Joy, I'm just curious, what makes the Sony sound so bad? I know it's difficult to put into words the way something sounds, but would you try to tell us how the Sony sounds and what made it worse using the 950's DACs. I use my player's DACs also, they have more of a "pleasing warm" sound, especially with HDCD recordings, the 950's produce a more "harsh, crisp" sound to my wife's and my ears. This is totally subjective, just am curious what you hear.