tgrisham, thank you sharing your experience with the 950. The hiss issue is not severe to me in normal listening condition, at 0dB the hiss with analog inputs is audible at around 2 feet way from the speakers, it would start to become more annoying while the volume is going higher from there. At +10dB, I can hear the hiss from the listening position (8 feet away). There is no hiss at all for me with digital inputs.

Based on what I heard from many of the 950 owners at this forum, this level of hiss seems well acceptable. Other than this issue, I am pretty happy with the 950 performance after my two weeks' ownership. Will continue my evaluation with all different music I have for another two weeks, and see if anything would come up to change my mind.

Your Aragon Stage One is a great pre/pro, continue to enjoy it!