Bosso:

About the only change I can hear is one I also heard on the prototype: it sounds a bit more 'spatial', in that it seems to have a more open and 'big' soundfield. Tonally, it sounds very, very good. In stereo, I have a switch where I can directly A/B the 950/DVD combination (optical input to the 950) to a direct feed from the excellent DACs in my DVD player. I can hear absolutely no tonal difference in my system when doing this. Given the details of that was changed in the new 950, this makes sense.

Soundhound,

When you visited me and heard my 950 you said it had that 950 "signature" sound which you recognized from your 950 at home. Do the new 950's have the same 950 sound "signature"?

Will:

I'd say less so, but I've done some pretty massive tweak-improvements in my system since I had the prototype and now. I didn't hear any obvious signature in the comparason in my above post. As always, YMMV.

Those seem pretty respectable and in line with the 'competition' numbers from the various test reports I've read.

Nice work Outlaw!

The earlier original 950 and the red dot 950 you heard here had, to me, similar sound signatures. However I also had an intermediate version of the 950, but only briefly. The intermediate 950 had much less of the aforementioned signature. And it hissed less too. It sounded different, but good. It also was less harsh, warmer than the other 950's. But at the end of the day, I ended up returning it since it sounded so different from both the earlier original 950 and the later red dot 950. I decided I didn't want to keep a specially-modified one-off 950. But it was a close call.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited December 21, 2002).]

I hate to take this slightly offtopic but...

soundhound...you mentioned the DAC's in your DVD player are better...I have the newer ELiTE DV-45A... how would the DAC's compare to the 950's? I guess I'll have to let my ears be the final judge but any opinions would make that "voice in my head" go away


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Play it LoUd!!

[This message has been edited by SpOoNmAn (edited December 21, 2002).]

I said that the DACs in my Sony DVP 7000 were excellent, not better than the 950 The comparason between the player alone and the 950 didn't reveal any differences in sound. I haven't heard the Pioneer, nor many DVD-As or SACDs. I do however hear multi-channel masters of movie music soundtracks daily on my sytem, which is an editing and mastering studio.

Will:

Since I heard the prototype 950 and now, I have designed a new electronic crossover for my main L/R speakers. It's now a fourth order Linkwitz/Riley at 60Hz and 1,200Hz, verses the third order Butterworth I'd had for years. I also made the subwoofer crossover switchable between 12db and 24db per octave low pass. The main L/Rs do not have a high pass now. The change in crossover necessitated a whole slew of other changes (improvements) which were revealed by the better time alignment inherent in the Linkwitz/Riley crossover. While I was at it, I designed a regulated power supply for the filaments in my single-ended triode tube power amp, which powers the high frequency horns of the L/R speakers. This eliminated a slight buzz from the high frequency horns that wasn't audible from more than a foot or so away, but bothered me nonetheless: the buzz is gone now. The bottom line is that the sound of my system is a bit different now (and better), so comparasons of the 950 before I did the changes, and now are difficult.

[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited December 21, 2002).]

Thanks for the clarification. Perhaps the improvements described above can be attributed to the details of what was changed in both the prototype 950 and the new one?


[This message has been edited by Will (edited December 21, 2002).]

Will:

This is what I posted in another thread:

The new 950 is the only revision (unless I'm mistaken) that uses entirely new op-amps in some key stages. The parts have been massively upgraded to ones generally used in pro-audio equipment. This will make a difference in the sound, for the better.

The presence of hiss does in certain instances give the impression of more 'high end'. This was a real problem in the days when Dolby noise reduction was first introduced to the recording industry. Many people thought the high frequencies sounded muffled, but in fact it was just the absence of tape hiss that gave the impression of less high frequencies.

I would be very curious to hear your impressions when you get your replacement 950.