John:

I wouldn't expect a different response from you - you believe what you want.

You misrepresented what I said. I do not rely on specifications alone in my equipment purchases - if there are sonic differences, I want to know the reasons for them from an engineering standpoint, so that I know my ears are not playing tricks on me, or I am being influenced by external conditions. Using a sonic preference alone can lead to the purchase of equipment that is unacceptably colored.

As for the vacuum tube preamp - well, I built it myself, and the noise is at about -90db below .775 v. Not what I would call "noisy". The distortion is similarly low. The "tube character" is not evident by design. It was designed to be transparent above all. I use this preamp because I have two signal paths in my setup. One being DVDs and CDs, the other beign a direct feed from my studio mixing console and workstation. I do have equipment, tubed and solid state, that is intentionally "colored". This equipment is used in a variety of situaions, such as "softening" an overly harsh digital recording.

My "home theater" is really a "mixing and mastering" suite where I edit, mix and master the music that is used in motion picture soundtracks. I have also done a few restorations to the soundtracks of some very high profile films. I purchase equipment based on only one requirement - that is be transparent, and allow me to hear what is on the master recordings, unaltered. If you have any DVDs, at least a few of them have music that has passed through my equipment, including the 950. I can purchase any equipment I want, regardless of cost. Annually, I purchase thousands of dollars worth of equipment in order to stay ahead of the technology curve, and therefore remain competitive in the market. Do you actually think that I would purchase the 950 if it didn't pass muster with me?

So believe what you want - but please, don't condesend to owners of the 950 with statements like "it's good for the price". If you can't actually back up your statements with something more than personal opinions, and are unwilling to do the necessary research, please don't judge the equipment choices of those who have bothered to do so.


PS: I'm still waiting for an answer to my question - if a component is absolutely transparent and doesn't add or subtract anything sonically, how much more "perfect" does it need to be?


[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited April 09, 2003).]