Paratrooper - sorry, I missed the intent of your question. I hadn't thought about bypassing the 950 altogether, but given the discussion here it's something I'm wondering about. Just how "clean" is the bypass of the 950? If I were to use a dedicated stereo pre-amp (or the pre-amp capability of the DAC-1) how much would passing the signal through the 950 change the signal?

From Jeff's post it looks as though he's using two entirely separate source -> amp chains for HT and 2CH, but if I understand him correctly using the same speakers. My question would be whether it would be possible (or advisable) for me to connect a stereo pre-amp directly to my 7100 (in addition to the 950 being connected to the 7100 for HT)?