I'm going w/ Gonk on this one, a combo of 1 & 5.

I had to pick up something since the 950 that I picked up used to hold me over til the 997 was available, had a failure that would not allow me to select the 7-channel analog input any longer.

If the 997 appears and the reviews are more promising than it's "cousin" then I would probably jump back on the correct ship. ;-)