Actually, I wasn’t able to complete the head-to-head comparison of Baetis to 432 EVO that I’d hoped to. The Aeon has only a USB output; the Baetis has USB, AES/EBU, SPDIF, and HDMI. The USB interface is an upgrade, employing an SOtM card and in mid-review, it stopped working. I’d developed an impression that the Aeon at least held its own against the Baetis but I couldn’t do the additional comparisons I wanted to – the USB output is the best-sounding one on the Baetis machine, and I didn’t think it fair to make comparisons with another. The Baetis became irrelevant, in terms of this review, and thus wasn’t even mentioned as "associated equipment."
That said—and acknowledging that, in part due to this exchange, I’ll be trying to add specific comparisons to future reviews—I stick by my guns regarding the importance of referencing the absolute sound and of using the descriptive language of our hobby to delineate what I’m hearing. If you don’t find that approach helpful, soix, no problem. But many people do.