A99 tested on DXO - score: 89

In a way he's right.. you seem to be hanging on a number..

Have you not seen some excellent examples from people with them in their hands at high ISOs where they say it's a nice improvement over the A900..

Sony are not in to playing games with masses of noise reduction, either because they lack the tech, or they leave it up to us to decide what to do with it.. and they are hampered by SLT slightly..

But if having a massive number on DxO is what does it for you, despite plenty of very happy A99 owners, then clearly you have bought into the wrong brand..

Although having an A77, you should be well aware of how it is apparently the worst camera ever for noise, according to DxO and lags behind last gen cameras, but you seem to be OK with it?

I look at the DPR comparo tool, and while it's a rough guide, the A99 isn't massively behind in terms of what detail I see in the image..

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/studio-compare#baseDir=%2Freviews_data&cameraDataSubdir=boxshot&indexFileName=boxshotindex.xml&presetsFileName=boxshotpresets.xml&showDescriptions=false&headerTitle=Studio%20scene&headerSubTitle=Standard%20studio%20scene%20comparison&masterCamera=sony_slta99&masterSample=dsc00082.acr&slotsCount=4&slot0Camera=sony_slta99&slot0Sample=dsc00082.acr&slot0DisableCameraSelection=true&slot0DisableSampleSelection=true&slot0LinkWithMaster=true&slot1Camera=nikon_d600&slot1Sample=dsc_4529_02.acr&slot2Camera=canon_eos5dmkiii&slot2Sample=5d3_5221.acr&slot3Camera=canon_eos5dmkii&slot3Sample=img_0059.acr&x=-0.3602574750830567&y=1.3261909108271155