You are correct. And I'm not promoting the idea that the 950 should have had a 10,000 unit beta, but illustrating the fact that a 5 unit 'beta test' is more a test marketing exercise than anything. One reason software betas are so big is actually due to the fact we're not supplying the hardware - so we can be reasonably sure the product works on a broad cross section of configurations. This does not apply to an embedded system but the other reasons do apply.

But the beta issue has more to do with previous problems, like the hiss problem. This case, DTS-ES not working properly should have been caught in QA at the latest. Management creates a specification, engineering implements it, manufacturing builds it and QA tests against the original specification before release. It's not that complex.

The things QA tests, or put differently the tests that are run, should be designed to verify each part of the spec under a variety of conditions. Generally a very large 'test matrix' is developed to assist in this task.