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Thanks RG, interesting datapoint.

As I am sure you know, it is sometimes very difficult to judge the reliability of internet testimony, particularly from a couple of isolated posts. I have no reason to be more suspicious of mofuv's observations than anybody else's and I certainly mean him/her no disrespect, however I have seen so much in the 2-or-so years I have been reading the various boards:

• Confusing fact with opinion.
• The power of pre-suggestion. People hearing what they expect to hear or what they think they should be hearing based on reading some review. (you'll find a great example in a recent thread on this board).
• Post-rationalization. When did you last see somebody declare that they were unhappy or underwhelmed by a recent system upgrade?
• Perpetuation of myths. People simply restating things they have read whose veracity they have no way of assessing.
• Just about every type of fallacious argument ever concocted.
• Vendor hyperbole (first-, second- or nth-hand)
• The list goes on...

As Bruce-from-Philly so rightly pointed out in one of his posts, many of the people who respond to a question posted on this type of forum (and Stereophile is definitely one of the better ones) have so obviously not understood it. In fact some appear to not even have read it. So as always, caveat lector.

However, there is also a wealth of informed opinion, interesting engineering insight and a monumental body of experience lurking out on these boards. If you have the ability (and time!) to sort the wheat from the chaff then it really is the biggest goldmine in the world.

Over many posts you develop a sense for who knows their stuff, listens for themselves and admits or keeps quiet when they don't know something. Sometimes, when a bond of respect and trust is established, it develops into a 'virtual friendship' with someone you have never met or even spoken to and about whom you may know nothing (sex, colour, face, class, etc.) That is why I have an anonymous handle, it is not that I am 'hiding', but why should anyone care who I am? Complete anonymity is a great leveller and this is about as close as you can get to judging someone by their actions alone. I have made a few of those friends along the way and I think it is one of the coolest things about the whole internet phenomenon.

Anyway, thanks again for the pointer! I am looking forward to finding the time to read up on upsampling and tossing my two cent's worth into your pot. I have a preshistoric degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and although we studied digital circuits (yes, they did exist) I did not study audio circuits in particular (not too many real-time applications at all in fact). I have enjoyed blowing out some cobwebs and reading up on jitter over the last few months but sampling theory, noise shaping, psycho-acoustics etc. are whole 'nother things. As a boss of mine used to say "A few years ago I finally realized how much I didn't know and started learning, been doing it ever since".

Amen!