I've been using the 990 beast and 7500 Amp for many years, and they still work and sound great. The 976 looked to be the only "upgrade" to the 990 since those other "in development" products were canceled. Now I see the 976 has been discontinued.
Has anyone done a direct comparison/review between the 990 and 976?
By the way in Gonk still in here?

I switched to the 976 after my old faithful 990 finally passed away one morning with a big snap.
That was a sad day for sure.
I think the 976 sounds somewhat better IMHO and the HDMI connectivity of todays processors is really nice for sure.
If the 976 had not been available I am not sure what I would have done.
Probably a Marantz AV7706 because they are pretty solid units and not buggy like the Emotiva processors.
Gonk made an appearance quite a while back but haven't seen him here since.
Now is the time to start doing your research on a replacement unit just in case.