Tom, I agree with you. As I've said all along, let's wait until we can see and play the Audya before condemning it, or praising it too lavishly.
I fully expect it to be the best arranger ever made. I can tell you it won't be perfect, and it won't suit every player, but what does?
As usual, I had quit reading this thread when it starting sinking to the bashing-without-reason status, but accidentally opened it again.
One guy already embarrassed himself by ranting for pages about some USB issue of which he was not informed. Why not wait until we have concrete, hands-on information?
I don't know how much AJ will allow us to experiment with the Audya--probably not much--but I will sure try to ask him about the issues raised about uniformity of sound and chord recognition. I expect them to be non-issues, just as the USB thing was.
DonM