Just to be clear, the Onkyo I mentioned earlier was the 885, not the 805 - the 805 receiver is a step down from the 905 receiver, while the 885 is a processor based on the 905. The Integra 9.8 is also based on the 905.

I think the 885 and 9.8 both offer some sort of analog bypass, and I suspect the 990's replacement will as well. The 885/9.8 is generally regarded as a stand-out offering, although it has had some firmware woes (early restrictions on control of the Reon chip, a weird "bitstream bomb" with some DTS-ES tracks, and complaints about slow signal acquisition times) as well as issues with installing firmware updates. If other HDMI v1.3 processors had existed, they might have been more heavily penalized for all of that. Being so far ahead of the pack with what is apparently a basically sound, good-quality unit has put them firmly in the leadv- and I would suspect that Outlaw and others have been keenly aware of that.