"Same thing goes for cars. Want prestige and speed, buy that BMW or Benz. Dont care about prestige but only care about performance, then buy a used dodge neon and throw a turbo and some other parts on it and blow right past the BMW down the road. Its all in want you want." I hate car analogies because they can be twisted so easily. I want speed and comfort and reliability, so I'd choose a BMW or Benz. If I was less concerned about these other aspects or couldn't afford to be, I might consider fixing up a street racer. Entirely different experiences.
As for the 980, it is a more than decent player but is even more competitive when used via the HDMI outputs (or, in my case, by a 3xS/PDIF mod output) into a high quality external DAC/processor. I would not bother playing with its DACs or analog stages when there's so much better for that already out there.
Kal
