The 990 didn't have HDMI handshake to deal with.
Yeah, but when the CD player is connected with optical or coaxial SPDIF, no HDMI is involved. This is a one-way protocol not burdened by handshake or DRM. This is a 35 years old standard, I would think that its implementation should be easy. Outlaw Ben explained to me in a private communication that this is not the case.