Which cd player: New /w Mod or just plain new?

I second Lkdog! Other thing, no matter what you do or how much you spend, all fixed voicing cd players are going to really really suck on some of your favorite cd's. My approach was to define what I didn't like about the sound of my current cd player on some cd's (too bright), and find a reasonably priced cd player that erred in the other direction (in this case a stock njoe tjoeb). If you want a one box solution for being able to match cd player voicing to particular cd weakness, I'm thinking Cary makes one with selectable tube or solid state output.

Phaelon, I seem to have a similar situation, relatively lower high end digital (Perp Tech p1a,p3a, monolithic ps, modwright signature, shunyata pc's, resolution audio, Mark Levinson No. 37, all going through BPT 3.5 sig) within the context of a much higher end system. I've gone beyond the paralysis and tried two much higher priced, and highly praised DAC's. The end result is I'm still using the original digital, very disappointed with these less than lateral moves. I am now surmising I may need to go to the highest end DAC's to get what I'm looking for, anything else is a lateral move at best. I would suggest you may want to go to a top ranked digital rig for satisfaction within your fine system. Wadia 861, Esoteric x 01 or 03, Accuphase, MBL are a few suggestions.

Ever think of trying a non-os DAC? You can read up on the design philosophy at Audio Note and Sakura Systems (47 Labs) websites. Simplicity in design, no up/over sampling, and no filtering equals very analog sounding musical reproduction. If that's the sound you're after.

This feedback is great! A more specific question: I never really considered mods until I logged on. Now it seems people are saying it's better to buy some $2000 player and spend $3000 on a mod than to buy a $5000 player. Does anyone have experience with "Reference Audio Mods"? There claims are wild. In a nutshell; what's up with all this mod stuff.

"Does anyone have experience with "Reference Audio Mods"? There claims are wild."

That statement says a lot more than you probably intended it to say. There are lots of mod shops out there and all have different philosophies and marketing approaches. Two shops I have a lot of respect for are TRL and Modwright. Paul Weitzel and Dan Wright are two very talented engineers who know how to treat customers fairly and truly stand behind their work. I heard Dan's Sony and Denon players at RMAF, with his new preamp, and I have personal experience with TRL mods. Both shops offer quality services at reasonable prices. I chose TRL because of the vast experience they possess in building high end equipement, in addition to performing mods on just about any digital source you can imagine, for a $550 standard fee no less.

I would encourage you to call both Paul and Dan to discuss your needs. I think you'll find the information they provide very helpful in your research.

BTW - in the opinions of several people I spoke with recently, at CES just recently a TRL modified Sony DVP-NS900V outperformed a modified Marantz that cost $12K. I'm not going to name the vendor who got smoked, but they were mentioned in a recent post.