OK, here's my input (so far) on the sounds of digital scanning.
Motorboating is not a fact of life with a 2096 - I'm in fringe areas, using a VHF antenna, and mine rarely motorboats. I might hear that once or twice a day at max. I don't know how to explain why mine doesn't do it a lot, even with the wrong antenna, but I'm happy with it.
All of my digital traffic sounds like they're trying to talk while gargling, or at least when using a VHF antenna on the 2096. When I move the scanner to the truck, which is using a 800 MHz antenna only, it seems to me that the "gurgling" sound becomes much less. So far this is just a theory, as I have not confirmed it with multiple radios, antennas, or speakers. I'll know more after I get the 197 programmed and tested out in similar situations. I seriously doubt that the "watery" sound is going to go away completely, as I even hear it in the CSP cars on their own radios. As said above, just some of the joys of digital radio...