Quote:
Originally posted by applejelly:
My current take on the 950 is that there appears to be variations among units, huge variations.


It sure seems like that is the case.

Quote:
Originally posted by applejelly:
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? ....


Well, strictly speaking QA wouldn't actually cause this issue, but it would be their job as final arbiters of what's 'good enough to ship' to assure this sort of thing not happen. I'm really wondering (at risk of being ridiculed again) if this might not be a reason behind some clone makers (claims) to be substituting a few higher quality / tighter tolerence parts.

Obviously this would be a real nightmare for QA, since they are responsable for making sure bad units don't happen, but the final blame would be shared with engineering and/or manufacturing. Marketing often plays a big role too, as they often exert a lot of pressure to ship the item in question without due care to ensure engineering, manufacturing and quality assurance are comfortable with the 'good to go' status.
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Charlie