Upgrading from NAD 521bee--need soundstage

Contrary to Mechan's views, I own a Rega Apollo and can tell you that it throws a huge, precise, and well-focused soundstage. Plus, it has very good extension at the frequency extremes and sounds quite dynamic. It's a fantastic bang-for-the-buck player; it wouldn't have gotten all the great reviews if it sounded as Mechans suggests.

Also, after many years in this hobby it is my view that the best performance can be achieved by keeping the electronics chain mostly solid-state. The one area where I've had great success using tubes is the line-stage preamp. And it is usually much more cost effective than trying to find a tube amp that performs to high standards and has enough power to drive your speakers.

I have a stock Oppo and I've got to say that the build quality is awful -- cheesey, flimsy drawer and the control buttons on my unit don't work half the time when I press them. The remote usually works though and it gets a very nice picture. I'm sure the Schultz modified version sounds much better than the stock version, but it also costs much more. I doubt that you'll recoup anywhere near the cost of your investment should you decide to sell it before its poor mechanical parts quality causes it to fail...

Hi Reubent,

I have the Oppo 970HD. I gave it to my son to use in his system and he is mainly concerned with its video performance, which is quite good.

I don't doubt that you are getting excellent performance from your modded unit and the Oppo's ability to play just about any disc format is a nice plus. My main reservation is spending $800 to mod a $150 player. To some, like yourself, the resulting performance will make the expense worthwhile. I just think that one needs to take a step back and consider whether or not putting a Ferrari race motor into a VW Bug is the best way to go.

In many systems, I believe you'd be hard pressed to hear a significant difference between the modified Oppo and a stock Rega Apollo. However, I haven't made the comparison, so that's simply my best guess.

Obviously the Redbook CD format has limited resolution to begin with, so my feeling is that claiming any huge performance differences between competent players is merely hyperbole and probably a moot point. Personal preference and system synergy will determine which CD playback unit a particular individual will prefer. In my estimation the overall quality of the system that the player is hooked up to will matter much more than any perceived performance differences in the CD players themselves. And this is coming from someone who has tried a lot of different DACs and CD players in his system. Yes they all sound different, but more often than not picking one unit over another hinges on accepting certain trade-offs and one's listening priorities. I can distinctly recall preferring a particular player for it's stringed instrument reproduction and a different unit for reproduction of brass instruments. Additionally, the bass and high frequency performance of each unit was slightly different... and so it goes...