price of Oppo players threw the roof

It breaks my heart to read about people who bought a uber expensive amp or something from a 1 man operation, only to have the  person die or go out of business and leave the hobbyist with a very expensive piece of junk.

I had 3 different Audible Illusions Modulus preamps from 1992 to 2015, and my main reason for going with other equipment was because Art Ferris is semi retired and the factory (probably 3 people at most) is even slower than it was in their heydays.  The equipment is too expensive to take a big hit.

Thank you for the reassurance, boucher.  Being patient will be a bit easier, given that I at least have a new 203 to enjoy in the meantime.  And it does a very nice job with SACDs and DSD files, as well as with feeding PCM files to my receiver's DAC.  Congrats on your 205 purchase invitation!  I hope you'll let us know how the 205 works out for you. 

Wasent esoteric( teac) part of the Gibson group that was mismanaged to death?

Personally I am quite happy to take a $1300 roll of the dice with OPPO for my previously stated reasons

In the June 2018 issue of Sound & Vision they review the Cambridge Audio CXUHD Ultra HD Blu-ray Player which is based on the platform for Oppo UDP-203. The only differences seem to be no analog audio outputs and the remote is not backlit.  It retails for $700.00 and is made in the UK. It is available on Amazon with free shipping for $699.99. Here is the link...https://www.amazon.com/Cambridge-CXUHD-Universal-Blu-ray-Player/dp/B0761TRVQB
Here is the Sound & Vision Review...
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/cambridge-audio-cxuhd-ultra-hd-blu-ray-player-review
Hope this helps.

Esoteric/Teac was part of the Gibson group but in that case, the holding company broke up in bankruptcy and Esoteric/Teac reclaimed independence despite being totally autonomous from the Gibson group in all aspects of its operations.  Cerwin-Vega, Stanton and Onkyo remained in a new, Gibson Pro Audio Group located less than a mile from my home.