Definitely Oppo's products' quality was a deciding factor for me when I purchased my first Oppo, the DV-980H.
Now I'm waiting for a BDP-83. I was inclined to wait an see what the new, lower cost, product would be, but Gonk made me pull the trigger when he said that the new one would be the 980H with BluRay support.
I liked the 980, but it was not as good as the 981 which was not as good as 983. This with regard to video performance.
I'm not that interested in the audio performance of the DBP-83 for I have a dedicated music system based on Dell/Benchmark/Musical Fidelity separates.
I can say that the 990, which I'm using only for HT, has fine DAC's inside and a good analog stage, but doesn't match up with the Benchmark/Musical Fidelity combo, not that it should, considering the difference in price and market segment.
So I can definitely say that DAC's and analog stages make a word of difference.
Of course, that's only my opinion...