I purchased a 970 several weeks ago. I had been running a basic stereo system, acurus a150 and rl11 preamp to vandersteen 2ce's, sourced by analog out from an htpc with Asus nforce2 soundstorm motherboard. I had wanted to move to a surround theater system but my emphasis is still two channel music. I anticipated improved stereo performance using digital out of my htpc vice the analog, but I'm not hearing any improvement over my old sound. I understand the 970 d/a's are not as good as the 990's, but are they really no better than my onboard sound chip? If I return the 970 for the 990 can I expect a discernable improvement for my extra $400? I am pleased with the extra features and digital capability of the 970 but I'm really disappointed with it's stereo performance.