I agree.
I had a chance to play with a Sony BDP-S550 that a friend of mine bought and I too was totaly impressed with the sound via the 7.1 analog connections.
I am not even thinking about the 997 just for this reason.
I realize that there will a lot of additional features with the 997 but I am very happy with my good ole 990.
I am just waiting in the wings for Oppo's BDP-83 Blu-ray player to hit the market and then I am set.
For a while at least.