My apologies for the delay but we went away for my wife's birthday. I've only listened to my SACD rip of Axis; I haven't ripped the CD layer since I don't plan to listen to it and, to be honest, my music listening is almost 95% ripped files. Having said that, the verdict on Axis is that it sounds awesome. There's more clarity and detail and (to my ears)minimal compression. There are, otherwise, no major surprises. Haven't listened to the mono as of yet. Altogether, highly recommended.