Modding audio gear

[highfihoney]

headphone amp

if you think that headphone amp is great now just think how much better it could sound after a $2,000 dip in the cryo tank

 

[W_Harding]

Modify or not to modify, that is the question

Some modifications are worthwhile and some are not. I have modified some of my electronic equipment with good results. I would be reluctant to spend money to have anyone else modify my equipment unless I was able to hear beforehand the expected improvement. Common sense, good judgment and a clear goal for improvement are helpful in making the modify or not to modify decision.

 

[miklorsmith]

I have lots of my gears modded. But, I'm a heretic here so don't put too much stock in it.

 

[sts9fan]

Electronics companies spend millions of dollar over decades to get good sound from components. Now some guy in his garage thinsk he can do better by changing some caps?

They also do not use the highest quality parts which would effect their bottomline. I am making no argument for modded gear sounding better or worse because I have no experience with it.
Now if you are a person who valuse top notch parts for whatever reason insted of buying a Krell or Levinson cd player you can buy a upgraded sony for less then whats the boggle. The point is that you can get the same componets as highend gear for less. Plus you can get goddies like tube output for you cd player etc. Again I am makeing no claims but its not that confusing.

 

[jaxvon]

I have lots of my gears modded. But, I'm a heretic here so don't put too much stock in it.

Hah. It depends on what you're having modded. If you're changing out some resistors for some high quality ones, increasing isolation in the power supply, etc, then those are worthwhile mods that will lower the noise floor. Adding tubes to a CD output stage? Not my bag, but if you're a fan of 2nd order harmonic distortion, then more power to you. However, I still maintain that modding a Benchmark DAC is is pretty silly.

 

[miklorsmith]

My Modwright/Music Hall CDP had a tube-output stage added using 5687 triodes. They're little guys and add dimension and texture to the music without the "old-school", lush, warm colorations people often associate with tubes. Dan's original-work 9.0SE preamp uses the same tubes to similar but even more profound effect.

I agree that modding for the sake of spending money is silly. It should be targeted at weak points of a particular piece. If you think all the research companies do is designed to achieve peak performance, irrespective of price-point and target market, you're kidding yourself.

There are things you can do: I damp the chassis of CD transports and my tubed preamp using Dynamat and Plasti-Clay. You can build your own speaker spikes and rollerball-isolation pods. There are lots of things you can try yourself at little or no cost. If you like where it goes, great! If not, that's OK too - you're not out anything.

Or you can just assume everything sounds perfect just the way it is - THAT's bliss.

 

[mtrycrafts]

I have lots of my gears modded. But, I'm a heretic here so don't put too much stock in it.

Heretic? Just different

If you like those mods, your $$$. Some may even change the specs enough to alter it. But that can be measure too. People still enjoy vinyl

 

[mtrycrafts]

They also do not use the highest quality parts which would effect their bottomline.

Maybe those parts don't make much of a difference in audibility? It is measurable after all.

 

[furrycute]

Now if you are a person who valuse top notch parts for whatever reason insted of buying a Krell or Levinson cd player you can buy a upgraded sony for less then whats the boggle. The point is that you can get the same componets as highend gear for less. Plus you can get goddies like tube output for you cd player etc. Again I am makeing no claims but its not that confusing.

Somehow I very doubt that sending some "modder" $1000 to modd a $300 Sony player will turn that Sony player into a Levinson.


It's like trying to turn a Beatle into a Firebird, it's just not going to happen.

 

[sts9fan]

Quote:
Originally Posted by sts9fan
They also do not use the highest quality parts which would effect their bottomline.



Maybe those parts don't make much of a difference in audibility? It is measurable after all.

Like I said I am making no claims to auibility. the fact is some caps cost more. if someone values that so be it.

Somehow I very doubt that sending some "modder" $1000 to modd a $300 Sony player will turn that Sony player into a Levinson.

No but modding a Sony Es9000 can

 

[miklorsmith]

Somehow I very doubt that sending some "modder" $1000 to modd a $300 Sony player will turn that Sony player into a Levinson.

Many people would tell you there's no audible difference between the Sony and Levinson to begin with. I'm not one of those people.