Zaikesman, I read your review.I can tell you put a lot of thought and time into your comparison.And I do agree with you about a couple of points.For certain the cables and all the equipment in the digital front end is part of the sonic nature of the end product,I.E.what signal is being read and what signal is processed into analog to be amplified.The final factor IMHO is how ones ear perceives that information.Is it pleasing to us?Does it make us tap our foot and bob our heads or maybe tap our fingers?I agree that many people have a distorted sonic view of music.Is it accurate or is it musical? In live music it is both. digital music is not live music and ImHO digital music is even farther removed from live music than analog.standard I use personally is to hear live music as often as I can to keep my ears tuned.I play the harmonica and am around other musicians that play the electric guitar as well as acoustic.I also try to go take in a live blues show or go to a club with a good blues band playing to keep my ears in tune.I try as near as I can to come as close to the sound of real music as possible(within my means)I hope everyone goes out and keeps their ears tuned.Its good for the fun meter as well as being a good comparison for the Hi Fi rig back home.That said,I don't discount the findings in your review.And I agree with your process of using the analog to compare to the digital and A/B ing two sources.Another good tried and trued method is to have the same two recordings on Lp as well as CD and A/B the two and see how your digital front end compares to a good analog rig.For this test you must have a good phono stage that can make the most of the vinyl,and it would be helpful to have a good sence of real live music.I prefer acoustic recordings for comparison purposes as I feel there is less confusion as compared to amplified music. With more gain stages involved the sound is influnced,and not as pure and true.All that said,I again would like to stress the the main point of this dribble is;listen to live music and be true to what you hear.Then let your own ears be the judge of what sounds real to you.Live music when played well is pleasent,rythemic,involving,detailed,transparent and all the other things we want our rig at home to have.Isn't that what we are seeking.Then what beter measuring stick is there.
