Pass Then vs. Pass Now

Thanks! I am leaning towards the XA30.8 for many of the reasons stated here. I think I needed to hear someone say that it is in another league above the Rogue sound that I have been listening to (and enjoying - that Sphinx punches way above its class). 

While I love the idea of vintage gear, I am also not that technically inclined myself so I would have to pay for maintenance and deal with the headache. I live in NYC so there are enough local resources to do the job but they are awfully pricey.  Reliability is why I am sticking to solid state in the first place.

That said, the Threshhold sounds like a bargain at the price and one for which there will always be a market if it doesn't work out... 

Great discussion everyone. Really appreciate all the feedback and lively back and forth. 

@liquidsound you raise a great question. Being that I live in an apartment I can't really play too loudly. In fact one of the reasons I am looking to upgrade aside from a general improvement is that I find I need to turn the Sphinx up considerably before there is any weight and dynamics to the music so I am hoping to achieve a fuller sound at lower volumes.

@audphile1 I am glad you brought up the Audio Research LS-25 and Ref1 preamps in combo with the pass amp. Although I am not ready to purchase a new pre yet, I have started to look around and aside from the obvious pairing with an XP-12 I was gravitating towards the AR Ref 3. I also read some really thought provoking reviews of Shindo Labs pre amps but those might be just out of my reach price-wise and difficult to find as well. 

Update, pulled the trigger. An XA30.8 is on the way to me. Looking forward to testing it against my expectations. Will circle back to report on my impressions after I spend some quality time with it. Thanks again to everyone for chiming in with advice!