I understand what you are saying. I guess I have a unique situation. My sound system is primarily for music with home theater being an add on. For video streaming or OTA than any processor with Dolby and DTS would fill the bill and spending thousands more than the 975 is not necessary. For music the primary inputs are vinyl and surround SACD's. All that is needed for that is an analog inut that has a pass thru with no digital processing. Again no need to spend thousands more than the 975 to get a "switcher". If the 975 had pass thru analog 7.1 inputs, than this would be the perfect unit. And yes I do believe that the OPPO SACD player has a better DAC than the 975.