Which cd player: New /w Mod or just plain new?

"Does anyone have experience with "Reference Audio Mods"? There claims are wild."

That statement says a lot more than you probably intended it to say. There are lots of mod shops out there and all have different philosophies and marketing approaches. Two shops I have a lot of respect for are TRL and Modwright. Paul Weitzel and Dan Wright are two very talented engineers who know how to treat customers fairly and truly stand behind their work. I heard Dan's Sony and Denon players at RMAF, with his new preamp, and I have personal experience with TRL mods. Both shops offer quality services at reasonable prices. I chose TRL because of the vast experience they possess in building high end equipement, in addition to performing mods on just about any digital source you can imagine, for a $550 standard fee no less.

I would encourage you to call both Paul and Dan to discuss your needs. I think you'll find the information they provide very helpful in your research.

BTW - in the opinions of several people I spoke with recently, at CES just recently a TRL modified Sony DVP-NS900V outperformed a modified Marantz that cost $12K. I'm not going to name the vendor who got smoked, but they were mentioned in a recent post.

I am very curious about the mods myself. If it is that good why don't manufacturers like Denon or Sony jump on it and make mass production out of it - they would be making killing money considering the popularity here on audiogon.

Large corporations manufacture to a price point. When you look at huge corporations like Sony and Denon with vast networks of distribuotrs, dealers, and retailers to support, not to mention huge overhead and having to sell volume to create adequate margins, sometimes things just get lost in th shuffle. These corporations have pools of talented engineers who probably have loads of ideas as to how to make their products better, but the bean counters and marketing schmucks squash them.

The mod shops take advantage of the opportunities the large corporations pass on and it's certainly not hurting Denon's or Sony's bottom line, so they have at it. Which makes it great for us in the end.

My opinion regarding the mods is that the mods done by a professional modder can make a difference. Drawback is that if you want to sell the component, you will not be able to get nearly as much back as you spent. Solution is to buy used modded component or buy a new component that does not need mods and is very good on its own. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be the case with selling modded components. Example I bought a modified Music Hall CD25 player, used it for a while, determined it's not my cup of tea and sold it. Lost a nice chunk of change in the process. The player itself was not expensive, but I barely got 40% of its value back.

Audphile1 -

You are correct on the resale value of modded components. They depreciate much faster. That is why it is important to really research mod shops and work with one whose modded players sonic signature suits your tatses. Also, only work with those who offer trial periods or money back guarantees. That solves the issue of having to resell something you don't like and taking a huge loss.