Merc,

to a high degree i agree with you. But to add to the confusion consider which cables are being run if you are using the analog passthrough or even the analog input on the 950.

I still found the 950 a little edgy on the top end while using the Outlaw interconnects for music playback. After i added a cd player with a smooth, layed back sound quality and used some other good analog interconnects to feed the 950 the sound now became beautifully detailed with no sign of harshness. (the cd player is an Arcam 8SE and interconnects are the Acoustic Research Master series)