I have no experience with Upgraded products and my knowledge is not 10% of many of the members on this forum. My simple question is if you think the unit needs to be upgraded why not just upgrade to a better model or manufacturer?
I have no experience with Upgraded products and I my knowledge is not 10% of many of the members on this forum. My simple question is if you think the unit needs to be upgraded why not just upgrade to a better model or manufacturer?
This is done frequently because (and if you believe that it works as many of us do and/or have experienced) we feel that we can get a better performing or sounding component for substantially less money that often may offer many more features. Many high end components such as players do not include as many features and capabilities as many of the mid fi products. Additionally, many of us may already own some fine products that can be worked on to improve the performance; with the sale of used equipment you may not be able to get that much money for the sale and it could cost substantial amounts of money to buy a used, new, or demo unit to replace what you already own.
I am not as familiar as I might be, but I know as an example many Hi End players for instance those made by Esoteric and I believe EMM labs to name but a few may not offer the ability to play DVD-A discs but they are playable on many Mid Fi Denon products as an example. Also, if memory serves me, some of the Hi End SACD players may also only offer stereo playback while again many Mid Fi Denon products for example offer multichannel playback for SACD discs.
Also, if memory serves me, some of the Hi End SACD players may also only offer stereo playback while again many Mid Fi Denon products for example offer multichannel playback for SACD discs.
Yes that may be true but an upgrade wouldn't alow you to play Multichannel Disks as an example. I always thought that mods typically delt with specific part upgrades that would put the player in another price bracket or use "botique" parts that are not typically used in manufacturing due to size or cost constraints.
I can mod or "upgrade" almost any passive speaker crossover buy changing over to a Charge Coupled topology as an example. That can get expensive because I have to double the capacitor part count, double each capacitors value and add resitors and a battery. Depending of what capacitors I use and the complexity of the network it can be an expensive upgrade compared to a stock network.
Yes that may be true but an upgrade wouldn't alow you to play Multichannel Disks as an example. I always thought that mods typically delt with specific part upgrades that would put the player in another price bracket or use "botique" parts that are not typically used in manufacturing due to size or cost constraints.
I can mod or "upgrade" almost any passive speaker crossover buy changing over to a Charge Coupled topology as an example. That can get expensive because I have to double the capacitor part count, double each capacitors value and add resitors and a battery. Depending of what capacitors I use and the complexity of the network it can be an expensive upgrade compared to a stock network.
The players would still be able to play Multichannel discs on many of the Mid Fi Players that have the ability even without the upgrade. However, usually David will also upgrade parts for multichannel playback for players with this capability as well as stereo (unless as I recall instructed otherwise; this tends to also set his work apart from most modders that only usually work on the 2 channel playback unless they are paid accordingly). However, as far as the RCA and/or XLR connectors (and as I recall sometimes the Coax connectors as well as frequently IEC inlets), he will usually only normally change the stereo connectors.
I have no experience with Upgraded products and my knowledge is not 10% of many of the members on this forum. My simple question is if you think the unit needs to be upgraded why not just upgrade to a better model or manufacturer?
My comment would be that intelligent upgrading should eliminate weaknesses and design deficiencies that may be almost generic or commonplace for all the models and most manufacturers, hopefully elevating the component to a much higher overall level of performance. As a good example, virtually all RCA sockets are intrinsically flawed, but the most expensive equipment often still use these as standard.
My comment would be that intelligent upgrading should eliminate weaknesses and design deficiencies that may be almost generic or commonplace for all the models and most manufacturers, hopefully elevating the component to a much higher overall level of performance. As a good example, virtually all RCA sockets are intrinsically flawed, but the most expensive equipment often still use these as standard.
Agreed. To quote an australian upgrade competitor famous for doing mods on Sony SCD-1 and 777 "Just get rid of those op-amps". That seems a worthy cause ;-)
I think that I have you beat: I have the EMM CDSD SE, the DAC 6e SE, a Bryston 14B SST, and my Bel Canto PRE2. I just got the EMM pair back from a second upgrade, which involved shielding, and I must say the the results were spectacular.
I think that I have you beat: I have the EMM CDSD SE, the DAC 6e SE, a Bryston 14B SST, and my Bel Canto PRE2. I just got the EMM pair back from a second upgrade, which involved shielding, and I must say the the results were spectacular.
There are a whole host of reasons to upgrade. The most important reason is to use low esr components (capacitors,transformers,resistors),upgraded power supply and decrease overall noise levels inside the unit and circuit.
