SCD-1 vs DVP-S9000ES

incidentally, I was also a musician for 25 years (trumpet.) Does this fact make my opinion more valid than a non-musician? I think not!

I qwn a 9000 and would like to improve the audio side. Where do i send it, what will they do to it{in simple terms please!}and how much will it cost?

Big companies like sony have resources to design good players and they do want them to do well. They also like to make a profit. If panasonic capacitors and carbon fibre resistors sound 75% as good as Blackgate and Vishay which ones do you think they will use? Product cost is usally a multiple of parts cost so the lower the parts cost the more the profit. Of course after market mods can improve sound.

Moras... I agree with you and will add another consideration. "market". Rule of the tumb in audio industry that for each dollar invested in manufacturer, six must be added to retail. You must think about competitors! This is rational for modding: for each dollar you spend for better parts you spend between 30 and 150 cents for labor (depending on the rate of the particular modder which has NOTHING TO DO AT ALL with his qualifications). Obviously, transport and digital sections are extremely costly to change thus power supply and analog stage are easily targets of modifications. Finally, if someone decided to go via upgrade path, BEWARE of QUALIFICATIONS of modifyer. Good parts is not everything, one has to know what to do with them. From experience, I can highly recommend Stan Warren (541/344 - 3696 PST) and Richard Kern (www.audiomod.com)