Why"double blind"tests don't work:brain?

What has challenged my beliefs is this Stan Warren modified Pioneer DVD player I purchased. This things sounds great in my system for what I paid. Therefore, Stans mods are first rate. The challenge is that other than Stan's mods, the player itself is the biggest piece of Janpanese mass market junk on earth. It is all plastic, with a transport so slimsy it might break if I breath on it too hard. This thing should not sound good the non Stan parts are so cheap, but is does ??????

Sugarbrie, I hear a lot of tripe about transports (not your post) where a flimsy tray pops out and the assumption is the transport is flimsy. Or the solid looking tray of a Meridian comes out and there are sighs of satisfaction. This is just ignorance. The trays are not in contact with the disc as it spins except for a few like the Pioneer stable platter mechanisms. The most important issues are the quality of the motor's bearing, the speed of the servo mechanism and the overall mechanical/vibration qualities of the box.

The servo in the Pioneer is way better than CD players of a few years ago. In fact the servos in DVD players have to be fab because of the smaller pits that have to be read. The flimsiness of the Pioneer is not a bad thing. I look at these things as making sure you keep the ratio of mass to rigidity in reasonable bounds (throwing lots of mass into a transport that does improve rigidity is a mistake in my opinion). And you really want as little mass as possible so that the energy is quickly dissipated into the support under the player. Given its low mass then the Pioneer's rigidity may not be as bad as you think.

Having played around with my share of transports (including owning an unmodified Pioneer (for playing DVDs and DADs), I reckon the Pioneer's ability to read the pits of CDs is very good indeed, that its overal structural integrity is adequate if judicious damping (ie small amounts)is used, but certainly not ideal, but that its digital output section is way below what you would want, and you really need to start again as far as the analogue section is concerned. Therefore the bits that need modification are really fairly easy to do. I am sure Stan is very capable of dealing with these last two areas.

Sugarbie, I wish I had an explaination. If I did I would be in the power cord manufacturing business trying to make a power cord that would be acceptable to the majority of audiophiles and certainly affordable to the most meager. I have read Mr. Vanevers paper and it just does not sound correct or feasible to me. This is MHO and I mean no disrespect to anyone.

Sorry Liguy, did not intent to shoot at you. I am very skeptical of claims made by various people selling tweeks for big bucks. I have tried some of Mike's ideas and they worked for me. He also seems to choose materials for his cords and conditioners not because they are of the highest quality available, but because they sound the best to him and his staff. So he appears to be using his ears also.

Thanks also to Redkiwi. Your are right. Stan really does not do a "mod", he re-engineers the Pioneer. In his mind, it is a box with a transport and a Burr Brown 24/96 DAC. My understanding from talking with Stan is that he upgrades-rebuilds the analog section and removes entirely the output section and replaces it with a couple Blackgate caps as a buffer. He also put a better cap in the power supply path.