Esoteric DV-50: Any cdp's Significantly better?

Hi AVGURU, Eldon & Flye

I second what Dbld is saying. We want to hear from RAM, Audiomods, Underwood and whoever else.

Eldon and Flye, can you or any of your clients can involved in the hearing sessions?

Rgds

DBLD, I couldn't have said it better myself. in fact last night I wrote, then deleted, a much less eloquent version of your post. I would invite Richard, Dan and others to post and contribute with their knowledge to our enjoyment. Alex posted his prices here because he was requested so by several of us. But mostly Alex has shared his expertise and his unique views of matters digital. And the beauty of it is that I do not even have to agree with him all the time in order to appreciate his input and his openness. In fact he has freely shared with us information that would by many companies most likely be deemed as valuable intellectual property to be protected from the eyes of competitors at all cost. So, Richard, please join us and share your views of the world.

Richard, I am the guy who has owned the APL, Exemplar, and have a Modwright on order. In all my research, Over 1000 hours on the net, I felt most comfortable with these guys, to trust with my money. I have read some some threads on AA which made me want to stay away from your mods. Kyle has emailed me claiming to be able to better my current favorite APL player, but at double the cost, with no ability to listen too before $$$$. Alex has never, that I know of tried to promote himself here, or on other BB's. He does not even post regularly on his own BB. Alex is a one man show, his operation is Alex, his fiance, his garage, his knowledge, and his love for musical truth.

Alex came out of nowhere in 2003, he quit his job as lead engineer from sony when he got fed up with the crap they were reducing his ideas too, and persued the AMERICAN dream
I respect that, I honore that, I encourage that, I BELIEVE what Alex has accomplished in his short tenure as an AMERICAN entreprenuer is absolutely amazing. At the 2004 CES show, with Alex's mods on a SACD 1000, he was awarded the "most wanted component award" This was after only a couple of months. The unusual thing about Alex, is that he is a TRUE engineer. Like John Tucker, and others who not only buy higher grade parts to install, but, who design circuits boards themselves and have manufactured EXCLUSIVELY for themselves. These are proprietary, but, still subject to copy. These guys develop their own signiture sound on these machines. I was blown away by Dan Wrights machine that Jayctoy owns. I feel I would love to have one in my digital arsenal, and am in fact buying one. I still feel, as of today the the APL modded 3910, is the very best digital source I have ever heard.

I welcome you into the mix, as they say on the price is right, COME ON DOWN......I believe all those here on audiogon, interested in digital, welcome positive feedback, comparisons, insight into your thoughts. I also believe ya better have a change of attitude, cause with comments and complaints about the way audiogon(and their wonderful staff
and moderators)have dissed you guys. Maybe thats because you have not made your customers as happy as others have. I do not know of any modder, who has asked me to be active in writing about them. I am just having FUN on my audio journey. I am will to spend $$$$, and HEAR the music, as a result of putting together the components in my pursuit for my latest hobby. Music, is suppose to be fun, stress relieving. Not stressful.

I invite all you guys to get into the mix. Just no more BS please. Let your work speak for you, and your HAPPY customers write about you. Please be available top answer questions, and give insight. Most importantly, appreciate this audiogon forum, cause it's the BEST.

Have fun in your pursuits

Eldon,Brian from Essential Audio is inviting us again
to his place.My understanding is one of the cdp,is
modified by you.This is a big opportunity for you.
Avguru,ME,1mark, will be there.We will tell the whole
world,about the result.AVguru can write,and he can borrow
my ear and Mark,hopefully 711 is available.He own Denons
the APL and the Exemplar.We already drove many hours on
this shootout,but its ok,like Dolfan said he is a very
happy owner of SonyModwright for less money.So we will
see.
Richard(Eldon)you are more than welcome to join us in
this forum, we need your input.your expertise,Dan and
Alex partipated here,I deeply appreciated it.We are
having fun right now.Thanks

Pscialli

the musical fidelity should sound utterly neutral when set up correctly. It is heavily influenced by the tubes it uses. I do not get any darkness or rolling off of my sound. It is so utterly neutral that the original sound remains mostly intact but with added air, detail (lower noise floor)improved tonality (as warmth)and three dimentionality to the soundstage. I do not know about the latest version, but the original x10 going for $80 on e bay, had 9922 tubes if you substitute these for ECC85 you will get a much more neutral sound. Tube rolling is simple cheap and fun. I also think contrary to belief that the more expensive the unit the more effective the x10D (in modified form). If you want to take it one step further you can buy a high quality transformer to step down to the 12v ac input instead of the cheap one provided by mf. Again, cheap easy to do and fun as long as you have some knowledge in electronics as the mains voltages can be lethal.

Another simple tweak is to make your own power cord. Again quite remarkable changes are possible, for peanuts.If anyone is interested I can post this revelationary DIY cable, far superior to the TNT site ones. This will make a mockery of those multi thousand pound cables you can buy.

I feel these bits of advice are applicable on this site as we are talking about modding. These mods are really no different to the ones you are buying from the professionals, some as good as their modifications and some not quite as good. I am only trying to open your eyes to what is possible on your own with minimum effort. We all know the matrix movie the final part of the first episode when suddenly 'the one' was able to see clearly how the world was made up from its digital components. Well looking at the internals of a hifi unit can be just that, but infact all tyhosse resistors and capacitors form simmple functions and can with patience and education be unravelled. I have never had an electronic tuition, but I did study physics as a student. If you look at my other suggestions in the original post, you will see I have added more black art ideas, that do work, believe me they really do. i can afford the $5000, but it seems so much more fun to try and out do the professionals (if you can) with simple cheap tweaks which can before your very eyes finely tuune an already good system to an evcen better one.

doc(luke)