Assuming a width of a little over 17" (a very good assumption, IMO) the posted photos indicate a height of 6.5", including the feet (yes, I have printed the pics and done the measurements and calculations). So it's at least an inch "shorter" than the Model 990, which is easy to confirm by looking at the respective photos.

The depth is unknown at this point... as I have indicated previously, I am hoping for no more than 16" which should be easily achievable since the 978 is a clean sheet design and Outlaw isn't forced to use an existing chassis designed for another component, as was the case for the 990.

> I am hoping for no more than 16"<
Me too, I built a custom cabinet based on the 950 which is just about 15" deep. 16" would be perfect.

"The DACs are from ESS's ultra-high performance Sabre family and are similar to the ones that have received rave reviews for their implementation in the Oppo Blu ray players."

So do we think that the DACs are Sabre's Reference DAC (BDP-95) or are they the still good, but lesser Ultra DAC?

It's hard to say. The BDP-95 was one of the first products (if not the first) to offer the ES9018. Design of the analog section for the Model 978 might actually pre-date design of the analog section design for the BDP-95, or at least be from the same general time. OPPO Digital also had an existing working relationship with ESS because of the BDP-83SE, which could have made it more practical to push some boundaries and be one of the first to design around the newer chip. For those reasons, it's possible that Outlaw ended up working around a previous ESS Sabre32 chip like the ES9006 (which is the same chip used in the BDP-83SE's eight-channel analog output) or ES9016 (the chip used in the BDP-83SE's stereo analog output). Frankly, I'd be tickled to have either the ES9018, ES9016, or ES9006 in a surround processor. Having heard both, the differences are subtle, even when the ES9018 is given the advantage of an even more robust and aggressive analog board design.

Thanks for the insight Gonk. I have a BDP-83SE and a 95, and the 95 (in stereo) sounds noticably (moderately) better on my system.

I know that Oppo did other things to improve the sounds besides the DACS, but I sure would prefer to have the Reference if it was possible.

Keep in mind that the BDP-83 doesn't have ESS DAC's, but instead Cirrus (albeit one of Cirrus' best chips). The 83SE got the ESS DAC's. Moving to the 83SE or 95 from the 83 or 93 makes some pretty noticeable changes that include the ESS chip. I ran the BDP-95 in my stereo setup for a bit and thought it had a bit of an advantage over the 83SE when both stereo analog outputs were compared, but the 95's stereo output is using an eight-channel DAC just for two channels (bridging four channels for each output). The eight-channel analog outputs of the 83SE and 95 are a more accurate comparison for what an ESS DAC in a surround processor can do.

Under the A/V feature list for the 978 is a "quadruple crossover". Can anyone explain what this is? Also, as far as features go - one thing I'd really like the 978 to have is an adjustable turn on volume.

There are four separately adjustable crossover points for bass management. The front speakers have one user-adjustable crossover, the center speaker has another, the side surrounds have a third, and the back surrounds/front heights have a fourth. This is the same arrangement that was used in the Model 990. This allows users to tweak the bass management to suit their speakers.


I would also hope to see this included. The Model 990 had it, and I really liked it.

Man I hope this thing isn't too far out, I don't know how much longer my 970 will last...

And I'm getting really nervous about my 950!