Ok, my perspective thus far:
"The UMC-1 is a preamp (that includes bugs)...It does all the processing (with several bugs), but no amplifying (thank goodness, cause if it did offer amplification, it would undoubtedly have a few bugs mixed in). It has lots of features (currently, riddles with - yep, you guessed it...) for a very good price. A good bargain (if you can deal with a few glitches and bugs here and there).
Now I just might be a bit too opinionated here. But In my nearly 20 years around the AV profession, I've never seen such a catastrophe as the UMC-1! - Not even from some branded product that was built in some 3rd world country, and assembled where they likely dont even have running water!!
I think it's a disgrace personally. That and they keep taking orders for the failure, to further the debacle.
But hey, this is just my pespective.