Just got a followup message from Jon at Canaan via a ticket...he asked if I would share this. Sounded reasonable...so here's the clip.
"Hey if you are on bitcointalk, could you let people know we are hearing their concerns. Best way for people to let us know what we should support is to be a customer of our new product. And second, we will do our best to support our customers 🙂 We are rolling out new features and support in private, not in public 🙂"
I mentioned that, next time around, if I had to pay with a wire transfer it would not happen. Aside from the cost, I have to drive 30 mi on narrow two-lane island road just to get to a bank that can do a wire transfer. Ain't gonna happen. I paid for my A6s with PayPal, but something changed internally there. I don't know what (probably don't want to know). I think, however, they seem to be aware the natives are restless.
I'm not an apologist for Canaan. They've treated me very well so far, and have, when queried directly, given honest answers. I don't ask for much more in this biz.
EDIT: I also asked about the new diagram posted about connecting the A721 (basically the same as an A6), re why it showed only four PCIe cables per box, leaving four inputs unused. He said only four were necessary, and that further advisement on features would be forthcoming. The whole thing is quite intriguing.