False choices. You have more choices.

Would you want raw chicken or a 5 Guys (or Shake Shack) Burger? Sheesh, go with the burger.
BTW, you don't need that internal temperature. Sous Vide can give you better food at lower temperatures... but you hold it there longer. Like smoking.
Trouble here is, it's not "poisonous meat or not". We have choices:

• Wait an indeterminate amount of time for something already way overdue, that may or may not ever come out.
• Get a nearly-identical, possibly buggy version at a lot less money from a competitor
• Buy a decent receiver and get more functionality, perhaps with less fidelity but close enough that nearly nobody can tell, for a lot less money
• Buy said receiver and, eventually, upgrade to an Outlaw amp while using said receiver's pre-outs

The only choice that will kill you is to eat the raw 976.

I'm waiting for the 976, as I've said, my 975 is still working great and I'm not the type to upgrade every two or three years. So, when it does hit the market, hopefully for this holiday season, it will have been about four years with my current processor. Plus, I recently bought a 4k TV and want to get my whole system into the 4k scene.

I don't want any "buggy version" for a processor. I want it to work great right out of the box. I really don't want to be behind my system when I can be in front of it, entertained.

I don't want an AVR. I switched to separates a while back and have enjoyed the night and day difference in SQ.

I already have an amp. So, for me, my only choice is that I'm content to wait for now. I believe them when they said only the 1% left to hurdle. Probably something they couldn't foresee when they made the announcements earlier this year.

Truthfully Helson I think the 1% was fully foreseeable to the Outlaws. The big three in the processor market do incremental changes which might make the process easier.

From the 975 to the 976 is a big jump when one considers the dacs and decoding involved.

As I have no rush to jump to 4K my 975 still works for me. Add in the White Instruments paramedic eq's I am already on board with what the 976 has to offer.

We know the 976 exists in the wild but without the certifications it is pointless for the Outlaws to market. I could not possibly care less about video processing preferring straight pass through in that regard. Audio is everything to us.

I, for one, would like to see the 976 hit the street just to get the threads back on the positive side. While I am disappointed in the lateness of it, I fully expect Outlaw to release it before the end of the year. If anyone NEEDS a new processor right now because of some perceived flaw in their system, go for it. There are plenty of solutions out there to temporarily get you the new codecs without getting a new processor.

Much of the time, when you're debugging, solving one problem can lead to two more popping up. So, that's why I think they didn't foresee...
From the 975 to the 976...the 975 can handle lossless formats like Dolby True HD and DTS HDMA. I would think the bigger difference between the two would be the HDCP 2.2 from 2.0. But, that should have been resolved long ago.

Oh snap! The 976 has it's own forum now! I feel a release date announcement coming!

Grrrreat!

Please see this post regarding an update on the 976 status.

Awesome news! I'm looking forward to hearing how people like it! I'm still trying to decide if I "need" to upgrade my 975 and whether or not to wait and go for the flagship model.

Right on time!