Maybe Gonk has it right. If Jeff Mercado is listening out there, maybe you can get Mark to lend you a "Big Dog", as the real test is probably how well the 990 and the DMC-1 do in a head-to-head BLIND test. Based on features, the DMC-1 would have to sound a great deal better than the 990 to justify almost 3x the price. Other than the 1394 option, they actually seem to be reasonably well matched in features, but for almost $2K more, the DMC-1 ought to sound better, otherwise what's the value?