Since almost all of the processors out there now have some sort of processing on board a separate unit would provide some redundancy to what is already there and since I at least rarely swap out my processor the need is minimal. Once I get my room setup, the need to compensate is minimal. At $1000 it is way more expensive than the on board equipment which is pretty robust in some cases by itself. Emotiva offers the Dirac Live system on the XMC-1 as a $100 upgrade so I am skeptical of the value of an separate unit.