I own both an Oppo and the G98 player feeding a G68 processor. I agree with VK that the Oppo is as good as a CD player with my G68. The rest of the system is the 5000 series speakers with a D2500 sub. The one exception is DVD-Audio where Meridian is in it's own class. The difference is not subtle but very large. I have also compared the audio with an AppleTV and hear little differences with CD's as well.

It seems that the processor does such a good job that more commodity priced players that deliver digital information will sound very very good. Of course, there are other benefits of having the matching pair from an operational point of view.

G68J, HD621, Oppo 103d, 3xDSP5000, 2xM60 Rears, D2500, Linn LP12, Nova Phenomena phono amp
Brad