yep, you're right. to each his/her own. I merely started this topic because of a problem I had with nowadays considered rather normal sized HDD's that will be small or even out of production next year, and because of that wondered about the options for future upgrading.
Since storage is a sine qua non necessity for the BDP, and one of the 'features' of computer storage is that changes within the blink of an eye, a BDP that is as independent of it as possible should be the way to go. If power consumption really goes down this is a non discussion, but reality tends to prove that in declining power draws, capacity grows, and thus power consumption grows along with that capacity. So the 500mV might be a very narrow margin in the future, like it is right now.
Maybe we can still find enough HDD's that stay below that threshold today, but it could/would have been much easier and future proof if the BDP's USB power source would have been more generous.
Then again, since we can attach anything to the USB ports, it's up to us isn't it?
Still, the BDP is no NAS.

As for the DAC, I'd rather have a more modern USB chip in the BDA, then a DAC in the BDP......
Greets!
Marius
This has been discussed in other threads many times over before BDP was even released and here is another thread since it's been released. Whatever decision Bryston makes someone won't be happy about it.
* The BDP already is NAS so by extension the HDD enclosure would also be a NAS. What more can you ask for?
* Why would I want a DAC in the BDP if I already own one? I don't know!
* Why would I not want to buy the BDA over an added expense of ~$1.5k DAC in the BDP? I would much rather have the BDA or many other respectable DACs to upgrade between.
* Should I have to open up the BDP to expand storage the storage? I guess you will for the HDD enclosure unless they are cleaver and use server grade trays to slide in the HDD.
There's more than one way to skin a cat. Now lets talk about the BP26 