It is sad but I have moved on. Simply cannot wait and did not wait. Too many good products out there. I have the 950 still but I could not wait forever for HDMI from Outlaw.
Good luck to those waiting and waiting and waiting.
Successful companies must provide a succession of products to compete in this market place.
I love Outlaw's customer service but you must have something to service.

Just curious, what did you buy to replace your Outlaw 950?

I'm looking at the Denon 4311CI and the Anthem MRX-300 right now. I'm just not sure how high of quality the DACs and analog sections are in these two models.

That said, I would love to hand my money over to the Outlaws right now for a 998, but it's looking less and less likely that they'll even have the 978 out before 2012 at this rate.

"Moving on to the inevitable question of "when," it is first important to explain that in order to include MultiEQ XT32 it was necessary to upgrade the core DSP engine. That, in turn, required new board layouts on the hardware side and significant changes to the software/firmware code. As a result of those changes, we've needed to push things back a few months, and the samples that we would have otherwise received late last year are now due to hit our labs at the Hideout in March. Based upon that, the release date is now targeted for late in the first half of this year."

We are now approaching the end of the first half of this year.

I think the quote was made before the Earthquake hit Japan and the availability of parts was in question. PeterT gave us some insight after the disaster.

Raider,
I too, am curious of what you went with and how you like it. I also have been waiting and waiting and waiting, but it's just been too long and with the lack of progress reported I don't see the point in waiting any longer. I want to enjoy my system through something other than only what my Oppo will output. I may even go with a Marantz product through Outlaw if it's what I decide to go with in the end depending on availability.

I am very happy with my Onkyo PR-SC886 I bought through Outlaw and the service has also been first rate.

Outlaw, oh outlaw, when shall we see your toys again.

I've couldn't wait any longer, bought elsewhere. My 970 bit the dust and the repair cost was too high considering the price of the modern options. Technology has improved, the prices for equivalent quality have plunged, and Outlaw didn't have a product. I'd intended to upgrade as soon as the 978 was released but the unending delays are apparently an Outlaw problem, not a Trinnov problem. And I must say, I'm enjoying my new gear. If the 998 is ever actually released I may consider it, if the Trinnov proves to be all it's been advertised to be. I won't be buying the 978.

Given that it is June and Outlaw's last official time-table was the end of the second quarter, I think it is time for another official update. I think an update by the end of the month should be expected.

I realize that the disaster in Japan would affect beta testing and production, but an update as to how development is coming along would be nice. Are we done with the design and just waiting for parts to show up or what?