I haven't read any reports directly comparing the 1070 and 1050 sonically, although I would suspect that the 1070 would be a nice improvement. There may be other benefits to be had, however. The 1070 offers more sophisticated bass management (four separate adjustable crossovers for mains, center, side surrounds, and rear surrounds instead of the single global adjustable crossover, plus the option for an analog 80Hz crossover or digital bass management on the 7.1 analog input), superior video switching (conversion of s-video and composite video to component video output, component video switching for three inputs (including the bandwidth for HD signals), DVI video switching, and a few new processing modes (for example, the 1050 predates Pro Logic II, which is a nice upgrade - especially with Pro Logic IIx tossed in for good measure). Some of those additional features could be enough of a "difference that makes a difference."