Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2.4Ch 800W Soundsystem

I first heard news that this model was coming out back in February or March and bought it almost as soon as it came out this past summer. Before purchasing my 2019 Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2.4 DTS-X/Atmos unit, I spent months researching a soundbar to buy. My dad has a Sonos system and spent somewhere between $1400 and $1600 for two satellite speakers, a soundbar and a subwoofer. The neat thing about that system is how easy it is to group speakers together. Well, I had a budget and I wanted the best possible sound for as cheap as possible. This model is for sure not cheap, but it is definitely not the most expensive. I looked at other brands and wanted something that would connect to Google Assistant. Alexa is cool and all, but IMO Google is better. Well, unfortunately there were not many soundbars with both great quality sound and an assistant - reviews were a bit mixed. So I went for this one. Pros: - Sound is spectacular, especially movies. - The different audio modes work well. - Lots of options and customization is nice although can be a bit much. - Lip sync buttons are nice and useful when some apps tend to have latency. - Set up was quick and easy. - Online help and documents are easy to find. Even when debugging issues, Nakamichi does a great job. - Customer support is quick and helpful. I had a defective subwoofer circuit board which prevented right back satellite speaker from working. Got it replaced in 1 to 2 days and has not stopped working. - CEC support is nice, but can be troublesome sometimes with Nvidia Shield. More below. - Samsung TV and Shield work nice together. Can turn on TV and everything comes on (could be problematic - see below). Also, can turn on Shield and everything comes on with it. - 4k passthrough works great. - ARC works well for retrieving audio when tv is using other inputs for video. - Having 2 subs is great!!! I encourage this option for anyone!! - Satellite speakers work great!! Wish I got the 9.2.1 for best experience. Cons: - With CEC, when trying to turn on the TV and use a different soundbar input, sometimes the Shield randomly decides to take over. Might be more of a Shield problem. - There is a 3 or 4 second lag when audio first starts playing. I wish there was no lag, but this is caused by changing audio formats. On the Shield, I believe it uses DTS as primary output, but then may switch to another format when video starts playing with Netflix or Plex. This delay is super annoying, especially when I have to pause. I often find myself rewinding just so I can catch the words being missed. I think this problem would not exist for (disc movies) like with blu-ray players or gaming consoles, since formats don't change suddenly. - No support for Google Assistant or Alexa. - Lacks Wifi connection for streaming. Bluetooth is nice though, but never use it because I carry my phone wherever I go. - Music using the audio jack and Chromecast audio just doesn't get as loud as through HDMI devices, even with volume up to 36 or 38. I usually max it to 28 or 30 when watching a movie. It sounds great, don't get me wrong, but it might be a limitation for the audio jack. - The Music, Movie, Game, and Direct buttons are nice, but I wish there wasn't so much customization sometimes. What do I set Direct to anyways? Do I really need to be an audio engineer to figure out when to use Native, Dolby Upmix, or Dolby Surround? Would my wife figure this out without me? There are 2 preset buttons which might help, but I haven't bothered with them yet. Overall I love this device, but I wish it was faster when switching audio formats and more modern. It needs to have internet capabilities and smart assistants. Also, it would be great if there was a mobile app to configure the soundbar. These few features alone would put it off the charts and make the soundbar an unbeatable competitor.