The 970 is a little "buggy" with no real pattern except the aquistion of a digital signal. However, it is usually rectified by simply turning it off and then on again. Mine went months with no "bugginess", then in the last few weeks I've had to turn it off a few times. Other than this quirk, I still enjoy the unit. Music sounds great and the amp was very good (I upgraded because of different speakers). The amp was very good when I had other speakers, but lacked only when using the Axiom M80 (despite the high "efficiency" they Do need a lot of power). So to answer the original question, no the combo is not "buggy" but the 970 has its quirks. In retrospect, I should have bought the 990. But I was concerned about the service and possibly getting ripped off. Now, most of my purchases are from internet direct companies. Overall, I still enjoy my 970 quirks and all. I am probably going to use it as a two channel preamp in another room when the next-gen processor comes out, as I mentioned, for music it sounds great.