Dear Ralph, I have requested a production sample of the new Grace m903. While they showed samples at AES, those were late prototypes and I have been told there have been changes since, so, we all just have to wait. Between the amount of delay I expect, and then the long lead time for print magazines, I would not expect to see anything in print until late Spring/early Summer at the earliest--unless the review sample magically appears here this week or next. In the meantime, have you searched Stereophile's website for coverage of the previous units, the 902 and 901? The 902 remains my favorite product in that category, and JA seemed reasonably impressed by it. JM

Though a review would be too late to effect any decisions I would make about upgrading, since I already went last week and bought a Grace m903 to replace the m902 that has been the heart of my system for the last couple of years.  The M902 with its multiple digital inputs (I was using every one), and its solid remote control unit had become my favorite component.

Then along comes the m903 with greatly improved USB input, updated DAC chip, and the ability to control the headphone, line-1, and line-2 volume independently, or gang  L1, L2 together (for power amp, and subwoofer control in my case), and it makes the m903 just about perfect for my system.

I was listening to some classic (not classical) recordings today, and I think I heard just a little bit of some too rare magic out of my modest system.

I'd still like to read a review of the m903 to get another opinion on how the new unit compares, as well as maybe see some measurements of the digital performance. I was a little disappointed when I received the September Stereophile issue today, and saw no mention of the Grace.

Hi-

I am glad you didn't wait. Grace is a great company, I trust them not to put out a new version that is not a real improvement. I just recently received a review sample and have been breaking it in. However, in the interval, other units showed up first and they had to be dealt with. So, my comments on the m903 will most likely appear in December's issue.

ATB,

JM

:)

Dear John,

The M903 has just recently become available in Europe and I've adored my M902 so tempted by the upgrade. Are your comments still likely to appear next month and can you give any clues here?

Regards, Paul