I was just thinking about what DVD-A/SACD players I've owned. There was a DVD-A player (the Panasonic RA60 that I bought in 2002), but I didn't have both formats until I got the Yamaha S1500 in September 2004. The S1500 had a pretty decent analog section coupled to a truly dreadful user interface, which is why it became a purely DVD-A/SACD player in May 2005 (the OPPO 971H was a much better DVD/CD player, with digital output to the 990). Then there were the 981HD, 980H, and 983H. The 981HD's analog section was probably not quite as good as the S1500's, but it was a quite satisfactory all-in-one solution. The 980H improved on the 981HD nicely, with the 983H offering some subtle benefits (very slight, at least to my ear). The BDP-83 tops them all, though. It won't matter to folks who are using the HDMI output for audio, but for everybody who isn't yet ready to upgrade their receiver or surround processor (and there are plenty of folks in that category) it's very good news indeed.
Keep an eye out for music titles on Blu-ray, too. There's not a lot of studio stuff out there, but there is a fairly decent array of concert titles out there. TrueHD, DTS-HD MA, or straight PCM are all capable of equaling DVD-A and SACD.