ARC is really only useful when you switch HDMI sources in the TV, or actually use the TV tuner.

What bothers me is the "kitchen sink" approach to A/V pre/pros, with the latest "gadget" being room correction. All of these add to the expense (The Emotiva XMC-1 is $2500). What happens when better room correction becomes available? Ditch the whole pre/pro that was expensive to begin with? Hope for a firmware upgrade?

Oppo "tries" to have some preamp features (HDMI input, bass, level, and distance management, as well as Dolby and DTS to LPCM decoding) in the BD player: it has everything but an HDMI switch. But, the volume control is not really designed to be used in lieu of a preamp (though people have used it that way), but rather as a trim control close to max. Decoded 7.1ch LPCM with 1080p black on an "audio" HDMI interface is a cool thing: you can do all sorts of downstream audio processing with it before needing a DAC and volume control. It's a pity pre/pros don't take the same approach for a digital processing loop: you HAVE 7.1ch LPCM in the box. You HAVE extra HDMI inputs. How hard is it to send full 7.1ch LPCM out the secondary HDMI output, and accept 7.1ch LPCM audio for the main output, or at least the DAC and analog outputs from a second source?

Would this just be a matter of firmware?

Yeah, it's a "geek" mode. But geez: you could drop PEQ out of the device, and make the rest of it real bare bones that way, as far as audio processing goes.

I'm resigned to doing it ahead of the 976 and just using it as an HDMI DAC and volume control. As I wrote, it's actually the CHEAPEST HDMI audio DAC option out there, even if none of it's other features get used. It just bugs me that its got a perfectly good HDMI switch that would go unused.

On Edit: I stand corrected. The Essense Evolve II-4k HDMI DAC fits the bill at $299, but is a pure DAC with no volume control and unbalanced outputs. Still: a very nice product at the price. Now, if one could score a Parasound Halo P7 analog preamp (about $1600 USED), that would be a killer combination.

Again: everywhere I look, just using the 976 as a DAC and volume control with balanced out is cheaper than any other alternative. A used Nuforce MCP-18 might do the trick, but TRY FINDING ONE. That alone says a lot for the 976 value proposition.