"There was some hiss on Jim's system, but quite acceptable in both the 950's case and the Anthem"

So Kevin your saying you could hear hiss thru the Anthem. Presume you mean without any source playing? Any tape measured distance / ear to tweeter to report?

Based on the hiss you heard from each unit, do you belive the 950s to be acceptable/just highly talked about. I guess why I'm asking is you hear no hiss complaints at the HTF on the Anthem/several other issues (not all positive) are being discussed.

To me its interesting how much the 950s hiss continues to be discussed/given that it appears you heard a similar hiss from the Anthem. More and more, it seems to go back to "system dependent", and those with unacceptable hiss have a unhappy marriage among their equipment somewhere.