That would indeed make me nervous (about buying an Emotiva product) so I don't think I'd be an early adopter. I remember when I first got my Outlaw 990 back in 2005, I had a few issues as well that were eventually solved by firmware updates (and that was a bit of an exciting process for me the first couple of times).

While Outlaw support has been good to me in the past, I have what I feel are valid concerns about support for this new processor if there are issues in the future. It seems that they handed off a list of specifications to a Chinese partner and are dependent on them for both the hardware and firmware. That's not a particularly good position to be in...ask me how I know... lol

I look forward to seeing someone or some magazine/blog/etc do a head to head comparison of both products.

Best,

There were two things that I liked about the XMC-1.

1) The specifications included a listing of at least some of the specific component chips.

2) The use of a Linux system for the ARC software. Of course Gonk will tell me that such a system would not be used for audio processing.

I am also worried that the 978 apparently is already running out of memory. It seems like my concern from March 2010 about memory and the 978 were valid. I won't be surprised if the 978 ends up losing some functionality as a result.

Uh, what is your fear of memory regarding the 978 based on? Remember, 2 years is a generation where technology is concerned.

At any rate, the XMC is a very long way from a bug free introduction, and seeing as to how their UMC was such a travesty foisted on an unsuspecting public, you might do well to take a wait and see attitude to see if the drop outs, freeze ups, random blasts and black outs show up on the XMC as well. It took them 2 years to solve the bugs and some customers are still complaining.

I agree with Sharkey on this. Emotiva needs to get their unit out and tested in the real world. The XMC needs to be PROVEN bug free by the Emo diehards before one can consider in buying it.

You are misreading my concern. My concern about the 978's memory was based upon PeterT's latest post



Peter's comment was like a warning shot over the bow to me. First it made me remember that the companion product to the 990, the Sherwood 965 eventually included a parametric equalizer that was never implemented on the 990 (supposedly due to memory issues). Second, it brought back memories of design choices I had to personally make when designing applications for hardware systems that were severely memory constrained (including a 48K IBM System 7). In that environment, I knew that including one type of functionality might result in the loss of other types of functionality. Consequently, I tied the two together and speculated that 978 might lose some functionality as a result.

I am made no representations about the XMC other than I liked they posted the chips that were being used and their room TACT room correction software was being implemented via a Linux based system (which is what I recommended Outlaw do 2 years ago).

Do you think the XMC processor is coming out of the Sherbourn folks?

emotiva acquires sherbourn technologies

-Bob

Hadn't heard anything to that effect, but given the price points of Sherbourn's products, maybe that was what got them in the door with Tact. It will also allow them to differentiate their markets a bit without cannibalizing sales. Emotiva/Sherbourn could be the audio equivalent of Honda/Acura, Chevy/Cadillac, or VW/Audi. You give people a taste of what you're capable of on the budget brand and then have a premium brand to "upsell" them to down the line.

Best,

Good call on the memory concern by 73Bruin. Right on the $$$$$.

Hey Outlaw -

Would it be possible to have some pictures of the latest version of the 978? And the dimensions?


Thanks

Yes, he obviously knows what he's talking about. I guess only time will tell what effects this has on functionality. Still, they have come a long way on the 978 and if it's released with a minimum of bugs it will breath new life into Outlaw.