Outlaw 950 vs. Sherwood Newcastle P-965 Preamp. Does it make sense to spend extra money and go with the Sherwood? How do they compare?

-Ed

The P-965 is a step up from the 950 and is in my opinion worth the extra money.

[This message has been edited by Cliff Watson (edited May 20, 2004).]

I thought they were the same unit ?

How is it a step up? Aren't all 24-bit+ A/D/A's the same? Does it have a more discreet routing path? What's the difference?

-sbc

The P-965 does offer some new features, but I haven't heard one to know if it offers any sonic benefit. I had a heck of a time finding out details about it when I updated my pre/pro chart: there are several blanks in the chart still due to minimal documentation, and the "find a dealer" page of the site is still "coming soon." It might be worth a demo - especially if you can find a dealer who reps Sherwood and either Atlantic Tech or Sherbourn (so that you can compare the 965 to one of the 950 clones).

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

Oh, is it the Sherbourne unit that is the same ? Not sherwood ?

Correct - Sherbourn and AT both have 950 clones on the market (the PT-7000 and P-2000, respectively). The Sherwood is a separate product, which only came to market in the last few months.

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gonk -- 950 Review | LFM-1 Review | Pre/Pro Comparison Chart | Saloon Links

”The P-965 does offer some new features, but I haven't heard one to know if it offers any sonic benefit.”

Gonk,

The P-965 does provide better sonic benefit (at least in my home theater) than the 950. There are many new features that make the extra $700 well worth the cost. The 950 is an excellent product at its price point and the P-965 serves the same purpose at its higher price point. Some of the many supported features are:

1) Firmware upgrade by the user through Serial Port (RS232) or USB Port.
2) System control through the serial or USB ports.
3) Supports USB audio from a computer.
4) High bandwidth relay based component video switching (less video noise than IC switching).
5) Supports DPLIIx and MPEG audio (the next (first?) user firmware upgrade will add DPLIIx to the 8 channel direct input and will derive the back channels without changing the original 5.1 channels. This firmware upgrade will also add adjustable audio delay to better match lip sync when using digital displays).
6) All video inputs from composite and S-Video converted to component output.
7) Better remote control. Comes with Sherwood branded and pre-programmed MX-500 remote and another remote for ROOM2 control (does not include Multi-Room System Kit).
8) Has Coax Digital for ROOM2 in addition to analog stereo and video.
9) Has Pure Audio mode that shuts down all video and digital processing circuits to reduce system noise.
10) Has front video inputs under a panel door for S-Video, Composite, Analog Stereo, and Digital Optical.
11) Faster audio decoder mode switching in Auto Mode.
12) Decodes DTS 24/96
13) Decodes Multi-Channel MPEG Audio (hoping AAC will be added in a firmware upgrade).
14) DPLIIx can be used with all digital audio formats to derive 2 back channels in addition to stereo.
15) Supports Dolby Virtual Speaker and Dolby Headphone.
16) Has separate LFE Level Trim for Dolby Digital, DTS and MPEG audio.
17) Better FM tuner (much cleaner even with the included dipole antenna).
18) Digital Re-Mastering to 24bit/192kHz
19) 8CH Direct analog input instead of 5.1
20) Can go direct from stereo mode to 8 channel direct mode without having to pass thru a multi-channel mode first.

I don’t know why but the analog input sounds much better when processed thru the P-965. Before my XM Satellite Radio had to be processed by a separate device (Firewire portable sound recording device) before the analog input on the 950. Now I go direct to the P-965 and it sounds great.


[This message has been edited by Cliff Watson (edited May 20, 2004).]

Here's some reading for you because this article brings out all my concerns with "upsampling" better than I can.

www.onhifi.com/features/20010301.htm

Other than that, there are some nice features in that Pre/Pro that maybe should be incorporated into an Outlaw product at some point. However, IMHO, I don't really see how any of them are really going to effect the overall sound quality all that much.

If a SOURCE was recorded at 16 bit 44.1K sampling rate, converting up to 96K, 192K or how many K you like, has no effect on the actual waveform or how it is heard. There is no difference.