Whenever I see the phrase "not as musical" my ears perk up.

I am completely baffled by statements like this.

Do people honestly hear a difference between a 950 and a 990 when in full bypass mode? Or between any two pre-amps for that matter?

Sure there's differences between processing modes - even the standard ones. But from CD to pre to amp to speaker direct? I'm not sold.

Given equally low noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response, there's only "features" to distinguish between components like pre-amps. Any review of something like the 990 should simply say whether any unexpected noise, distortion, or frequency irregularities were heard (or more likely measured - although the original 950s were an exception) and then get on with a description of all the great gee whiz features and processing modes etc.

In fact I bet my 15 year old NAD stereo pre-amp and the 990 could not be told apart in a blind listening test.

Musicality? I don't buy it at all.

Jeff Mackwood