I've had my AvaStar for a little over a month now. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the differences or improvements vs. the Insight as I upgraded from an OmegaStar EC.
I CAN say that the AvaStar is an outstanding pre amp. Even my wife notices the difference and she's one of those MP3 is good enuf types.
It's very quiet and drops to absolute black when no signal present. I was wondering if I accidentally turned it off! Mechanically very nice as well - nice switches and controls. Also, the headphone amp is everything Frank said it was when I picked it up. Using Grado SR225i and it rivals my Maggies.
The soundstage is just amazing. The depth of the image is what I noticed immediately. The timbre of different pianos brands, guitars and anything acoustic is something that astounds me. I've had some very high end gear through the years but I have to say I've never listened as intently to or heard the individual nuances as I have since I put this in the system.
The one drawback is that there are CDs that I just can't listen to now as they sound so glaring/harsh and poorly recorded/mixed as to be unlistenable with this pre. I relegated them to the computer hard drive and listen on my small bookshelf/sub combo - love the content but the sound quality is not up to my new standards.
Anyway, although I can't give you a heads up comparison I can say that the AvaStar will not disappoint any serious listener and music fan.
