I was also in the same situation concerning upgrading my 950 to the 990. Prior to the release of the 990 owners of the 950 scoffed at the notion of other more expensive processors sounding better than the 950. Then the release of the 990 and many people raved about the better, upgraded, clearer sound compared to other units including the 950, I didn't buy it. I literally figured that if Soundhound continued to use the 950 in his post production sound business then that was good enough for me.
Well when the 950 died I considered both the 990 and Emotiva's MMC-1, given the MMC-1 was at the time a couple hundred $ less and they have the 40% future discount I got the Emotiva unit.
I don't think the MMC-1 sounds any better or worse than the 950, both sound good to me. To date the MMC-1 has had NO glitches or quirks, I wish that would have been the case with my 950.