I can confirm the decreased output signal. Previous pre/pros all had room to spare but the 975 needs to be played at almost full output depending on material. It is plenty loud for everyday use. Our setup is 975 to Rotel branded ICEPower based digital amps playing through very accurate but relatively inefficient (just under 90dB rated) speakers.

I never did get the 975 to pass deep color from ps3... living without.
Our V3 apple TV is fine with 975.

Sonic performance is really quite good.

I do no miss "room correction" at all either.

Would have liked default surround mode by input and renameable inputs.