Is the Oppo-105 with Modwright modifications

Taters the Modright Oppo 105 is one of the best sounds you will get out of digital. It is so close to the best of analog. If you worry about resale you will never own some of the best products on the market. This goes for other electronics as well. The point is when the product is great you will not want to sell it and you don't have to worry about resale. Digital products in general don't have great resale because of the nature of the market.

I believe the actual question was to compare the stock Oppo 105 to a Oppo 105 Modwright mod. The Modwright mod adds $2,295 to the Oppo 105's list price of $1,200. I heard one comment saying "The ModWright 105, IMHO, is the best sounding source I have heard in my system". I am considering the Oppo 105 (like SACD option) and cannot decide if I should get the stock Oppo 105, the Modwright mod or the Upgrade Company mod ($1,399 Signature Edition).

Unfortunately, I cannot audition all three in my living room. As per the question above, my gut reaction says to buy the stock Oppo 105 and listen before you spend money for either upgrade. Most likely, I will keep my Ayre CX-7eMP player and just listen. Has anyone heard all three units? Comments?

The Oppo is not going to weigh as much or have as solid a feel as a high-end player. If microsonics is important to you and heavy metal construction is a priority i don't think $1200 is going to get you there. The DAC has to be incorporated into a component with a well-designed analog stage, 1st class connectors on the back, isolated power supplies, etc. OTOH, cdp's have come a very long way since the Sony SCD-1 player was introduced, and as has been observed by so many, Oppo has overcome many of the price/performance barriers that used to separate the high end from mass-produced units.
The 105 is however has more "video" refinements over the 95, and i wouldn't want to call it a SOTA 2-channel player by everyone's definition.
as far as Modwright alterations go, you're looking at an outboard power supply, an umbilical, and tubes protruding from the top of the player. their
reputation is very good but by the time you consider getting the best umbilical vs the stock wire, various power cords, different tubes, etc., that should be a set-up you really are going to want pretty badly (or not).

hgeifman,

If the modded 105 is the best source you have ever heard in your system why not sell the Ayre player and get it. I'm sure you can get good money for your Ayre player.

Well Taters it seems you have received a few philosophical/anedotal comments, one quite funny, thanks for that Geoffkait and SO FAR only ONE real world informed opinion. I think you ask a very valid question unfortunately I'm not sure you formatted it a way that would elicit the response I think you are looking for, which might be how does the Modwright stack up against digital in its price range and above? Your dealer sounds a bit angry and maybe even more frustrated, after all, how many Modwrights can he sell? Any good designer of digital knows what is MOST important is the power supply and output stage, not the chip. The issue with the chip, as far as I'm concerned is that is used in less expensive compromised designs so it might be easy to pass on the blame to it.

I've come to the conclusion that so far as my experience in budget digital is concerned, the Oppo 95 superceded by the 105 is the BEST digital product you can buy for money spent considering all it offers. The 2-channel analog output compares favorably if not the most preferable to 4 different DACs I have compared it to directly and extensively. When I say budget, up to 2.1K and THAT particular DAC was clearly the best of the lot but still not even close to "analog like", nice but still clearly digital and thats ok, they are two different formats but GOOD digital DOES sound more like analog.

I think it is VERY telling that the Modwright Oppo 105 was used in numerous set-ups at Axponia as noted by Tom7897. I would imagine that it is a considerable step up from stock and the budget competition. I wasn't at Axponia this year but someone I know was and he seemed overall impressed by the systems using the Modwright. Of course this does not really help in deciding what he LIKED about what he heard, unfamiliar systems and all that entails.

I too am like you, I would like informed comparative opinions concerning this mod and how it stacks up with the competition in its price range and above, real world opinions in familiar systems. It seems JWM is the biggest advocate I've seen so far in comparing it to the best, anyone else?