Jack- I don't know the real answer to your question of why there is no analog filter mode on the 990. Could it be that with the better Quality DACs that it's really not necessary? And you are making my point that in my set up when I do critical listening I'll be using my DVD/SACD/DVD audio player to do the decoding for 5.1 media most of the time, therefore no need to pass through another DAC- analog is the way to go. I'll still need the 970 to decode other devices and swithch/convert video signals. So trade-offs for my going with the 970 is that I won't get as high quality DAC for my satillite dish and laserdisk player and stereo CDs are not upconverted to higher bit-rate. So if your source player for critical listening is high-speed and you don't plan on going fully balanced pre-amp and amps, then it may not be necessary to go up to the 990 to get excellent sound.