Peter- I agree, and yes, you know about the Yamaha's poor audio, in spite of it doing very well video-wise in the Shootout.

There is a Denon universal player coming out in maybe 2 months. Might be the all-around best unit we are all looking for, at a reasonable cost. (But Denon's typically get reviewed poorly for redbook CD sound.) I also keep hoping Sony will do an ES universal player, but the 999ES didn't even do that well in the shootout...