CD/DVD Modding : Pros & Cons.

IMHO and finite experience. First, there is no substitute for common sense...

If you want to control costs and get a guaranteed outcome, the best bet is to go with an established "name" modder and mod a unit he already has experience with or has "productized".

There are three problems this helps to overcome:

1) Since most manufacturers don't put up their circuit diagrams etc, there can be a long period of discovery with a new unit as the modder figures out what the guy ahead of him did and didn't do - and why. That can get expensive

2) In theory, modding involves a certain amount of critical listening and fine tuning. When a modder does the same mod on an ongoing basis, you gain the benefit of his experience and evolution, as well as all the other owners feedback. This gets you a better unit faster.

3) Resale of a known shops established product is likely to be easier - that said, forget about recouping your money... Warranty varies and falls in this category.

As far as the obvious mods, there seem to be two: first improve the power supply - doesn't seem to matter what kind of product it is, there is always room to make it quieter, stiffer and more stable. Second, change some combination of caps (coupling usually).

Have fun - the best advice I can give you is enjoy the process.

I would add to Ckrody's advice that, depending on the player, upgrading the opamps can be a simple, relatively inexpensive way to get dramatically improved sound.

FWIW - I don't think the new HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players will play CD, SACD, and/or DVD-A. The HD-DVD may play CD, I am not sure.

For video, perhaps one of these new technologies will do a good job with the old DVDs, but who knows if the old DVDs will even be that important to you in a year or two.

Here's my experience so far - I had a Sony Blu-Ray for demo, it outputted video and audio with pretty much no adjustability. In the store, the big improvement with this player was definitely the movie audio - by a long-shot - even over the video improvement. But this improvement is only realizable by using the analog outputs of the player due to the higher resolution of this audio.

Because of this, I think a legitimate question is: Will they begin to release Audio [2-channel] versions of Blu-Ray or HD-DVD? If not, then there will still be a use for a CD, SACD, and DVD-A player…provided you like those formats.

Now…my player is an Esoteric DV-50 that has been to The Upgrade Company. It also has an SDI output to feed my DVDO VP30 [the SDI is unecessary overkill BTW]. The video with this set-up was pretty darned close when comparing the old DVD Superbit version of The Fifth Element to the HD version playing from the Sony. However, the video from the same Superbit disc playing on the Sony was not so nice at all. It lacked detail and was washed out.

For audio, Dave Schulte at The Upgrade Company [TUC] has done just amazing work. The improvement is very easily noticeable. My player is considered by many to be a dinosaur, but I just cannot believe how well it performs after TUC’s work. I don’t know what he did, and because of the crystal clear result – I don’t care. I do know a lot of work has gone into it, with a lot of real parts.

I have tried other modded machines, and won’t bother anymore. Ckrody makes some good points, so my advice would be to ask Dave Schulte what he recommends depending on what you want for a result, and just get it done. If you are in the Philadelphia area, then you can try to stop by sometime for a listen.

One more thing regarding warranty – I had a video problem once with my player after I got it back from TUC. I returned it and he went through the whole thing. We had a lot of conversations trying to get it sorted out. It ended up being a bad SDI connection inside my Video processor not the DV-50. My point is that TUC went to bat and did everything possible to make sure the player was right without me demanding it. I was out the shipping [not inconsequential for a 55 lb player], but it was all my own doing anyway. I cannot complain.

Lastly - forget resale. This is a big minus to modding. You pretty much eat any investment in modding. Just accept that going in. Thankfully, I am more than satisfied with my decision. Actually, I am amazed more than anything else.

- sorry for the length

Hi Dave, also very good points,it confort me that you are happy with your wonderful Modded unit and you had only positive exp. with modders.
Unfortunatly I´m Italian, it would be a pleasure to listen some music together.
I have a friend in Padova with no TV/radio who listen only to LP´s, Pre/Amp 211 based and a pair of DIY Goto Speakers.He´s really happy, the sound if terrific but he´s living in the past, I like the future that why I try to stay up to date...and buy some more lps!!
thanks for the good reply.