Pro vs. Consumer Equipment

Don I wish my experience had been as yours. You are correct that I am an analog guy, but I have owned and auditioned many of the most respected high end digital players.

The ART in my system had less resolution than the stock Sony 9000 ES. Unfortunately I cannot afford a Audio Aero, Audio Note or DCS, all of which I am sure are much better than my stock Sony.

My point is simply that the money I invested in the ART did not provide anything special. No doubt there are players it would beat, but not the commercially available gear that has been recently produced. At least not in my system.

Just for the record, my ART was purchased from Full Compass and had the following done as mods.

Install two IC sockets
Install LT1365Cn IC in U1 IC socket
Replaced nine rectifiers with 90 volt shottky's
Replaced 100 Ohm at digital with 75 Ohm Vishay
Bridged four electrolytic at analog in-out w / OFC wire
Replaced original phone jacks with Vampire OFC RCA
Replaced power jack with binding post to allow experimentation with outboard supplies.

I also purchased a regulated supply, a Atari (surplus) supply and the commonly suggested model from Radio Shack.

For digital link I experimented with Silver Sonic, Purist Audio, Trico, Belden and some that were brought over by visitors.

After all this work, one of the guys in my group that is all digital took the Di/O home for audition. He could not make up his mind between using the Di/O and listening to his Pioneer DVD player. I listened with him and agreed that neither way was the clear winner.

This friends system was Krell (Integrated), B&W Nautilus , Pioneer DVD and Audioquest cables. While not in the league with some of the better systems here at Audiogon, it is certainly quality enough to serve as a test bed for comparison. Further, it is a more likely combination of equipment to be used with an ART Di/O.

I had the modified DI/O, the first mod was done by the same gent that mod'ed Alberts. In all fairness, those mods really didn't make much of a difference. Mark's mods were elementary, like most of the mods that you read about on the various audiowebs. I'd sent my unit off to Kevin Morris (515) 288-8464, who redesigned the some of the circuits altogether. It has been too long since I'd had this done and can't elaborate on the entire series of mods done, (which is the only reason I included Kevin's phone number), but remember that one included adding a jack for an external clock. The sonic difference before and after Kevin's mods were dramatic, and sonically far superior to the unit you'd had, Albert. Syncing the external clock to both the transport and the DAC was a large sonic benefit, as you can imagine. The Kevin Morris modified unit is what Don had bought, so no clear comparison between yours and his could be determined. I know first hand, as I'd owned them both, (actually the same unit, but you understand).

I'm no longer using the DI/O, having moved onto another format. I'm one of the guys waiting for Ed Meitners DAC6, which should be delivered around 5 or 6 weeks from now. My brother Paul uses the eight channel Meitner DAC8 MK4, the latest pro version.

Kind regards,
Brian

Albert I believe you. Every mod is not equal. This sharing of the minds and experience is, however, what makes this hobby as fun as it is. It is also, unfortunately what has caused me to porbably spend close to a hundred grand in gear over the last 5 years :)

Best regards,

Don

The ART DIO had been hailed as a great low cost unit by people like Brian Chaney who designs the VMPS line of speakers I believe. Also of what I remember there have been Best SOund Awards given to him at CES I believe.This with using a Modded DIO in the line.

I bought one to better my aging DAC section of my Phillips CD-80. While I have no way of judging what it might surpass it seems to me that there must be unbias'd evals done with the unit that people have tried.

Shanling is one unit I hear alot about in which the Modded DIO surpasses for sonic playback.

I have not heard any negatives conserning Wayne of Bolder being mentioned in all this. Maybe he is using components that others are not.

I cannot use the ART Amp as it does not have enough power for my needs . I do think Dan could have gone alittle different way in promoting his mods of the unit. Maybe there is more here than anyone is seeing. I do not know.

I do know that in some instances that going the Modified route is a better value than getting stock equiptment.The value of the mods are in question though. In the case of taking a stock Pro amp and modding it with a 2.5X the value of the stock unit is questionable,but then again I would have to hear it also or see the results others have had.In my case I would not beable to use it given my choice of speakers.

Results remain to be seen,good luck!

Abex: The Dio that i listened to was modified by Wayne and made use of an outboard power supply of measurably higher current than the stock offering ( 3 amps continuous ). This power supply should have allowed the Dio to produce a lower noise floor due to reducing noise generated by the transformer itself and offering the potential for improved dynamics. Even with all of this, i was not impressed with this unit in the least. Nor was my brother. I would rather listen to a Pioneer DV-440 24/192 DVD player than use a Dio in any of my systems. I know that this sounds "extreme", but i'm being 100% truthful here.

We A/B'd the Dio against the stock DAC's in the Pioneer and the Pioneer was far less boxy / offered much greater space, air, dimensionality and center-fill to the soundstage. This is not to mention that the Pioneer produced a blacker background. In comparison, the Dio sounded dull, compressed and 2 dimensional. The sound literally seemed to "cling" to the speakers and refused to spread out.

When all was said and done, putting the Dio into this system was like taking two steps backward in both my and my brothers' opinion. We tried three other DAC's ( one purchased used for $150 used, another for $200 used and another for $300 used ) within the system at the same time and the Dio was the worst of all four methods ( including using the stock Pioneer DVD player as a one box ) of reproduction. For the record, all of the other DAC's sounded better than the Pioneer by itself. Bare in mind that this Pioneer DVD player was available brand new for $149 from Best Buy. Comparing something like this to a modified Dio should have been a "no brainer". Either this specific modified Dio was a "dog" or i have to wonder as to what other people think is "good". Personally, i wouldn't even use a Dio ( modified or not ) as a door-stop. That is, based on the experience that i had with the specific unit that i tested. Sean
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