Is the Oppo-105 with Modwright modifications

Tbg, I too have compared the stock 95 to the 105 and to me there really is no comparison. The 105 is clearly improved over the 95, very obvious to me in any case. I owned a stock 95 for almost 2 years so it wasn't an antedotal comparison under unknown conditions. I have heard the system of the gentleman who also owned both many times. However we both preferred my modded 95 to his stock 105. I currently own a modded Modwright 95 so can't compare to the modded 105 which I haven't but by every account from those who have heard or owned both it seems the 105 is much improved, lessons learned in both cases I suppose.

I thought that the moded unit sounded very little better than the stock unit

Tbg, so you found stock 105 sounded similar to MW mod?

Knghifi, no, I've only heard an Exemplar moded 95 and now the Exemplar moded 105. The 105 does just about everything and with the Exemplar tube output stage, the use as a dac for my music server sounds outstanding.

Does a modification interfere with the ability to perform a firmware update? I would hate to upgrade my 105 only to find out that it will no longer successfully take a firmware update.

I don't know, but this would be a good question for Oppo : )