equivalent is, but I might do some near-field measurements of the tweeter hiss without signal of Input 3 on bypass mode to see if I can match it in balanced.
Initial impressions are positive, but without being able to do a quick A/B test with matched SPL, its hard to tell if its in my head.
If anyone is interested in trying it out, I’d love to hear your impressions. A plus of this is having a subwoofer out that actually changes with your volume control by using both outputs of the RD-160.