I live in "PRS country" since I went to school where the factory was originally located (it was on Virginia, Ave in Annapolis, MD). It has since been moved about 10 miles east to Kent Island, MD. PRS is an interesting company, and also an interesting man. Much of his focus has been sustain in the instrument, and one of his consultants was Ted McCarty from Gibson (whom he named a guitar model after). He uses art students from the local college for a lot of his finishing work, so is very involved in the community and highly respected. Not a lot of Gibson usage that I have seen around here, it is mostly PRS and Fender.
That said, a great deal of a guitar boils down to mechanics (is the guitar rigid enough, and adjustable enough to fine tune parameters) and the electronics (how the pickups are constructed, their type, the quality of the components and what does the wiring "do"). For most guitars, the mechanical is the "limit" is some ways, but the electronics are fair game to those with the wherewithal and desire to modify them. A great deal of things boil down to your personal preferences and style, and whether "out-of-the-box" is your thing, or if you are a tinkerer.
Sad anecdote, and testimony to what type of person PRS is... when I bought my first guitar I stopped by PRS' shop when it was still in Annapolis and spoke to one of his employees for about 30 minutes outside (he was heading out of work and took the time to sit down and talk to me). At one point he said "You have unfortunate timing... PRS used to let the general public come in here to work on their guitars for just the cost of materials." When I asked him what happened, he turned and pointed to a sign on the front door that said "Reward $50,000" and a picture of the first "Dragon" inlay prototype that PRS himself had done. Apparently someone had come in to work on their guitar but walked out with his. I am still upset that someone would betray the kindness of others, but that seems to get more common as years pass by.