I agree that this is bordering on 'Much ado about nothing". BUT in my post I was referring to the hiss in analog, not digital mode. Before I entered the music field heavily, I was an electronics design engineer, and have designed more than my share of analog gain blocks. I would presume that the 950 has something under 20db of analog gain. My previous post was simply that for that amount (or less) of gain, the hiss level seems _somewhat _ excessive. I would expect this amount of hiss from a relatively inexpensive FET input op-amp I.C. (such as a TLO-72) at 20db of gain. I don't know the analog implementation on the 950, and realize that cost is an issue, but I was just stating my findings, and opinions.

By the way, all the hiss comparasions were done at an indicated '00db' on the display on the 950, unless otherwise stated. My system is calibrated for 75db SPL per speaker, using the built-in pink noise generator of th 950.

Also, note that in my opinion, the hiss level is NOT really a problem in my system. The 950 performs very well in all digital aspects, and acceptably in analog. I would have left out the AM/FM tuner however, and put the money into a better analog section.