Bill Riel said:

One thing that I noticed: on the specs they list THD at 0.2% - I fully
confess my ignorance of such things, but is that possibly audible? The
only reason I bring it up is that, for example, the Denon receiver I own
(2106) has somewhat similar specs (lower power though and not THX), but
they list THD at 0.08%

Would these still largely sound the same below clipping?

Whatever you do, don't audition it before buying it. That would spoil the
surprise.