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A friend of mine had a few days left before he had to return his 950 back to Outlaw (he bought the AT Clone and uses an Anthem Pre2L for his 2 channel listening). I thought why not? This is a good chance to try the Outlaw in my system for a couple days. I did a few comparisons the past 2 nights and one day of listening.
My system is:
Speakers:
NHT 3.3 mains
NHT Audiocenter 2
NHT 1.5 sides
NHT Superzero rears
NHT SW3P passive rear/LFE subs (2)
Equipment:
Aragon Stage One
Parasound 2200II 250x2 Amps (2)
Parasound 806 Amp (sides, rears, 1 sub)
Parasound CDC-1500 CD Carousel
Panasonic RP91 DVD
I had the Aragon Soundstage about 6 weeks before the Stage One (which is about a week old). Before the Aragon, I had the Lexicon MC1 for about 14 months, and the Onkyo 989 about 8 months before that; both excellent performers. Before the Onkyo, I had....well, let's just say my wife tells our friends that our dining room was a UPS shipping outlet for over a year I've had the Parasound amps about a year, and before that a combination of Citation 7.1/5.1 amps for ~ 2 years. Before the Citations...well, my house was a UPS shipping outlet
OUTLAW SETUP
The 950 is pretty easy to set up. Remote is not bad, it is a pain in the ass to have to switch back to the Audio input (950) after selecting other source inputs. Distance settings are too basic though: one setting for both mains, one for center, one for all four rears, and none for the sub. My four rear speakers all vary between 4 and 8 feet from me. Most of the 5.1 processors I've own (at least 10) had distance settings for each inidividual speaker. Also, Outlaw is to the nearest foot; the Lexicon MC1 was to the nearest ~ 0.3 foot, and the Aragon Stage One to the nearest inch.
DVDS (OUTLAW VS ARAGON)
The Outlaw sounded pretty good, with decent dynamics and good LFE. However, compared to the Aragon, the Outlaw sounded a little thin and was harsh at high volumes; the soundstage not as cohesive or big. The Aragon has better, more room filling bass, with superior resolution/detail and never sounded harsh. With the Aragon I notice people's breathing and lips moving. I did not notice this with the Outlaw.
2 CHANNEL (Outlaw vs Parasound CDC-1500 changer)
The Parasound has older 18bit burr-brown dacs and hooked up both digital and analog to the Outlaw. I can A/B on the fly, and made sure the first note in each track was 80dB. Using the Parasound's dacs, the soundstage is deeper, wider, with clearer female vocals.
2 CHANNEL DAC (Outlaw vs Aragon)
I hooked up my Panasonic RP91 via digital to both prepros. And inserted an analog switchbox so I can A/B on the fly (without switching cables). The difference was astonishing to me. Compared to the Aragon, the Outlaw's soundstage was narrow and not as detailed. The female vocals were centered, but seem to dominated the rest of the music. The Aragon produced a much deeper, wider soundstage with clean, rich vocals, and more prominent bass. This is more night and day than any of my previous cdp/dac tests. Perhaps because I am also comparing 2 channel preamps, and not just the dacs.
I buy most of my gear used, so I like to judge prices with used values on the market. A used Outlaw 950 is about $750, a used Stage One about $2600. To match the Aragon's 2 channel performance, one would need to add a 2 channel preamp with HT unity gain (ie, Adcom gfp750 for ~ $750) and spend $500-800 on a used dac. This wouldn't bridge the sonic differences in HT though, as the Aragon's preamp/dac extends to all 8 channels.
The Outlaw 950 is a good performer at its price point; it gives you the new surround modes and 5.1 inputs. However, for pure DVD/DSS playback, a Lexicon DC2/MC1 (going for 1200-1900 used) would beat it in surround processing, flexibility, Logic7 soundfields, and detail.
My system is:
Speakers:
NHT 3.3 mains
NHT Audiocenter 2
NHT 1.5 sides
NHT Superzero rears
NHT SW3P passive rear/LFE subs (2)
Equipment:
Aragon Stage One
Parasound 2200II 250x2 Amps (2)
Parasound 806 Amp (sides, rears, 1 sub)
Parasound CDC-1500 CD Carousel
Panasonic RP91 DVD
I had the Aragon Soundstage about 6 weeks before the Stage One (which is about a week old). Before the Aragon, I had the Lexicon MC1 for about 14 months, and the Onkyo 989 about 8 months before that; both excellent performers. Before the Onkyo, I had....well, let's just say my wife tells our friends that our dining room was a UPS shipping outlet for over a year I've had the Parasound amps about a year, and before that a combination of Citation 7.1/5.1 amps for ~ 2 years. Before the Citations...well, my house was a UPS shipping outlet
OUTLAW SETUP
The 950 is pretty easy to set up. Remote is not bad, it is a pain in the ass to have to switch back to the Audio input (950) after selecting other source inputs. Distance settings are too basic though: one setting for both mains, one for center, one for all four rears, and none for the sub. My four rear speakers all vary between 4 and 8 feet from me. Most of the 5.1 processors I've own (at least 10) had distance settings for each inidividual speaker. Also, Outlaw is to the nearest foot; the Lexicon MC1 was to the nearest ~ 0.3 foot, and the Aragon Stage One to the nearest inch.
DVDS (OUTLAW VS ARAGON)
The Outlaw sounded pretty good, with decent dynamics and good LFE. However, compared to the Aragon, the Outlaw sounded a little thin and was harsh at high volumes; the soundstage not as cohesive or big. The Aragon has better, more room filling bass, with superior resolution/detail and never sounded harsh. With the Aragon I notice people's breathing and lips moving. I did not notice this with the Outlaw.
2 CHANNEL (Outlaw vs Parasound CDC-1500 changer)
The Parasound has older 18bit burr-brown dacs and hooked up both digital and analog to the Outlaw. I can A/B on the fly, and made sure the first note in each track was 80dB. Using the Parasound's dacs, the soundstage is deeper, wider, with clearer female vocals.
2 CHANNEL DAC (Outlaw vs Aragon)
I hooked up my Panasonic RP91 via digital to both prepros. And inserted an analog switchbox so I can A/B on the fly (without switching cables). The difference was astonishing to me. Compared to the Aragon, the Outlaw's soundstage was narrow and not as detailed. The female vocals were centered, but seem to dominated the rest of the music. The Aragon produced a much deeper, wider soundstage with clean, rich vocals, and more prominent bass. This is more night and day than any of my previous cdp/dac tests. Perhaps because I am also comparing 2 channel preamps, and not just the dacs.
I buy most of my gear used, so I like to judge prices with used values on the market. A used Outlaw 950 is about $750, a used Stage One about $2600. To match the Aragon's 2 channel performance, one would need to add a 2 channel preamp with HT unity gain (ie, Adcom gfp750 for ~ $750) and spend $500-800 on a used dac. This wouldn't bridge the sonic differences in HT though, as the Aragon's preamp/dac extends to all 8 channels.
The Outlaw 950 is a good performer at its price point; it gives you the new surround modes and 5.1 inputs. However, for pure DVD/DSS playback, a Lexicon DC2/MC1 (going for 1200-1900 used) would beat it in surround processing, flexibility, Logic7 soundfields, and detail.
)..Yep Im a "DITTO" head"
I guess you two (Ricky and John T) struck a nerve with the Outlaws. 
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