At an under $700 price point, the 950 is still a serious contender for a person's HT dollar, especially one wanting to get into the field painlessly. We must not forget that one thought that was bandied about when I first tested the 950 almost three years ago was that the 950's (then) under $1K price tag made it more of a "replace" technology rather than an "upgrade" technology for those of us who want the latest gadgets. The fact that it is still performing admirably for a large segment of the population is a testiment to its design.

It takes considerably more money to have both the sound (which to me is paramount) and the latest features. I upgraded a while back because that's just me, not because the 950 was sonically inferior.

For the budget minded, the 950 is still a home run.