The Elan system has 4" (1gang), 7" (2gang) & 12" (2gang) touch panels that can control all sources (ipod, radio, kaleidescape, Fusion Research, denon, Anthem, etc...). Most products have drivers that were developed for Elan made by the manufacturer, 3rd party developers, or Elan themselves. The touch panels have the ability to show OSD so what you see on the tv you can see on the touch panels, its pretty cool. So far it has worked with out a hitch with Kaleidescape. There is also a way to control the system through a regular hand held remote, alexa or your phone. Based on what you said regarding Russound its somewhat similar the 3rd party adapters are now drivers made specifically for the control systems Elan, Control 4, Crestron etc. basically software that allows you to connect via RS232, IP or RF to practically any component. Its nice to be able to have one controller that can control my security, theater room, lights, thermostats etc...- the system thus far has been really reliable only once having an issue due to the installer creating a loop by adding a command that was being completed automatically - I believe he said that he made a command to turn the m300 on when it already had a command to do that, causing the system to consistently try and turn on the player over and over again. He fixed it by remotely logging into my system and taking out the command.
The Elan system is very user friendly and the user interface is top notch. I am very happy with my system and would recommend it to anyone.