Yes, Outlaw presumably falling into the "small manufacturer" camp.

I know it's little solace to those who have had buggy 990s or 970s (like me), but the notion that Outlaw knowingly released a product they knew had problems and/or did not have confidence in, is neither fair nor accurate. And that notion has been floated in the saloon before.

I think that's made them a little gun shy with release of the next generation of processors (that, and the chip problems), but there's no guarantee these will be glitch free either.

I strongly believe that once your interest in the audio / HT hobby reaches a certain level, and with it, your system becomes more sophisticated and performance focused, you're getting outside the plug and play realm and into a more maintenance intensive system that has greater potential to "act up," if you will.

At least, that's been my own observation over the years. My first system (Technics) was probably the simplest and lowest maintenance gear I ever owned. But certainly not the best sounding, by a long shot.