Your quandry sounds familiar. I have a Panasonic s-97 which I use for dvd-a via analog and it sounds excellent. For CDs it isn't very good and the sound is just not as transparent and lacks dynamic range. When I use it for cds its just as a transport into an Arcam processor which has a better Wolfson chip. That's what led me to buy a higher end player like the Rotel 1072 with great DACs for cd playing. Because I like to compare and experiment I also picked up a sacd player Sony scd9000es which sounds wonderful with SACD but doesn't compare to the Rotel with ordinary redbook cds.

The difference in sonic quality is very evident to everyone who hears them. I have to admit I too am somewhat perplexed by people who scoff at how different players or processors or analog vs digital connections can sound different.

John