Jerry, I've spent a good bit of time with the OPPO player and know how good a piece it is. I had no issue with Lexicon's announcement to use it as the foundation for their player. Theta and Ayre are doing the same thing, and in all three cases it is a clear compliment to the BDP-83 as a platform that those companies are using it. Any of these products, assuming they receive tweaks and refinements, are working well out on the "diminishing returns" curve - a small market segment, but one that accepts the cost increases involved. I also don't care either way about the THX licensing, although I do think that it merits some discussion.

What I am interested in learning is what Lexicon really did to improve on the BDP-83. The stock player is a great value, and by all accounts OPPO's SE upgrade to it puts it in a position to challenge the "big boys" in terms of analog performance while still costing under $1k. Disregard the words in Audioholics' review (and yes, their decision to merge their news/review site with an online store does some weird things to how they are perceived - they aren't one of my regular stops for reviews). I just looked at the pictures of the two players and the measurements taken. The BDP-83 (not the 83SE) and BD-30 look indistinguishable (same boards attached to the same stamped base plate, same front panel layout) and they measured *very* similarly in every test. As I mentioned above, comparing the BD-30 and the 83SE is not what is needed at this point. It has value, as I'd like to know how the 83SE's upgraded ESS-based analog section compares to the BD-30's Cirrus-based analog section. It doesn't address the current concern, which is that Lexicon has made no clearly identified changes to the three boards inside the player. Is that "diminishing returns" market being well-served by the BD-30, or are they being well-served by the BDP-83SE and abused by the BD-30?