The unannounced Marantz pre-pro products are largely irrelevant with respect to the 978, as Onkyo/Integra (and others) already offer boxes with the same or more (and some better) features at around the same prices.

For me, personally, anything without balanced outputs and XT32 is a non-starter. The unit also needs to provide clean/clear function feedback over HDMI, super-imposed over the incoming video.