It's nice to know that vinyl thrives, however CE manufacturers are faced with a real problem of having to cram more and more connections on the back panels of their units as tech is added, and in prioritizing it is not surprising that they're marginalizing the phono preamp. Units comparable to the 997 (ie Anthem Marantz Parasound) that include balanced outs and HD switching are going the same way.

You may think this is a good or bad thing, but were I enjoying vinyl, I would want a separate phono preamp for two reasons: so I could buy a nice prepro or receiver without limiting my options, and so I wouldn't end up being stuck with a supbar built-in preamp in any unit that I did buy.