>>42
Keep putting words in my mouth. I take overrated to mean exactly what it does. I pointed out that it was in fact understated, which precludes it from being overrated. I never said anything about it being mandatory (although you seem to think that's what the general opinion is: it isn't. However, it is implemented in virtually every DAP on the market.) No one made claims about it being universally better either, but actual qualified arguments about energy efficiency on a particular set of processors.
The fact remains that on these devices a suitable hardware decoder is more energy and processor efficient than software decoders. This isn't overrating them, it's simply true, and I don't recall anyone trying to make a stronger argument anywhere in this thread. When you find a post you can misconstrue in such a way, please don't attribute it to me.
Oh I'm sorry, did I bring up that nasty topic you didn't want to talk about anymore? The one that has been the focus of your entire post? That one?