As I recall the Pioneer 45A I purchased in 2004 was one of the first reasonably priced DVD players that would also play SACD and DVD-A. Setup with my 990 was straight forward using its analog inputs. I have just a few SACDs and DVD-A discs but these formats seemed a like novelty to me after I listened to them on the 45A and so I didn't go out of my way to purchase many more. When I wanted an upconverting DVD player I chose the Oppo DV-980H universal player and I debated whether to keep the analog connections between the Oppo and my 990. I did and when I played them there was a significant improvement in sound. I didn't need to do an A-B comparison to recognize the Oppo sounded significantly better than the Pioneer.

As I noted I've not played any SACDs or DVD-A discs on the BPD-83 but I look forward to giving some a spin. A direct comparison between the 980H and 83 would be difficult because the 990 has only one set of 7.1 analog inputs so I've packed up the 980H. Based upon Gonk's observations I'm looking forward to listening to some SACDs with the BDP-83. Who knows, I may join mzpro5 and start buying SACDs.