Tekton Double Impacts

Of course, professional studios do not use USB at all, so, there is that I guess.

Whether USB is preferable for digital and whether a person should spend thousands on a USB cable are interesting topics but they are not the topic of this thread.

I can understand the skepticism of a $3K cable (as many would be), but just state it as such and leave it at that unless you have experience with that specific cable in some regard.

Dave, thank you so much for sharing your findings and impressions on the SEs in this thread. I wasn't expecting that you would do so in public.

Thank you for such a detailed, thorough and complete write-up. Your not being previously exposed to a Tekton speaker or my components, room, and preferences, etc. makes your opinions and findings as an 'outsider,' as you put it,....carry greater weight and validity. There is nothing I can add or subtract from your 'review,' so I will not. It stands for what I also experienced and found in terms of overall performance, as well as the components and cabling we evaluated. On point! Believe me, I found out first hand and directly. No quarter given. : )  

It took time and energy and a commitment (as well as a supportive wife) to make the trip here to New Orleans....I am personally so very grateful and appreciative that you did. Please also thank your wife on my behalf.

To Dave's follow-up post...the DIs are revealing of components and changes upstream....this has been discussed multiple times within the thread and confirmed across the board by multiple owners of the DIs in disparate systems. Sometimes this is described in the negative...that a component is not 'forgiving.'  I prefer to frame in the positive, and for those interested in the SEs vs the DIs, I will say that the SEs are much, much more 'truthful' (than the DIs...which we find to be truthful to begin with) in their ultimate presentation of changes made upstream.
  
Charles and Tom and Terry and Prem, and now Dave, know this intimately and have been very helpful to me as I work towards getting the SEs, and my system, to a preference endpoint for me and my goals and my needs. The SEs are more demanding in this respect (also due to my wide music preferences which Dave mentioned in his post) but also much, much more rewarding.

What I have found, is that the system I put together with the DIs and which I was extremely satisfied with needs tweaking and possible reconfiguration to get to the 'rightness' I expect and demand from this hobby, and which the SEs are SO Supremely Capable Of!  

The SEs have moved the bar, and I want to clear it!

IMO, the DI, especially the SE, would be the perfect tool to assess all aspects of upstream components. Reading about listener’s nuanced experiences about supporting gear is a testament to the level of transparency that Tekton has achieved.