As far as the HEOS circuitry I fail to see how it is essential to anyone except those who desire whole house wireless systems. Cruft would appear to be an accurate description IMHO. As far as Peter not disappointing customers that ship sailed years ago with the 997/998/978 series of processor failures. When Outlaw announced the Phoenix it would have been leading edge in the Atmos/DTS war. Two years later it is way behind the eight ball. The 975 was a value oriented stopgap but it is also an entry level device and without the bells and whistles that are standard stuff on similarly priced processors and receivers. I don't anticipate the new processor at all anymore because it is so late. Still, I would be interested when I replace my current setup because the customer service is so good.