Owls:

Always fun to play devils advocate. Let's take the 1050 for example. In independent tests it has been shown to outperform its specs, plus the method used to generate the specs is much more conservative than some of the competition. Result? Better than expected performance. I agree that 'just listening' can sometimes help us to find unexpected things. Where I and AzRyan seem to part company is that I'm not satisifed to stay there - I what to know what I heard that was different. Only then can it be quantified, and only then can it be determined if it is a difference in improved fidelity or yet another form of 'euphonic distortion' as some call it.