I don't understand how the 950 can pass signals so true to their source, yet still be considered 'bright' or 'harsh'? Do people really want a pre-amp that's going to 'blur' the source material?
Mike, I completely agree with what you are saying. I still think the 950 is pretty much neutral in that it doesn't add much "color" to the sound one way or the other. It is very revealing, but not what I would call "bright" in my opinion.
No offense to anyone who bought one, but it's a $900 product. If you get the sound you can't really expect looks and quality buttons and controls for that price too. Nothing is for free. You get what you pay for.
Well, I for one, are going to have to disagree with you. The 1066 looks fine, but so does the 950. I like the volume knob on the 950 over the one on the Rotel- you can hardly turn it. The buttons on both are ok IMO. As far as getting what you pay for, I believe the 950 would sell for about what the 1066 sells for if it were offered at the local B&M- in the $1275.00- 1350.00 range would be my guess. Maybe more as it does have a tuner and some other features not available on the 1066. I have listened to the Rotel a couple of times now, it find it to be a really nice sounding product. After hearing it described as sounding warm,I was surprised to find it to be somewhat bright to me (coupled to a Rotel amp, DVD player and B&W CDM9's)and maybe slightly lacking in detail. In reality, I would probably have a hard time telling the difference between the two if I were blindfolded unless I spent a lot of time with them. (I'm referring to 2 channel music here). Like Merc said, the other equipment in the chain plays a big part also.
The biggest problem the Outlaw's have today is they can't get product fast enough to satisy the demand. And that seems to be about their only real problem. So- if you are going to have problems- that's a pretty good one to have.
And I'm glad we have this place to agree to disagree if we feel the need.