How old is Bob now? Carver was supposed to survive without him. Yeah that worked. Sunfire. Same thing. As soon as Bob leaves, it goes to hell and yet I think they wanted him gone at Carver Corp. Ironic. No, not ironic. Stupid.
Carver never really got past the 5.1 stage (did they even get that? I only really remember Pro Logic surround processors from them). Clearly, it's not so easy for 3rd parties to compete with the big boys for sheer features and computer-like GUI, etc. (as even some of the boutique brands only have front panel displays, etc.) It's hard to say what they might have put out. The basic chips are probably the same, but that doesn't differentiate them much. At best you hope for better quality amplifier circuitry or whatever, but let's face it, the amplifier market has really matured. Even a Class D amp sounds good these days.
What surprises me is that there aren't more brands to compete with Trinnov. Using an Intel based computer to decode the formats to their fullest extent is brilliant and allows them to really adapt. But you almost need good programmers more than hardware designers to pull that off. I mean that's the only thing stopping DTS:X Pro and Imax Enhanced from appearing immediately after the announcement. They have to do the actual programming to make it work since it's not just on a chip ready to go (well D&M made Imax Enhanced work on some models, but it's not beyond what's already there hardware wise). Still, it's been many years. I'm kind of surprised there aren't more options. Emotiva has been trying to up their game, but it appears the programming work is a big stumbling block to get rid of the bugs, etc. A company like Sony could probably pull it off at maybe 1/3 the cost of the Trinnov, but they probably realize there's very little demand out there for full blown Atmos 34.X.10, not enough to justify the costs to mass produce something.
I actually wonder how Windows 10 getting Atmos/X support might possibly change things. If the driver supported the full blown configuration, all you'd need is a plug-in type board to offer the hardware connections, etc. That's a big IF, though.
