As the initiator of this thread, I suppose I should respond to the question about the "differences in sound". Unfortunately, (or more likely,fortunately), I also upgraded from a 3B ST and a BDP-1 to a 4B3 and BDP-2 at the same time as I had the BP25->BP26 upgrade. All that I can say for sure, is that the whole system sounds great. It sounds more like the sound I would get from listening with the BP25 with good headphones. So much so that I am even thinking of postponing a planned speaker upgrade. This was done just recently (within the last month), so I suspect that it is still available, although Mike Pickett mentioned that the cost of parts was increasing and they might have to raise the price (currently $600 Can).
HTH
Pundamilia