To mod or not to mod, dac is the question

What Ferrari costs as much as a Honda Civic with aftermarket crap on it. Not everyone is going to be able to afford a Ferrari, otherwise it wouldn't be a Ferrari if it were a dime a dozen. Even the Ferrari Manufacturers understand that, and purposely limit production.
Modification is a risky business, but it does give one the opportunity to replace some of the cost cutting by Manufacturers using cheaper parts. Just how many High End Super Expensive Audio Manufacturers, utilize Transport Disk Drives from Pioneer, Sony, and Phillips? Apparently, they are doing a little bit of "Modification" themselves, aren't they? What is the difference, apart from the very expensive costs?

The Oppo sounds plenty good enough as it comes from the factory. Your time and money would be better spent seeking out very high-quality source material and also spending the time, money, and effort in seeing to it that your ROOM is a good as it can be.

Anything else is just twiddlng about the edges - better sources and a better room will blow away any improvements you could make to the Oppo and/or adding a DAC. Plus, improving the sonic characterisitcs of the room will improve the sound of EVERY type of source material you have - CDs, DVDs, tuners, and vinyl.

-RW-

I also have a oppo bdp 83 and am wondering about whether to mod or go the dac route. firstly this is to be used in my second system so it will do video as well as audio duties but only in stereo. i already own a benchmark dac so could use this but that would restrict its use ie CD would sound OK but SACD/Blu ray would sound about the same which is not what i want. modding may cost $1000 but then it would go straight into my system and the differnce between red book and SACD etc should be obvious. what external dac is available to get anything out of SACD or Blu ray?? ie show off their strengths vs red book

Hey Audiogon,

Thanks All, some good words of wisdom by all, and some quite eloquently put I might add.

I have many room treatments, so been there done that, got the T-shirt.

I have even thought of just picking up a gently used Azur 840-C, which would be in the price range of the mod or DAC for my redbook playing, which is the bulk of my library.

My favorite listening practice is with the lights out at night so I can really "see" the imaging of the instruments/voices. That said, I have found that I enjoy a good dvd/blu-ray music performance disk much more that I expected, so I really would love to improve those sonics as well.

Of course I could be really audiophilly and get a modded DAC.... (-:

However, I do understand the civic/ferrari analogy. But I would intend to keep the Oppo for many years so investment/getting my money back on a resale is not an issue.

Thanks again and eargasms to all!

The Civic/Ferrari analogy is not a great one, unless you are starting out with very inferior gear. Say a no name DVD player. Let's get closer to your Oppo-Mod with a car analogy.

Any Ferrari is a great car, but just as a car, it's not 400% better in performance than a modded more reasonably priced car. Say you bought a Corvette for $65k new, and added $25k in mods (Supercharger, chassis, steering, transmission, suspension) and tuning. You have a $90k car that will go over 200mph, and corner with anything on earth. One of the best performace cars on earth.

Will the Ferrari still be worth more as far as market value? Yes, it's a Ferrari. But will it perform better? No, not anymore.

Modding audio gear can be the same way. I have heard some of the mods from Modwright and Reference Audio Mods that have been truly amazing.

I think you would be shocked how good your Oppo would sound, especially with the analog output stage modded.