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RAM Modded Oppo 970HD/980H


postjack

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http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=Oppo_Units&Category_Code=MODS&Product_Count=37

Anyone heard one of these? Any thoughts? The price of the mods is crazy high for such an inexpensive player. I own a stock Oppo 970HD which I use as an upsampling DVD player. I am very pleased with it. Deadwood looks fantastic! :) I've used it to play music, but only through my HT setup, which isn't as resolving as my headphone rig, so I can't really judge its sound quality.

Anywho, I've been considering hooking up my Oppo to my headphone rig just to do a shootout between it, the Modwright, and the Aqvox. Maybe I'll do it this weekend.

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I'm not impressed by the mods described. It seems the myth of minimalism is still going strong in the audiophile community. While the other stuff is sort of "yeah, okay then", tearing out the analog stage and replacing it with some caps and some wire sounds like a great way to bring in distortion. The d/a converter probably needs a buffer on its output to perform correctly. RAM doesn't indicate whether they make a replacement buffer, but 'minimalist' seems like it suggests otherwise.

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I bought the 981HD as a HT source in the kids room based upon it's great reviews for video via the Faroudja chip. I am also planning to use it as a audio cd transport connected to one of my hand me down DACs once I locate my next high end DAC. Audio through the analog outs of the 981 is not impressive at all. Trebble roll off, muddy base, compressed mids, you name it, but as a transport I am hoping for salvation. This thing definitely needs a decent dac for audio.

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I'm not impressed by the mods described. It seems the myth of minimalism is still going strong in the audiophile community. While the other stuff is sort of "yeah, okay then", tearing out the analog stage and replacing it with some caps and some wire sounds like a great way to bring in distortion. The d/a converter probably needs a buffer on its output to perform correctly. RAM doesn't indicate whether they make a replacement buffer, but 'minimalist' seems like it suggests otherwise.

Talking to RAM on the phone, the guy let on that they put in a buf634 between the dac and the transformer. You don't see that info on the websiite though...

They also use opamps for the I/V conversion...

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Talking to RAM on the phone, the guy let on that they put in a buf634 between the dac and the transformer. You don't see that info on the websiite though...

They also use opamps for the I/V conversion...

I see. It sounded like they meant they were going to use so-called "passive" I/V, and that they stripped the active stages. BUF634s aren't exactly performance hot-shots. Why didn't they use the LMH6321 if they wanted to use an open-loop IC buffer? Which op-amps do they use for I/V?

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I see. It sounded like they meant they were going to use so-called "passive" I/V, and that they stripped the active stages. BUF634s aren't exactly performance hot-shots. Why didn't they use the LMH6321 if they wanted to use an open-loop IC buffer? Which op-amps do they use for I/V?

I don't know what op amps they use for I/V conversion, but they do sell AD825's on their website ;)

You would have to ask them why they do what they do...

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AD825 is a decent chip, at least. I find it's one of the better performing fet-input chips; probably one of the very few I'd even consider using in an audio application (a group that _doesn't_ include the popular AD8610 and AD8065). I imagine it probably sounds better than whatever dreck is in that thing stock.

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they charge quite a bit for such simple and cheap mods

The pricing seemed rather high to me as well. Although, it also seems as though modders commonly charge a few hundred dollars, or more, for these sorts of operations. On the other hand, though, it seems as though one has to price high enough in this hobby that people think you're selling a quality product. Over at head-fi, at least, I've gotten the impression that some folks genuinely like buying expensive products.

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Honestly, from what I see, most of the cost is in labor, as most palces charge $40/hy+ for labor with a minimum of 1 hour and/or some kind of consulting fee (aka a charge to open it up and look at it). The only palce that I don't think really palces a huge premium on a profit/labor comnponent is SACD mods. If you were to price out what they put in, the labor component is small.

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Honestly, from what I see, most of the cost is in labor, as most palces charge $40/hy+ for labor with a minimum of 1 hour and/or some kind of consulting fee (aka a charge to open it up and look at it). The only palce that I don't think really palces a huge premium on a profit/labor comnponent is SACD mods. If you were to price out what they put in, the labor component is small.

True. I've never heard an sacdmods modded player, but the 3910 has always struck me as one hell of a deal.

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On the other hand, though, it seems as though one has to price high enough in this hobby that people think you're selling a quality product. Over at head-fi, at least, I've gotten the impression that some folks genuinely like buying expensive products.

Ha ha! That's very funny, but very true.

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Guest sacd lover

I wonder what cotdtech charges for labor. ;)

Not much .... whatever he has done for me was an absolute steal. He is finishing up a Zhalou + zap filter for me as we speak. 8)

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