Thanks for your CV ...
Anyway I believe you about Sony quality... but you know that as a consumer product (HiFi) there are lots of better sounding equipments... like it's Yamaha, Nakamichi, Bang & Olufsen, NAD and my own Onkyo... to mention most known... which is another range of HiFi equipments.
But in personal players I could agree that Sony have been among the leaders... until Chinese start the battle. If it weren't by their obsessive intention to rule the field.
One question... do this Sony player can be customizable in some way?