Not much paper to base an opinion on for now. If past performance holds true, I suspect the 976 will be a better piece than the MC-700. When the 975 came out I ordered both the 975 and UMC-200 to do an in-home comparison. The 975 had *much* better audio quality than the UMC-200 even after turning off the EQ in the UMC-200. In my experience Outlaw's focus has always been audio quality first.

The MC-700 has a nice feature set for the price, but I am willing to wait for the 976. One feature of the 976 I like is a full set of balanced outputs since my amps have balanced inputs. Just the inside pictures of the two show a markedly different approach. The 976 appears to have much more substantial power supplies than the MC-700 (much like 975 vs. UMC-200). Separating the power supplies for the digital and analog sections usually improves the sound. Also higher end pre/pros generally have more larger power supplies.

Audio quality means a lot to me as as I use my system for both stereo audio and HT.

Just my opinion based on past experience. We shall see when 976 is finally released how it fares.