Best SACD player for the money - Marantz SA-11S1

Howie, Are you saying that say a mod like SACDmods or Tube Research to my SCD-C555ES will take me very close to the Marantz level? Remember this is $ 600 to $ 700. versus selling it for $ 500 and buying a new Marantz SACD player. I guess spending $ 700 versus at least $ 2500 additional to get the Marantz. Thanks

DCAudio-

You may want to email Paul at TRL and see what he thinks about your upgrade or mod path with the 555ES.
I am sure a place like TRL or SACD mods could improve the stock player. The question is whether the technology used on the 555ES has been passed up by a newer (and maybe cheaper unit).

Something like the Sony ES2000 unit may have more upside after a mod than a 555ES. I know it sounds kind of odd, but the Sony CE595 (a $150 unit) that I had modded by TRL was a monster. The best digital I have had in my system. The ES2000 is a believed to be notch above the 595 by those that have heard both modded and it is about $150 more stock.

Now certainly initial build quality has a co-relation to the outcome of a modded unit, but maybe not quite as much as one might think.

I guess all I am saying is that the newer technology may offer some other alternatives for you.
Good Luck.

DCaudio, I'm not necessarily saying that the mods would be better. In fact, it depends on how much you believe in the work of the individual modders. If say the TRL mods are as good as some people like Lkdog claims it is, then modding your 555ES will surely bring you close to the Marantz if not better. I was close to trying out TRL but have not since I haven't bought into the raves yet. Everyone who has modded their players seems to think their modded players are pretty much the very best. I myself am looking for a player in the midrange as well but have so far been sitting on the fence.

Lkdog, I've talked to Paul in the past about my 555ES. It's not that I don't trust his work, but at first he told me that he knows the 555ES and that the 595 would be better, which I find it hard to believe since presumably the same mods are done and I know for a fact that the 555 has superior transport. What is left is whether the chips are better in the 595 or whether the way the 555 is configured inside makes it not a good player to mod. He couldn't tell me. All he could say is that the 595 is really good. After a few days of questioning he backtracks and tells me he just modded a 555ES and that was by far the best player he's ever heard because it has a superior transport. Now I'm not sure if it was the 555ES he modded but rather the 2000ES. All I know is that if he's recommending a player, it's because it's widely available and probably not a bad value. Then again, he probably has had a lot more players that have come around since then so he might have better knowledge now than before.

I know that some players are simply not good candidates for modding. But that aside, it's hard to believe that the same modder can't possibly be capable of doing more with a better built player unless there are specific reasons for it. TRL to me offers the best price and probably the best value, but he's the only modder I know who pays very little attention/have very little belief in the importance of a better transport. When he was pushing the 595, Paul was claiming that that's pretty much the best player you can get. He tells you that even if you sent him a better player with a better transport it would come short of the 595. I just can't accept that and think that it's simply because he has had success with the 595.

Hmmm...
Howie - I am not sure I am understanding your post very well.
I am making no claims that anything is the best to mod, or is the best player when modded. The only point I was making was that units with newer chipsets might offer better potential than some slightly older units. I am sure many other factors in the build quality of a unit contribute to the sound and also if it is a good platform for modding.

As far as Paul's view on the 555es- I have no idea but I do know that they evaluate units carefully like any other modder and do pay close attention to transports. One of the reasons they got better results from the Sony 595 over the Sony 775, for example, was that they liked the transport in the 595 better.
They do look at players that are readily available as popular options, but they do really like the Marantz reference players which are not all that easy to come by actually.

They mod many units from the modest 595 to the very expensive; i.e. Esoterics, etc.
They are always evaluating units as they come in and have opinions and options based upon what someone may want to spend on the stock units.

I have to agree with Lkdog, if TRL was pushing a unit just because of availability, why have I, at their recommendation, been waiting for the past 3 weeks (and an additional 2 to 3 weeks) for the TRL/Marantz SA-11?

I agree with LK's newer chipset analogy, it makes sense that a newer chipset may be much better, after all, technology does advance. Hell, a new computer is out dated within 6 months, so maybe a 5 year old DAC chip has been improved upon?

The TRL guys mod everything from SACD players to big CRT projectors, I know, the modified my over 200 pound Sony VPH-1272 3 gun CRT projector with great results. They've also modified a few line doubler/scalers for me, of which were greatly improved and saved me thousands of dollars that would have been required to get my video to the performance level I now have.

Considering their modest price ($550), it might be possible that they have seen more units than the more expensive mod shops ...