In my family room system, I'm running a Golden Ear 3d Array XL for my front stage and currently no rear surround speakers (though I plan to add some). The receiver is a 7 year old Onkyo RC270 that was $849 list and I paid $399. When I listened to the Golden Ear on the sales floor, it sounded pretty amazing. It sounds "fine to good" at my house, but no better than "good." On the sales floor, it was powered by a high end Yamaha receiver. My question is whether the 976 will be dramatically better for my uses which is largely listening to 320 kbps streaming music and watching Netflix and TV via FIOS DVR. I'm just wondering how much better the DAC is on something like the 976 compared to my old Onkyo and also how much better the rest of the electronic upgrades are and whether they will make a significant audible difference. And yes, I realize I'll need an external amp as well. I have a dedicated theater room with an Emotiva XMC-1 and such, so I have some grasp of the benefits of a high end receiver. I use the family room system far more than I do the theater, hence the potential upgrade. Thanks for any feedback.