990 owner here. Though it has largely been relegated to a glorified volume control and unbalanced direct in to balanced out converter (I run balanced cables to old Crown amps for rear channels). Delay and bass management have been taken over by an Oppo 103D.

I am looking to move to 4k video, and thus the Oppo 203 or 205, but using it the same way (audio format decoder, bass management, speaker delay) with it's HDMI input apparently runs into A/V sync issues. That, and it does not pass HDR10 through. It really should be relegated to an input device, in spite of it's excellent decoding capabilities.

So, I considered an HDMI 2.0b switch, followed by an HD Fury AVR Key to split off audio with HDMI 1.4 720p black into a bare bones A/V processor for decoding. Didn't even have to have fancy room correction beyond speaker delay, level, and bass management: I've been considering miniDSP's DDRC-88a for that after the decoding. (Yes, another A/D -> D/A, but that's less of an issue than it used to be.)

The Outlaw 975 was on my short list for this purpose: one HDMI in, decoded analog out). True, I'd lose DSD decoding over the Oppo that way, but if I'm so fanatical as to swear by DSD (SACD), I'd use, and still could add, an outboard DAC (like the Oppo Sonica DAC), with a good analog preamp like the Emotiva XSP-1.

My point is that I've become a fan of separating room processing from surround decoding, speaker distance and level matching, and bass management, even if it means another A/D -> D/A step. The DDRC-88a does Dirac Live and sports balanced and unbalanced inputs and outputs (which meant the Outlaw 975 was a contender if I switched HDMI 2.0b video elsewhere and used an HD Fury AVR Key).

So, now I see the Outlaw 976 coming "real soon now". I was looking at the 975 and Nusource AVP-18. Seeing how Emotiva sometimes has problems after release (A/V sync), I appreciate "getting it right". The 976 would mean I could avoid an HDMI 2.0b switch (Altona JunoX), AVR key, and HD Fury Linker (about $675).

ME WANTS IT! THE PRECIOUSSSS!!

P.S. if there is any way to do surround decoding, speaker level and delay, A/V sync, and bass management out the second HDMI port with LPCM audio, that opens up a world of downstream room correction processing without an extra A/D -> D/A conversion.