For the record, I have great respect for Amir, and read every review of his carefully. I've certainly learned a lot, and I have happily taken his advice on a few occasions in my own purchasing. In general, he has well earned the benefit of the doubt, and I do appreciate his responses up thread.
This is simply an example where I guess I just don't get it. In theory, there are better filters at 44.1khz/16bit: that I totally get, and I think I get why. I know what the Nyquist frequency is, and what happens if you don't filter properly for it. I took electronic sound synthesis in graduate school, and had fun abusing it.
But if there are zero audible consequences in this case, I can't understand all the lambasting. It seems more like exaggerative blowback against something for being popular, rather than a legitimate concern for the consumer.
I mean, no recording at 44.1khz that will be played through the Icon is potentially going to have any information at all above 22khz. And Amir's review confirms that the filter for higher resolution sources doesn't employ the same filter. So...
Really, help me out, here. Should I be planning to sell my unit, and replace it with something else? It seems like it fills an excellent niche in my setup, and the UI doesn't bother me.
Of course, having written that, I always like having more options.