True, AvFan, some of the uniqueness of the RR2150 goes away if you no longer consider its USB input to be essential. But, it is a truly great sounding 2-channel receiver. My decision came down to the RR2150 or refurbished Parasound separates, and while I won't argue that the RR is "better" I will say I'm very happy with what this $500 component has done for my system. The bass management is, as you say, icing on the cake.

One thing about the AE/DAC Magic combination. I experience persistent half-second dropouts when using AirFoil to stream AE Optical Out > DAC Magic > RR2150. I've spent considerable time with the tech support folks at both Cambridge Audio and the makers of the AirFoil software, and it seems like a known problem on AirFoil's end. There's no issue with iTunes at all, just AirFoil for streaming web-based services like Pandora and Last.fm. I assume you'd have experienced this problem in your current setup if it was going to affect you, but still, something to consider.