There's not a lot of info available on either of those. I'll offer what I know (based largely on the 950 specs they released in a "latest news" post a couple months ago):

Cirrus Extra Surround: Outlaw's working with the company Cirrus for most or all of the DSP development (including the bass management), and Cirrus has apparently just finished developing a DSP system for decoding digital AND analog sources into 5.1, 6.1, or 7.1. I'm guessing that applies to DD 5.1 and DTS 5.1 sound tracks (which can then become 6.1 or 7.1 in a fashion similar to the 1050's Surround 6.1 mode), as well as two-channel sources like VCR or CD inputs. I'm not certain, but I suspect it will be similar to Dolby Pro Logic II in some ways (that's sort of what the basic concept makes me think of) with the addition of the center surround(s). Hopefully we'll learn more shortly.

True Stereo Bypass: This is simpler, and sort of cool. In normal operation, any stereo analog input (CD player, VCR, turntable through a phono pre-amp, tape deck, Dreamcast, whatever...) is converted to digital, processed digitally, and converted back to analog before being sent to the amp. You will be able to set up any analog input on the 950 (both audio and video inputs) to bypass the digital realm and go straight from input to volume control to amp unaltered. It will not let you do bass management or any sort of processing (like DPL II or the Cirrus Extra Surround), but it offers a way to preserve the original signal as much as possible.

[This message has been edited by gonk (edited December 06, 2001).]