Great review. I recently test rode this one (thanks Mountain High)  I agree with you Mike apart from a couple of issues. 

1. It behaves oddly when braking. Now it could be the bike wasn't set up properly for my weight and maybe frame sizing is critical.  But I found it very difficult to hang my arse out of the back and more worryingly in the loose it was decidedly jittery. Unnerving when trying to lose speed quickly.

2. Whilst very neutral in its handling its tracking was not great nor was it that chuck-able on my favorite single track.  Having said that it was pretty easy to point and shoot in the rough stuff so the head angles must be pretty slack.

The noise does get to you a bit but by the end of a ride I'd stopped noticing. What is fantastic though which you didn't mention is just how good it is on the climbs. Amazing.

I agree one of the best bikes of the moment. Still some small compromises to be ironed out in future releases.