Hi Oliver,
Interesting, and I totally get where you're coming from, as it's largely what I heard too, for precisely the reasons I've just explained.
The AVC, for me, doesn't have the overall resolution of the Goldpoint, in terms of that 'stripping of veils' and 'hearing right into' the music, but it does make some stuff sound more tonally convincing, and has a bit more 'drive' (such as you've noticed with drums).
Therefore, ultimately like any other piece of kit, it's all down to what YOU prefer and what matches best with your system
One thing I would say is that I can assure you the GP didn't possess the qualities you appreciate and recognise in it now, when it was in stock form, until my mate Duncan (tubehunter) rewired the switches, to shorten the signal path (for details, see the thread I started on the Goldpoint), and afterwards when the series resistors were upgraded to Z-foils.
The stock unit, for me, was a huge let down [sounding rather veiled and lacklustre], the opposite from what it does now, and would've been punted on almost immediately, had Duncan not done to it what he did.
Marco.