Unless one is willing to keep waiting, and waiting, for the 997 or spending 4-5 times as much on an Anthem or Denon preamp, the Onkyo/Integra preamps seem to do everything and do it reasonably well. There is the Marantz AV8003 too, with some lacking features but perhaps better sound.

I have read in a number of professional reviews saying that the Onkyo/Integra are quite good for digital sources but mediocre for analog as Brandon B says. What I do not understand, is that except for the RCA connection from the back of the preamp to the board, I would think that digital sources must use all of the same analog circuitry after the DACs. No? Or could the DAC circuitry actively compensate for something lacking in the analog part? But I'm not an electrical engineer.