The headphone amp coloration comment is nothing to me. Most headphone amps are really crappy anyway, the only exception being the Sound Devices 7xx. I don't EQ on the fly and don't know anyone that does, so coloration doesn't matter to me. However, it's billed as being a much louder headphone amp, which I like...ALOT. I'm only interested in monitoring to make sure there's nothing wrong in the recording chain and that there's no noise or spiking that I might not be seeing on level monitors. I've had some recordings with low level noise that I didn't realize was there during the show because the head amp on my current recorders aren't loud enough to overcome the native sound at the show, so having a loud head amp is an important improvement to me, if it is indeed that much louder.
The line level input issue, while you have to wonder why they designed this way, isn't a show stopper for me at this price point. Attenuators are cheaper than a pair of cables and if you're really worried about carrying extras along with, then why consider an 8 channel recorder? Anyway, except for the loudest shows, I'm not sure it would be an issue for most of my recording situations. On my 744t when I had it, I often ran my external preamps at club shows with the 744 switches on 'mic' rather than 'line', so this isn't a show stopper for me. I'd probably have attenuators in the bag and pull them out on the rare occasion when needed. That said, I do agree that it's quite strange that selectable line vs. mic was not designed in.
Interesting about his comparison with the 744s preamps...I'm much fonder of the my external preamps than I am the internal preamps on the 744. Really happy to read his very positive response about the sound of the pres though.
Objectively, as others have already stated, I find that I don't come from much of a similar baseline as this reviewer. It would be interesting to hear a taper review of the unit to see if they have a similar final conclusion.
Regardless, the prevailing issue for me still remains that this unit is 5 times cheaper than its main competitor at this point. The pointed out deficiencies, for what I do, are more than compensated for by the attractive price point...and that's not even considering the fact that this unit actually has some increased functionality over its competition (with the wi-fi capability).