One thing people can't lose focus of with the SP4 is that it is practically 100% still a Storm ISP 3D.16 ELITE minus of course the new face plate, Bryston logo coded into the firmware and possibly a few other minor tweaks (unless I hear otherwise) however until Bryston breaks formal firmware support ties with Storm and flashes the unit with a complete custom Bryston firmware and starts adding hardware designed and built by Bryston like the possible module James had mentioned it's still a Storm unit.
So talk about Bryston's build and design philosophy doesn't apply to this unit, not yet, that's a discussion for the SP3, Bryston's amps, etc. This unit as we know goes against James' approach to audio and was not his decision to on board the product. I suspect it was a corporate decision to keep the name Bryston relevant within the SSP market because I imagine the SP3 is a very niche product within what it already a niche market to begin with i.e. high end SSP's and Bryston was undoubtedly losing sales by not having a unit with a few more of current gen audio and video features.
For me a unit like this is purchased with home theater in mind 1st (vs being an audiophile level piece) however the reality is the unit will get much more use serving up cable tv, apps like Youtube, stereo music via my BDP-2 and gaming then it will DVD's, Blu-ray, and 4k Blu-rays from my standalone Oppo UDP-205 or movies/tv via streaming services. All this always goes through my 5 Bryston amps (2x28B-SST2, 2x7B-SST2 & a 4B-SST C-Series) and B&W Diamond speakers (2x800D2, 2x802D2 and a HTM2D2) with 3 Paradigm subs (2xServo 15a's and a Sub 25).
With Hollywood studios often mastering lackluster audio in their movies it's the gaming industry that have taken on the champion of surround sound and immersive audio. Audio in modern games is nothing short of astonishing featuring magnificent orchestral scores to utterly bombastic explosions, environmental effects etc. And since you are an active participant not passive like with watching movies as you move your character, car, ship, plane, etc. around the soundtrack conforms to you and where you are in a 360 degree environment (game dependent of course) so sounds are shifting all around you all of the time relative to where you are.
Are units like these built with gaming in mind, of course not I'm not naive but's it's gaming that truly does get the most out of them as an audio and video device