There is still the nagging question, leaving TUC out of it: the manufacturers, especially those of expensive stuff the EMM, must know about the noise problem. Why don't THEY work on it? JUst the simple matter of not including stock power cords and supplying good aftermarket stuff. Considering the manufactures would buy the cords in bulk at lower prices, the savings could be passed on to the consumer.
There are some pictures of the inside of the new Oppo floating around (93 or 95, can't remember which).
I did notice that some of the ribbon cables had foil or ferrite screens on them, so I think it is starting to rub off.
TUC themselves point out how the expensive Esoteric equipment has better screening and filtering of RF noise and interference. Cheaper units dont' have it.
There is still the nagging question, leaving TUC out of it: the manufacturers, especially those of expensive stuff the EMM, must know about the noise problem. Why don't THEY work on it? JUst the simple matter of not including stock power cords and supplying good aftermarket stuff. Considering the manufactures would buy the cords in bulk at lower prices, the savings could be passed on to the consumer.
I think the engineering costs are considered too high. Also labor costs have risen dramaticaly in the last 20 to 30 years due to USD depreciation. Many SOTA components are no longer made ie. blackgate,Shinko to name few.
Also I think 90pct of manufacturers do not beleive that these steps make any measurable difference, and if they do charge accordingly.
A $200 CD player is one thing: a $30,000 digital front end is quite another. I was just thinking about when there was good, cheap stuff like the Dynaco ST70 amp and some great tube preamp kits made by Lafayette Radio. The unholy marriage of technology and profits in high end audio goes counter to the way it works in the computer world. My $900 white box PC runs rings around my former $22,000 SGI monster. Maybe high end audio learn lessons from the auto industry, another pile of pooey.
A $200 CD player is one thing: a $30,000 digital front end is quite another. I was just thinking about when there was good, cheap stuff like the Dynaco ST70 amp and some great tube preamp kits made by Lafayette Radio. The unholy marriage of technology and profits in high end audio goes counter to the way it works in the computer world. My $900 white box PC runs rings around my former $22,000 SGI monster. Maybe high end audio learn lessons from the auto industry, another pile of pooey.
To give a example. I just paid $40.00 for a 47uf 50v N/NX Blackgate capacitor,10 years ago I could buy that same capacitor for under $10. Look at the price of boutique film caps,many sell well above that $40 and if the application,I could use either,I would choose the Blackgate.
That $40 blackgate would become a $200 capacitor if used in a production preamp. So will the market change and demand blackgates again? Don't hold your breath.
I had heard about this tread and had to see what this was all about.I had David mod a couple cd players for me both with stunning results.I had access to the same unit with no mods vs.modded player with two of the same cd's to a/b very quickly.The difference between the two were huge.I don't know what David does to these players and do not care.I do not need pictures,parts list or graphs to tell me what I am hearing.I would not go into a five star restaurant and ask for print out of there recipe's of the meal I just ate or demand David's trade secrets.Am I defending David yes I am.His mods opened my eyes that these $5000.00,$10000.00 shiny brushed aluminum boxes I've been buying are not all what they are cracked up to be.Yes, I took a chance and bought a player from him a couple years ago.David gave me six or seven names and phone # to call and I talked to them all.Everyone had the same story huge tight taught bass, unbelievable information retrieval and smooth high's and most important great customer service.David has called and said he found a new mod he could do to my player. I sent it in and when I got it back all his claim's were true plus some and he charged me $0.00.Before I met David I moved up from a Marantz sa11 to a sa7 and the difference was not as big as his 0.00 mod. This tells me he is in it for the music!!Does he have to make a profit, of course.
Just to bring home the point: I mentioned TUC Time Portal power cords in my recent post. They really add to the clarity of any digital front end. As far as I know, David will let you try them out for two weeks on approval. I have not had any experience with the interconnects, but will probably try some of them in the future.
Just to bring home the point: I mentioned TUC Time Portal power cords in my recent post. They really add to the clarity of any digital front end. As far as I know, David will let you try them out for two weeks on approval. I have not had any experience with the interconnects, but will probably try some of them in the future.
I have tried some of David's new TimePortal ICs and they are quite impressive in performance. I have been using RCA versions between my modified ARC LS10 and my First Watt M2 power amp and I have a 2nd pair or RCA cables running between my Soundsmith Strain Gauge 410 Phono Preamp and my First Watt M2 Power amp; I switch the cables between the sources and the Power Amp. I may well get a Balanced pair for the Ampex R2R that we are preparing for playback. I have yet to try the new Power cords, but I probably will some time in the future.
