[jimtranr]

Thanks for the kind words, Ivan and Stephen. What I find "excellent" post-100 hours with the Alpha in place is the ease of presentation, the articulation of voice and instrument (whatever the size and composition of the performing ensemble and the scored complexity of and dynamic contrasts embedded in a given work), and the evocation of the performing space (real or artificed) that's been bequeathed to us by the recording team and its production decisions.

With respect to the latter and although not mentioned in my earlier posts, one of my listening reference points during the auditions was a number of 16/44 rips of tracks from a series of Delos classical CDs released during the late 1980s and early 1990s. During that period Delos released two demonstration sampler discs (Symphonic Sound Stage and Second Stage) with program notes written by chief engineer John Eargle. In them, Eargle describes the recording venues, related technical considerations (e.g., the dynamic range of Howard Hanson's Symphony No. 2 and how to capture it), and setups for various tracks, including in some cases diagrams showing orchestra placement. (If you've seen photos of my bedroom-system rack, the light-blue book sitting on one of its shelves is the second edition of Eargle's Sound Recording.)

Having that information proved useful in evaluating the Alpha and in its own way helped me assess how faithfully (to my ears, at least) the cable was passing the data for other performances, whatever their respective provenance and genre, including those I've mentioned along the way.