[noggin]

Reason RPi2 gets an A+ (and I'm open to suggestions as to what it should be) is for what you get, especially for the price, and for the best support of any media player. It does do HD audio, and doesn't have to be bitstreaming, as decoding is the same thing (ATMOS and DTS:X notwithstanding), with full uncompressed quality. Add 3D ISO and MVC MKV support (only non-Kodi M8R had this), plus a seamless, integrated Kodi experience (no external player), and RPi2 is pretty darn perfect.

If you give the RPi2 a A+ then i think the VidOn box deserve a A+.

A+ device is suppose to have all the features,RPi2 is missing one important feature,which is Bitstreaming,that alone doesn't make a A+ device.

Maybe the Zidoo could be a A+ device,but for now none of those listed devices deserve a A+ or A- ratings.

Just my 2 cents.

Just for accuracy - the Pi and Pi 2 both support bitstreaming of lossy Dolby Digital/AC3 and DTS audio, it is just HD Audio codecs they don't bitstream (DTS HD-MA/HRA and Dolby True HD, and their new variants Dolby Atmos and DTS:x) Unlike lots of boxes which don't support any bitstreaming, it is just HD Audio bitstreaming that the Pi / Pi 2 doesn't support.

However the Pi 2, unlike many boxes that don't bitstream HD Audio, DOES output 8 channel / 24bit PCM at up to 96kHz and 4 channel / 24 bit up to 192kHz. Now that the new dev OE builds include lossless decode support for Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA/HRA you get lossless HD Audio output as PCM for 48kHz and 96kHz tracks. Which is all but a handful (192kHz 5.1 and 7.1 is vanishingly rare on Blu-ray because the bitrate required is so high) Sure you don't get bitstreaming, so the lights don't come on on your amp, and potentially some metadata-based processing in your amp may be compromised slightly (5.1 to 7.1 up conversion?) but for many of us lossless decoding to PCM is more than good enough.

The real limitation at the high-end is that Dolby Atmos and DTS:x won't be supported. But if you are spending that money on an AVR and speakers, you are likely to be able to spend a couple of quid more to buy a Celeron x86 box(which will support them)