I owned a Droplet and now own a 168, about 5 months....my droplet (owned 3 years) died from an electrical surge. I have a pending claim against the power company.None of my other equipment died and that makes me wonder if this is a "fragile" design." I feel the 168 offers more detail(especially midbass and topend) but with similiar "meat on the bone" image density. With the droplet I would always get some low level transport noise and I experience none with the 168. Both players have a similiar bass presentation and if I had to choose between both I'd go with the Ray only because it is quieter and you have the option of tube rolling the 6922's. the remotes are similiar and also both share a unique design.
