My current take on the 950 is that there appears to be variations among units, huge variations.

We have units that hiss loudly, units that are virtually dead silent, and all hisses in between. We have units that sound great for music and others that sound flat and dull and others that are bright, lean, with no warmth. We have units that can be at max volume and not clip the amps and others that are plenty loud at -20dB on the volume control.

Sure, everyone has different systems and different opinions, but could people's opinion vary any more than we have seen with the 950?

I am guessing that there is some sort of correlation here. Maybe those units that are hissy, also are louder, more dynamic, more exciting, less warm, and deemed very accurate. Other units that have less hiss, are considered flat for music. I haven't gone through the smattering of opinions to see if this correlation actually exists, but it could be there.

The bigger questions are 1) is there really these huge unit-to-unit variations? and 2) is this the results of QA, part tolerances, or the band-aids used to combat the hiss problem? Makes you wonder if you exchange your 950 for hiss, what you will get with the replacement - could be a totally different animal.