I switched to the 976 after my old faithful 990 finally passed away one morning with a big snap.
That was a sad day for sure.
I think the 976 sounds somewhat better IMHO and the HDMI connectivity of todays processors is really nice for sure.
If the 976 had not been available I am not sure what I would have done.
Probably a Marantz AV7706 because they are pretty solid units and not buggy like the Emotiva processors.
Gonk made an appearance quite a while back but haven't seen him here since.
Now is the time to start doing your research on a replacement unit just in case.