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So, basically, you bought it not knowing what it did? Did you read about it first?
That's kind of like criticizing a Z4 for poor rear seat room and insufficient luggage space, isn't it? The criticism is factually correct - but it's not SUPPOSED to have those things.
I would not say that those are advanced capabilities, in the sense you mean. There is gear on the market that does those things. Most people can't use them properly. The MS-8 is not trying to be a me-too product, it is trying to redefine a category. In order for the MS-8 to sell enough to generate nearly enough revenue, it has to be darn near foolproof. Every means of goofing up the sound is a potential failure point.
Put another way, your listed complaints are not performance issues - they seem indicative that you wanted a different product. Other than the input problem (the occurrence of which I am not questioning, but I'm glad that it's rare), the MS-8 seems to be doing exactly what it's supposed to do, and what it was defined to do.
Based on public statements by, and personal conversations with, the product manager for the MS-8, I am pretty certain he would say, it's not for you, and was not intended to be, based on your expectations of it doing things it's not supposed to do.
As you point out, the MS-8 can get your car sounding better than most pros can, and most DIY installers can.
I don't like the 360 - not because of its performance in general - it also does what it's supposed to do - but because I've had noise problems with it in BMWs, and it doesn't have enough channels and it should have more output voltage.
The Zapco DC amps or the DSP-6 will give you better sound and better processing control than the 360 - IF you want to go to something with manual control. I tried turning off my DC amp processing and listened to an MS-8 instead. My tune was better - slightly - and mine took a long time to get to.
For what it's worth, it's not for me - as I said, I get better results without it in my system and my car, and I don't like center channels personally. As far as offering it for sale, I wish it was smaller and I wish it had a small Class D IC output and I wish it did all those things you list (but I know - I KNOW - that if it did all those things, the development would have taken even longer and it would cost more thereby as Harman tries to recoup even more sunk costs).
If you put a BitOne and an MS-8 together and they had a love child who figured outnhow to equalize parametrically, that would be pretty cool. But they come from two totally different places.
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