That's a very good point fhw, and a local friend of mine, the stereophile, was explaining it in the same way (about the processing onboard various components).
I have yet to actually buy a dvd player and originally my thinking was to get a dual dvd/cd usage out of it so i was looking for good priced 5 disk tray dvds (specifically i had it narrowed down to the new Panasonic CV52).
However, given the fact that i didn't like the sound of my friend's Panasonic (RC32?) dvd player for music (compared against my old technics and an all-in-one denon we have in our kitchen), i started re-thinking my purchase decision.
So now i'm left with trying to find a quality single tray dvd and a cd player that will have that sound i'm looking for. I think finding the cd player will be a more prolonged search but i'm leaning towards new technology with the latest encoding chips.
Any suggestions on good names for cd players and dvds? (I was told offhand that Panasonic, Toshiba, Hitachi and Sony are relatively reliable for quality and service).
