I'd still be interested in having Yamaha owners try to figure out WHY they think the S950 is a sonic step up from the S910.

Has anyone compared the stock Mastering presets? Has something got altered there? Has anyone picked apart a style that is on both, and tried to find out whether Part balances, or EQ per Part have been altered. 90% or more of the sounds in a 950 are exactly the same as in the 910... why the apparent improvement..?

Of course, you need to be monitoring through regular speakers. The change to the on-board's will no doubt make a difference, but it isn't a difference your audience is going to hear (unless that's all you use!). But, as little difference as Yamaha make to the soundset in each incremental model change, it would be interesting to find out WHY owners say it sounds better.

Perhaps there's something that 910 owners could do to THEIR mastering presets or style EQ's to get this improvement on their older gear? I personally know, from having dissected some BK-7m styles, that some part EQ's (and per drum EQ's) from the newer styles have translated well to my older G70...

It might be of benefit to older Yamaha owners if you could get together with someone with a 950 and try to pick apart the reason they say it sounds better...

Or is it just the tendency to self-justify an expensive purchase?