What a disappointment to find out 978 is not going to be ready this year. Who knows when it will be available, by next March??? In the meantime, I decided to purchase UMC-1 and just arrived last night. After quick setup, I gave it a listen for couple of hours and lucky for me there is no major problems that I read over the other forums. When 978 is finally ready, I will look into if it is worth the upgrade from UMC-1.