Mods : Fools Gold or the Real Thing

there is an informative testimonial about mods at tweakaudio.com

if done by someone who knows what they are doing (Kern, Wright, etc.) I think its the real thing -- very good way to improve sound for not too much money.

Mods, are the real thing. As an individual, you can spend $200-300, in your player, to improve it immensely. As a manufacturer, a $100 cost increase, each, for 100,000 units, drives his production costs up, astronomically.

There is also Stan Warren. His only transport specific mod I am aware of is the Aiwa CD changer. He may do other transport mods, but you would need to call him.

Why aren't manufacturers doing this stuff themselves?I look at this Ah!Tjube CD player and for the bucks looks good but wondering if modifying my Sony 333 would be worth it.This is the type of moded product you would think more folks would want to produce.

Look at it this way: every $1 that a manufacturer puts into a product drives the suggested retail price up by $4 - $8. Since most products are built to a price point that most consumers can afford, they can all be improved by substitution of higher grade parts and / or circuit design changes. Doing such things on a mass production basis would be both cost prohibitive and alienate potential customers. This is not to mention that many products are built with features and reliability in mind with overall performance considered further down the line. After all, most consumers are attracted to something that looks fancy and has a lot of "bells & whistles", works "okay" and costs as little as possible. That is why both "rack" and "mini" systems are so popular. They give you a lot of "junk" for your money but perform quite poorly overall. Sean
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