Jason, He's not missing the point at all. Keep in mind that MC-12 owners can compare a processed SACD/DVD-A 5.1 signal to pure analog bypass on the fly, by pushing one button. Jeff's pronouncement wasn't made in a vacuum; if he says he prefers the redigitized signal then he's saying so after two years of living with this feature.

Is the redigitizing audible on the MC-12? Yes, even with its 96/24 A-to-D converters. But the sonic degradation is so negligible, and so outweighed by the benefits of processing, that most MC-12 owners choose to process their multi-channel SACD/DVD-A sources rather than listen in bypass.

What LOGIC7 does with 5.1 signals is more subtle than radical. It doesn't do any logic steering up front (3 channels, 3 speakers, nothing to steer). The processing happens in the surrounds where 2 channels are steered over 4 speakers. Some surround content sounds better from beside the listener, other sounds seem more appropriate coming from behind the listener; and L7 does a pretty good job of making this decision (using cues in the other channels).

For the record, I have to agree with Jeff. Given a choice between 'bypass' and 'process', it's no contest: I'll choose the processed signal on every SACD I own. It's a decision I've arrived at after listening both ways.

Best,
Sanjay