several routes to take to digital heaven?

I'm trying to coax (pun intended) out of transport the best digital signal one can get, without paying the big bucks; I thought buying used transports several years aged would be the most cost effective, but now considering modded cd or dvd modded transports; does anyone have experience with modded units done by the likes of Modwright and similar companies? One company claims that after it gets through modding units made by phillips, sony or pioneer, the sound will rival that coming from $10,000 unmodded units.