I am pretty sure I bought that Nova that was "dumped as soon as it was modded." Or at least I know that I bought a modded Nova soon after the previous owner had it modded. This was 18 months ago.
I love it.
I cannot say how it sounds compared to an unmodded Nova, cos I've never A/B'd, but I have the I-5, and wanted a Nova, and a Nova was up for sale here, that was modded by Richard Kern, who has a strong rep, for a price that was on-par with the unmodded units, so I bought it. I am very pleased. I think the modding issues Riffer brought up are relevant, but it all depends on the modder. Some are very good, some not as good. The mods done on the Nova are not an overhaul, they involve caps and stuff, no clock changes or other more substantive modifications like output stages, etc. The Nova does not need that.
The guy who sold me the Nova went for a Consonance droplet 5.0. He demo'd it and had to have it. This seller is an avid audio enthusiast who has bought and sold many items, so it was not a big deal for him to go in with one and out with the other. The timing of the turnaround on his part could easily be interpreted as dissatisfation with the mods, and I will truly never know, but do believe him cos I asked him about this. I met the seller of the modded Nova, in-person; it was a local sale, and we had many subsequent discussions. So, from this modded-Nova owner's point of view, I like my Audiomod (Kern) modded Sim Audio Nova cd player.
- walk
I love it.
I cannot say how it sounds compared to an unmodded Nova, cos I've never A/B'd, but I have the I-5, and wanted a Nova, and a Nova was up for sale here, that was modded by Richard Kern, who has a strong rep, for a price that was on-par with the unmodded units, so I bought it. I am very pleased. I think the modding issues Riffer brought up are relevant, but it all depends on the modder. Some are very good, some not as good. The mods done on the Nova are not an overhaul, they involve caps and stuff, no clock changes or other more substantive modifications like output stages, etc. The Nova does not need that.
The guy who sold me the Nova went for a Consonance droplet 5.0. He demo'd it and had to have it. This seller is an avid audio enthusiast who has bought and sold many items, so it was not a big deal for him to go in with one and out with the other. The timing of the turnaround on his part could easily be interpreted as dissatisfation with the mods, and I will truly never know, but do believe him cos I asked him about this. I met the seller of the modded Nova, in-person; it was a local sale, and we had many subsequent discussions. So, from this modded-Nova owner's point of view, I like my Audiomod (Kern) modded Sim Audio Nova cd player.
- walk