On some CDs, maybe 30% of them, the 976 will "lose the signal" in the silence between tracks, and when the next track begins, there is a short delay before the sound un-mute and resume with a fade-in, resulting in a loss of half the first second of the track. The same behavior is hapening when playing files on iTunes in a computer, via Bluetooth. I find this highly annoying. In pop/rock, it's often the first drums hit that is outright obliterated!

Here are a few CD titles that are affected here :

The immaculate collection - Madonna
Past to present - Toto
Violator - Depeche mode
Nevermind - Nirvana
Under the pink - Tori Amos
On every street - Dire straits

In a private discussion with Ben from outlaw's CS, I'm told this is unavoidable in modern HDMI based products, so the discussion about this issue may be moot. If you don't experience the issue, it's because you have the luck to have a player that is outputing a continuous bitstream even while there is idle space between tracks on the disc. I'm told Oppo have models that are doing this. Maybe the Marantz is too.

I may have to use the analog inputs, which would of course bypass the great DACs and DSP in the 976. I listen to music much more often than watching movies, so this is a big deal for me.