This is going to be a silly question. I am currently a 990 owner. It's been great over the years but I'd love to get rid of the DVI and all the optical and coaxial cables in my system. I've been waiting to upgrade for a long time and I think I'm probably going to go with the 976. I don't think I would be running extra speakers in my ceiling so 7.1 is good enough for me. My question is regarding the 976 On Screen Display. Does the 976 have an On screen display? One thing that always bothered me about the 990 was that it did not feature an OSD. My gear is at the rear of my room so adjusting the volume requires me to turn around and look at the 990 to see where the volume is at. Adjusting the settings requires me using a 9 inch black and white TV that is attached to the 990. I really hope the 976 has an OSD. I always thought it was crazy that the 990 was such a great piece of audio equipment but I had to use archaic equipment to make adjustments. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

The 976 has an ODD. You can use the HDMI out for this.

Pardon my ignorance, what is an "ODD?" Thanks!

Sorry that was a Typo. It should have read
OSD for on screen display. I think you are messing with me. You know what I meant.

Great to hear! I assume this is with the volume as well as with setting up the system and assigning the inputs, etc. I would love to see some pics of the 976 OSD.

No volume on screen, only shows on the front panel while you make adjustments too.

There are screen shots of the OSD in the manual if you want to see examples. It is very utilitarian and geared towards system setup. The OSD does not overlay information on an input, when the OSD is active sound and video are muted.

Nope, not messing with you...really thought it was a new abbreviation for a function...allowing some type of OSD.

Damn! That's disappointing that they still don't patch the OSD over the video channels so you can see volume and other functions. It is nice that I can get rid of the black and white TV in my gear cabinet!

You would think that since it has been brought up many times for the other Outlaw processors that they would have addressed it by now. Even my 6 year old cheap Onkyo displays the volume on screen when it is being changed.

Counterpoint: I'm fine without superimposed menus or items if it keeps interrupts and additional processing out of the video stream. I use my ears (and the protestations of those I share a home with) not a number on screen to gauge whether I am at an appropriate sound pressure level. Given that sound pressure level will vary depending on how "hot" the output of a given source is makes a number on the screen even less meaningful to me.

YMMV

Counterpoint to your counterpoint:
Superimposed menus allow changes to be seen and heard while watching and listening to the source. Its a royal pain pulling up the OSD and having the picture and audio mute. Especially if im tuning a high volume scene - i dont feel comfortable coming out of mute at a high volume, so im lowering the volume before pulling up the OSD, and raising it again after the source comes back. Ive been trimming my subs this way and its a PITA !

The 976 have an HDMI input switch and a *very* basic menu generator. Having characters superimposed over live video is another thing altoghether. That require a video processor, which the 976 doesn't have. So I'm pretty sure you can forget about this function being added thru a firmware update. Tha 976 was never marketed as a video processing beast.

I agree with Deromax this is not going to be fixed with the 976. When I sit down to listen to music or watch a movie I tend to use my ears vice my eyes to decide how much volume I need. I have not seen a processor that will allow live menu ops while the video still plays. Does anyone know of one, especially one in Outlaws price range?

I don't have the 976 (still rocking the 975) but I'm happy to not have volume and other feedback displayed over my video. If we can't hear it, it goes up. If it's too loud for us, it goes down. As fourtensandtwo pointed out, every source is slightly different, some majorly so, so an arbitrary value won't be the uniform SPL for everything.

I use my ears for volume adjustments as well. I do like the default volume setting in the 976 menu, although it's a global setting.
As Owl's_Warder points out, every source is slightly different. It would be nice(r) to have this setting for each input source. The 976 starts out at -40dB, but I've had to set mine to -60dB for the TV converter source.

Has anyone compared the DACs in the 976 to the Sabre DACs in an Oppo 105 or 205?
I am still on the fence about the 976.
If the DACs in the 976 equal the Oppo's then that might push me over.

Without the actual DAC specs from outlaw you will never know. At this point of diminishing returns I don't think anyone can tell.

I have the OPPO 205 and the 976 and I prefer sacs in the 205 even though the 976 sounds really nice. I listen to all my music through the analog inputs but the dacs in the 976 sound pretty good compared though.

I'm interested in the 976 but want to see a professional review, ideally one comparing its sound quality to the 990.

990 / D-Sonic 600wpc class-D / Magnestand-upgraded Maggie 1.6's

I can't compare the 976 to the 990 SQ, and I'm not a professional reviewer, but I can tell there is an improved SQ from the 975 (I used to have in the same system) to the 976. It sounds clearer to me with streaming as it did with the 975. Of course, I used the auto set up mic to balance the system with the 976, whereas, I did it manually with the 975. I did notice channels on one side of my room had the levels set lower than channels on the other side. It could be that one side has a long wall and the other a set of three windows with curtains/blinds (constructive vs destructive). I guess I need room treatments for that one wall.
With the 975 I used an spl meter to match all the levels equal. Sounded good at the time, but now it is a noticeable difference.

I don’t miss it.

Does it or not effect overall volume and how?

If the "it" in your question refers to the default volume setting in the menu, this 'default volume' setting sets the initial volume at power on from standby. You can choose how loud the 976 is when you first turn it on.

I set my default volume to a low level (-35db) at power up to avoid having a transient affect my speakers just in case something is wrong internally. As pointed out earlier, each source has a different output signal into the 976 or any other processor for that matter. The only real volume the default volume signal can be sure of is the internal signal from the tuner. Every other source is going to present a slightly different loudness at your ears at the default volume setting. I just had to learn what I like to listen at for each source.