Until we see the manual or get some first-hand experience with one, there's no way to be 100% sure, but here's how I would interpret "7.1 direct input with digital bass management" - you have the option of an A/D conversion on the multichannel analog input, at which point the 990's quadruple crossover settings and speaker delay settings are applied to the signal, thereby duplicating the ICBM's work (plus the delay settings, which the ICBM does not provide). This is an approach used by a few other pre/pros (including the Anthem AVM-20/AVM-30, I believe). The only case I can see where someone might use an ICBM with the 990 is if they had a profound desire to keep the 7.1 analog input in the analog domain all the way from player output to ear but still wanted bass management.