The Monoprice unit is actually a rebadged design built in conjunction with "DataSat"(it even looks similar)that has been around for awhile and in some movie theaters so it would seem the technology is mature. The problem with all these "high-end" high priced units is they seem to be a year or two behind the curve in the latest technology especially now related to 2.1 and Earc and even if they can be updated, considering the money you have already spent, you will have to spend more. Of course, after a considerable amount of research on the subject, 2.1, in particular is of no real value unless you are going to invest in an 8K set, but, even more importantly that you are a "gamer", especially one who prefers to play games from your PC monitor with the latest and most expensive video board and want to use your television monitor as the display, otherwise it really is of little use. Earc has been around for awhile even on two year old mainstream AVRs that have had the capacity to be updated with firmware.
I personally am waiting for what Yamaha has coming up. I had one of their previous CX series pre-pros which although only maximum 11.2 channels was very good, good sound, good value, very good build quality, and in the "Aventage" series they offer a full 4 year warranty. whereas the other mainstream manufacturers usually only provide a maximum of 3 yrs. Since I have a dedicated A/V set-up I have tried other brands, but, in the end I always returned to Yamaha because, in the end, I preferred their DSP Movie Theater programs which gave a subtle yet, effective and fully adjustable illusion of a much larger space(without affecting the separation) as opposed to the others which don't and regardless of the price of the pre-pro, are ultimately limited to the space in which you are listening to and watching the movie. | 
