Well, I'm not going to do a full-blown "Tate VS Sansui" thing. I mean, the obvious thing is the Tate is best for SQ and the QSD-1 is best for QS. Besides that, you can compare the two units in their ability to synthesize surround-sound from stereo source material. I like both, and will use one or the other depending on a specific album, but generally I prefer Sansui's approach over Tate's for this. Some folks disagree, so it boils down to a matter of taste.
Also, you might be confusing me with Tab... he is the one with the "visual decoding" thing on his website. I don't have anything like that!
I did get a chance to play with the QSD-1 last night and compare it to my QSD-2. In terms of quad performance, it is my impression that the two compare very favorably to one another. In terms of separation, directionality, soundstage, and general quad performance, they seem very similar. However, the QSD-1 does offer a richer sonic presentation, with fat, robust tonality across the audio spectrum, giving it a very realistic presence. This is undoubtedly due to it's three-band design compared to the QSD-2, which is a single band unit. The QSD-2 is certainly no slouch and sounds great in its own right, but the QSD-1 won out in my informal test. It sounds exceptional!
