The BA unit is based on the same chassis as the 990 - both are derived from Sherwood's P-965 and manufactured by Etronics. The two should sound similar (same basic design, after all), but as you've noticed the BA is going to suffer from minimal support (don't expect any firmware updates ever), lacks the features added by Outlaw when they developed the 990 (balanced outputs, DVI switching, quad crossover), and has a shorter warranty.