Of course. What did you expect? Yamaha is one of the only HT receiver builders even including a phono stage these days, although at the price points they sell the receivers you gotta figure that they can't be putting more than a few bucks toward the phono stage. To compare it to a stand-alone phono preamp and find the stand-alone superior is not news.
What is news, in my opinion, is that the phono stage Yamaha includes in its HT receivers in fact holds it own very well against entry-level phono preamps. I am presently using an RX-V2400 receiver for all my listening (a spouse compromise thing) and sold my Rotel RQ-970BX becuase the Yammie phono stage is at least as good as it. I'd say that the Yammie phono stage also compares favorably with the entry-level NAD.
So, if I were you I would not conclude, as you do, that your listening "test" demonstrates that the Anthem Pre1P is a terrific stage (although I'm sure it is) -- most non-entry-level phono stages will sound "terrific" compared to the onboard stage of an HT receiver. The more accurate conclusion is that Yamaha is still including a very competent phono stage in its HT receivers, for virtually nothing. For someone looking for a single solution to their 2-channel and multi-channel needs, this puts the Yamaha in a class, at its price-points, by itself.
What is news, in my opinion, is that the phono stage Yamaha includes in its HT receivers in fact holds it own very well against entry-level phono preamps. I am presently using an RX-V2400 receiver for all my listening (a spouse compromise thing) and sold my Rotel RQ-970BX becuase the Yammie phono stage is at least as good as it. I'd say that the Yammie phono stage also compares favorably with the entry-level NAD.
So, if I were you I would not conclude, as you do, that your listening "test" demonstrates that the Anthem Pre1P is a terrific stage (although I'm sure it is) -- most non-entry-level phono stages will sound "terrific" compared to the onboard stage of an HT receiver. The more accurate conclusion is that Yamaha is still including a very competent phono stage in its HT receivers, for virtually nothing. For someone looking for a single solution to their 2-channel and multi-channel needs, this puts the Yamaha in a class, at its price-points, by itself.