No lets by all means redesign the 978. That way it stays vaporware and we never have to know how it performs. Those of us who have waited for 3 plus years to see this thing remember when Outlaw asked what features we would want and the PHONO stage was one of the highlights. Don't believe that the 978 is some newly designed device that only caters to the newest formats. It was designed for sound all the way around and for those of us with large record collections that phono stage is a must. Most here don't have very expensive turntables but if we did I doubt we would spend big $$$ for a separate phono stage that cost more than the 978.