The single characteristic that most impresses me about my digital amplifier (Tact) is the absence of noise-white, pink, or mechanical-it is simply absent. The result is that one can hear much more low level detail and much less compression than with any conventional amplifier I have used. Don't get me wrong, I have owned and loved well designed tube amplifiers (ARC, Music Reference, VTL), but they do make noise and compress the signal. I submit that many of us have simply got accustomed to these distortions, as previously we had got accustomed to tape hiss and grove rush. Because two channel sound is not the natural way we hear, the brain has to decide if a simulation we have created is "correct", meaning the usual distortions