Dgad, concerning coloration, you make a good point. Yes, strictly speaking any alteration of the source signal may be deemed a coloration, and is often referred to as such.
Yet, 'any' is far too open ended a word, thus the term coloration starts assuming a meaning which is far too broad for its own good or its own usefulness.
That is why, I prefer to restrict the term 'coloration' to denote only a type of usually subtle sonic distortion, which, while not necessarily jarring per se, or even displeasing, nevertheless yields an instrumental timbre which cannot be typically heard from live instruments. Hence in all fairness, the only device which, in my view, added a just slightly 'artificial' coloration, among the four tested during the session, was the Accuphase DP-77. Or should we call this a 'discoloration'? It sounded to me as if instrumental voices were generated by an extremely high quality FM music synthesizer.
Now concerning DCS detail with and without the ARC Ref 3 in the loop. This was in fact very difficult to decide. While in about 70% of places there was perhaps the slightest increase of low level detail when Ref 3 was not in the loop, in the remainder I could hear slightly more detail with the ARC Ref 3 in the system, such as more distinct breathing from the players.. Let us also consider that the DCS P8I was assisted by the Kimber KG4 power chord , while the ARC Ref 3 was at a disadvantage, being powered through its stock power chord. . . or was it? (chuckles!)
