Supposedly, Conrad-Johnson had some chassis left and built the last Sonographe for a store in PA. Because they didn't have a surplus of original parts, C-J used caps and resistors from their regular line. At least that is the story. I got the last one the store had and it was an open box. Sounded great when I got it and sounds great today. More power than any sane person would need, with the Lores.
My pre was sent back for upgrades twice and is at the limit for mods. I keep it because I have a stash of 12ax7s.
The Onkyo I own is the 7030. It has been reliable. Using the internal dac, it sounds a bit warm, or pronounced in the lower registers. But it is not too shabby, as is. I used it first with an Ack! Dac II, and now with the LH Labs Pulse. The Ack! is now in my second system with an old Toshiba DVD feeding a Norh SE9, to some Madisound BK16 horns with Dayton Titanic subs. I really would hate to say which system sounds best.