Audio mods for existing equipment

[admin_exported]

I have been reading around and have come to realise that there are a variety of companies out there that modify components in existing equipment, e.g. opp blu ray players etc. I note Russ andrews have done something similar to a few of his components, we know there is the sky box recently reviewed however he appears to done something similar to his Arcams etc.

There appear to be a few places e.g. audiocom, modwright to name a few that offer this service

It would appear reasonable that manufacturers developing a project also do so with a profit in mind and therefore use components with a cost/benefit margin to what so ever criteria they use. It may well be that replacing some of these components with higher quality componenents may make a difference although at a premium above their existing product which another party can offer but the manufacturer is not interested in.

It is hard to find reviews on such modified equipment other than customer testimonials and I wondered if anyone had experience of these mods, or other company mods?

Maybe this is something what hifi could consider doing an article on - would be interesting

 

[idc]

I went with a single person enterprise called Rock Grotto to mod my X-CANS headphone amp. I sent it for modding as it was broken, so I killed two birds with one stone. It certainly improved the sound over the standard amp.

 

[bigboss]

Russ Andrews modded Sky HD box has been reviewed by WHF (a couple of issues ago).

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks I read that, it why I became curious about the benefits of mods and came up a number of companies with a variety of mods (mostly us based) however there appears to be a death of professional reviews online...... unless I have not stumbed upon such. I wondered if there would be a jounalistic interest in exploring this side of the av/ hifi industry. I would also be interested in having an idea about what modders are out there.

 

[pete321]

I'm a fan of modding and have used Fidelity Audio on several occassions. I've come to realise that opamps in audio equipment can make a massive difference in the way equipment sounds. Take the Yamaha DSP-Z7 it uses fairly cheap opamps, probably about a £1 to buy. If you upgrade all the opamps with LM4562's (£5 each) you get a massive difference in sound, much more detailed. Yamaha use these in the Z11 which cost nearly twice as much. Obviously the Z11 had other merits than just better sound quality over the Z7, but for a modest cost increase, the sound quality of the Z7 could be massively altered, but perhaps bring it a little too close the Z11 for Yamaha's liking! I'm sure all manufacturers are well aware of this but don't want to do themselves out sales of their top models by spending a few extra quid on components in those further down the chain, that's where modding comes in as cost effective way of getting more for less.