Thank you for the link to AVS forum, very informative. It looks like I'll be fine with 970 for audio, since it is about $80 cheaper. Considering the above description and price I would go w/ 970, but I do have two questionmarks:

1 - Superiority of Farudja chip at 981 in terms of upscaling
2 - Futureproof. I have a 720p tv right now, but I may have a 1080p in a year or two.

Any other brands? It seems like Oppo is the only one out there. I would not mind paying more than for Oppo.

Axiom M60s, QS4s, VP100 Onkyo TX-SR804 Oppo 970HD Rotel RB-1080/RCD-1072 REL Q150E sub, PS 3