Yes, even at the price difference. The HD Core card includes the HD software. If compared to say, Nuendo, the pricing would come up close if one paired the power of the HD Core, HD software, and plugin pack vs Nuendo plus equal power UAD cards and plugins for the UAD. Not as drastic as one would have initially thought IMO. On ehuge difference is that with non-PT HD solutions, one could opt for lesser priced and quality ADC/DAC options. Buy an HD Core + I/O at a really good street price new (with HD pack plugins), and then equal that with say, an Aurora8 from Lynx, Nuendo, a UAD card or two, and then the plugin pak from UAD to equal what Digi includes, and we are sitting at very close pricing solutions. However, most non-pro users do not need the features Nuendo would afford over Cubase, just as many features of PT HD are not seriously needed by non-pro users. IMO, those who want to use the plugins that ONLY RUN ON A UAD1 should be pissed at UAD for forcing them to buy and use that piece of hardware, which is ONLY a glorified dongle today, due to the sheer power a native system has. Yes, one could claim the same for Digi with HD; however, the HD system is NOT...repeat NOT...simply DSP to power plugins. It is an enviornment, including an excellent, user-configurable digital mixer at the heart. Sorry folks, but there is something about an HD system that just works, and works well. Some people dont "get it," but for PT users, once they work with an HD system, using something else becomes increasingly difficult, or at least annoying. I wish the HD Core were a little less expensive, and that i could choose which ADC/DAC to use without having to buy one of thiers. But, that is the way things are...oh well... I used ot think, "Wow...I couldn't live without X plugins or Y plguins..." But, when I decided to rid myself of Waves plugins forever, I found out this simply was not true. Replacing a set of plugins with another, equivilent set is not as difficult as you might think...