Sorry for resurrecting a Zombie Thread, but I just had to say something here...
I own an A-S700 as well, and chose it over the A-S500 after auditioning both. Other than a beefier power supply and the built-in opamps for directly connecting the CD input to the power amp section (the "CD Direct Amp" feature) the A-S700 is not really much different from the A-S500.... And yet the some reviewers HATE the A-S700 ("What HiFi" springs to mind here - who then go and awards the A-S500 top honours in its price class).
It is very strange. Makes me wonder what criteria (if anything tangible) is applied.