Just happened to browse the threads here, and saw this one, although it's nearly two months old. I have a couple of reengineered SA-8260's, essentially the same machine as 8001, and they are fantastic.
If you like the looks and feel of the 8001, and want to keep it, it can be made into something that's as good as anything out there. But you have to go for a complete reengineering of the player - new clock and psu, and a new output stage. Parts swapping modifications and other minor tweaks really don't get you much, performance-wise.
VSE and RAM are good modifiers who will get the most out of the player.
FWIW, at RMAF2006, RAM was showing a fully reengineered 8001 that had sound nearly identical to the top Esoteric player that they had for comparison.
As for resale value of a modded player, well that's somewhat irrelevant as you will want to never part with a fully reengineered player.
If you like the looks and feel of the 8001, and want to keep it, it can be made into something that's as good as anything out there. But you have to go for a complete reengineering of the player - new clock and psu, and a new output stage. Parts swapping modifications and other minor tweaks really don't get you much, performance-wise.
VSE and RAM are good modifiers who will get the most out of the player.
FWIW, at RMAF2006, RAM was showing a fully reengineered 8001 that had sound nearly identical to the top Esoteric player that they had for comparison.
As for resale value of a modded player, well that's somewhat irrelevant as you will want to never part with a fully reengineered player.