James,
As I already wrote many times I am a Bryston fan and two years ago I built a "convolver pc" that I still enjoy because I needed to digitally correct the sound to fit my listening room.
My setup is:
Sony DVD player as transport (SPDIF)
Xbox 360 (Toslink)
From the players I enter in the htpc that runs a small linux distribution, loaded from an usb stick. I do not know Linux, I used a free pre packaged distribution I downloaded from
http://www.acourate.com/ (Check "Brutefir on a memory stick").
The htpc is totally fanless. No hard drives. An industrial via EPIA motherboard and an RME professional soundcard. I just have to push a button to have the htpc turned on exactly as I do with my Bryston DAC.
From the htpc I go via SPDIF in the Bryston DAC that is linked to a Bryston BP26 + 3BSST combo. The htpc is between the transport and the Bryston DAC. The music chain is all digital.
I spent about 1000 Usd for the htpc. But it works as a Tact. Well, I believe.... better than a Tact.
It uses Brutefir to apply realtime digital filters to the sound in order to correct it. It does this better than a TACT. I use the free DRC (
http://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/) to create the filters.
As I said I just have to push a button. If I am listening to CDs it uses excess phase full correction. If I put a DVD in the transport it corrects the sound in realtime at 48 Khz but the correction is minphase only (as Tact does) to avoid lipsync problem. If I want to play with my Xbox360 it does the same thing, minphase realtime correction at 48Khz.
If I want I can add filters for other resolutions but I do not have music in hi-res format.
I would buy the BDP only if it has the option to apply digital filters to the source files in realtime. And I believe all the people who is already enjoying digital correction with an htpc would do the same.
For your engineers it would be only a matter of implement Brutefir (or another realtime convolver software or to write a better one themselves) with the option to use it with different filters or to bypass it for people who do not want to manipulate the bits.
Filters could be uploaded to a flash drive directly on your fanless motherboard.
Selectable filters via remote would be a must.
Add a couple of selectable digital input on it and it will be able to handle the DVD/Games video side too as my htpc does. Then it would be the best digital "transport" available on earth.
Nicola