trshaner wrote:
Demosaic processing using other than the manufacturer's "proprietary recipe" (i.e. DPP) can degrade everything from color, image noise, chromatic aberration, or simply image sharpness.
I usually prefer Lr4's demosaicing (I mean rendering to initial viewable image, since demosaicing proper (in it's strictest definition) can not be isolated - we only see what comes out after camera profile applied, and in DPP case: color noise reduction, baseline sharpening, ... if I remember correctly (certainly that's true of NX2 anyway)) to both DPP and NX2. Which one is best depends on the camera, as well as personal preference - I do not believe inside sensor knowlege gives Canon (or Nikon) some unfair advantage, although time invested to perfect rendering of a particular camera/sensor model vs. others, can make a difference.
Note: I have not compared all things, e.g. Chromatic Aberration, but lens vignette correction of NX2 (DPP?) is better than Lr, but DxO is better than NX2... Colorwise and image quality/detail is where I usually prefer Lr (again color-integrity depends a lot on model/profile).
trshaner wrote:
I'd use it (DPP) first
And I'd use Lr first. It's for this reason I encourage OP to make up his/her own mind. Note: one of the reason's I'd use Lr first is that I use a custom camera profile which suits me - you can't do that in DPP. YMMV, to each their own, more than one way to skin a grape, ... 
(it's all good).
Rob