..sorry I've not been back to reply, but yes Ethan, I was meaning that the buffer would go in the meter path, "sniffing" the signal path without loading it, as opposed to in the signal path itself.
As to the audibility of the meter distortion, it happens a little way up the waveform, and on a Teletronix LA-2a or a UREI 1176 or similar, switching from output metering to gain reduction while listening to a 100Hz tone, I've yet to fins someone who can't hear the 'buzz' that disappears when you switch to GR.
Of course, that's a different tone, it's impedance dependant (will happen a lot less with a 15Ω source impsdance than it will with a 600Ω impedance) and you often don't notice it until it disappears, so it's quite likely that it;s like looking through a dirty window... you don't notice until someone cleans half of it!!!
:green:
Keith