I agree with Gonk 100%. There is no way on earth Outlaw can compete feature wise with a company like Onkyo. However, Outlaw CAN hit the sweet spot - enough features to keep MOST 5.1 or 7.1 users happy, while providing glitch free operation and top notch sound quality. If you take what many consider the BEST SOUNDING pre/pros (Lexicon, Classe, Anthem, Krell) The feature set on the 978 is right there with them (In some cases better.) The little things count, too - for example, looking at the back of the 978 it has a "digital out" jack - many recievers and pre/pros today omit this, but I'm glad it will be there. Also, there is a headphone jack, and some here have said they would not be shocked if the 978 contained Dolby Headphone.