Those of you who have not acquired this new "breakthrough...." Are your notes smearing? Really?
Tim
No, they aren't.
I have become skeptical about "technical breakthroughs" since the following experience:
Yes, I have had an eye-opening experience in this regard when, courtesy of Goodwin's High End, I was able to compare at home the highly acclaimed NAD M51 DAC to my Wadia 12 DAC. I sonically preferred the 20 year-old (!) Wadia 12 to the NAD DAC, except in the bass performance (well, the Wadia 12 had been upgraded in 1997 with the Wadia 860 opamp, but that was also 17 years ago). So much for the hype of ever higher performance of digital over the years. Don't get me wrong, the NAD is a great DAC when judged on its own, but folks, let's be real. Paul at Goodwin's High End wasn't surprised about the findings.
I ended up buying the Berkeley Alpha DAC 2. Now that one did live up to the hype of ever higher performance of digital over the years ... It was simply in a different league than both the NAD M51 and the Wadia 12, with a stunning price/performance ratio. Paul was like, I told you so... (yes, it is 2.5 x more expensive than the NAD M51, but in my view ridiculously cheap relative to its performance).