I'm on the pre-order list for the Emotiva UMC-1, so I'm going to try that brand this time around.

I was happy with the 950, and then "upgraded" to the 970. The 970 despite the firmware fixes is still a buggy piece of machinery as it still suffers from random no-audio or lock ups on me. Nothing that I can't fix by getting up and flipping the switch on and off, but its still frustrating.

Now with the 997 coming out and the price premium of another $700 (or $500 with the $200 credit), over the UMC-1, and comparing the feature specs for what I really need, I'm going to go with the UMC-1.