Any other XA5400 owners get Vacuum State or ModWright mods to your player?

RE: Any other XA5400 owners get Vacuum State or ModWright mods to your player?, posted on October 26, 2009 at 05:18:11
Disbeliever	A total waste of money is my opinion a total rip-off. Antique glass bottles (tubes) can not improve anything.

You have become a joke, posted on October 26, 2009 at 11:41:38
Metralla Audiophile Posts: 6417 Location: San Jose, California Joined: January 30, 2001	If you want to engage in debate, come up the top of the page instead of hiding down here like a frightened child. Regards, Geoff

RE: Any other XA5400 owners get Vacuum State or ModWright mods to your player?, posted on October 26, 2009 at 07:58:22
barondla Audiophile Posts: 310 Location: midwest usa Joined: May 26, 2007	Wouldn't be so sure. Patriot missiles have antique glass bottles in them so they can survive emp blasts. thanks barondla

Don't pay any attention to the Troll...(nt), posted on October 26, 2009 at 10:45:45
rich121 Audiophile Posts: 4050 Location: WA State, USA Joined: March 8, 2003 Contributor Since: May 28, 2003	Rick It's all about the music!

Tubes!!!! Dan Wright's ModWright upgrade/mods look very interesting.., posted on October 7, 2009 at 10:49:42

rich121
Audiophile

Posts: 4050
Location: WA State, USA
Joined: March 8, 2003
Contributor
Since: May 28, 2003

This company makes some of the finest tube pre-amps and phono stages, and other equipment...

Dan Wright is at the top of the list for equipment upgraders/modifiers

Mod includes:

Replacement of stock 2CH analog stage with proprietary 6SN7 based tube analog stage with external tube-rectified power supply.
Upgrade of existing digital power supplies.
Upgrade of Master clock.
Price: $1995 (modification only); $3395 including player.

Also, ModWright does BDP-83 player upgrades also:

http://modwright.com/modifications/14

Just another alternative...

This is a complete, 100% made in the USA company for those who value that.

Rick
It's all about the music!

http://www.modwright.com/modifications/15

RE: Tubes!!!! Dan Wright's ModWright upgrade/mods look very interesting.., posted on October 23, 2009 at 00:23:22
Disbeliever	Antique Glass bottles will not improve anything

RE: Tubes!!!! Dan Wright's ModWright upgrade/mods look very interesting.., posted on October 24, 2009 at 15:10:00
stvnharr Audiophile Posts: 414 Joined: November 6, 2003	What an utterly stupid post!

RE: Tubes!!!! Dan Wright's ModWright upgrade/mods look very interesting.., posted on October 8, 2009 at 07:44:36
audiophilect Audiophile Posts: 147 Location: SE US Joined: October 4, 2006	Do they replace the opamp IV stages or just the output stages?

Modwrignt...OpAmps...Output Stages, posted on October 8, 2009 at 09:54:45
DTB300 Audiophile Posts: 336 Location: Maryland Joined: March 28, 2004	With the new Modwright tube output stages installed, all OpAmps are bypassed. The output stages are also powered by an external power supply which can be either SS or Tube Rectified.

RE: Tubes!!!! Dan Wright's ModWright upgrade/mods look very interesting.., posted on October 8, 2009 at 08:21:56
rich121 Audiophile Posts: 4050 Location: WA State, USA Joined: March 8, 2003 Contributor Since: May 28, 2003	That would be a good question for Dan Wright...go to his site and shoot him an email, he is very good at answering questions in a timely manner...great guy. Rick It's all about the music!

Guys..., posted on October 7, 2009 at 04:16:53

Allen Wright
Manufacturer

Posts: 4737
Location: Schaffhausen
Joined: January 31, 2002

...we are rushing to get the 5400ES Upgrade kits ready.

The TerraFirma Clocks are a standard stock item, the new Analog Module is finished and supplies sent out to the agents who have ordered them.

The only slow is me, I still haven't quite finished the installation instruction manual, without which our agents or indeed, home DIY installers, wouldn't have a chance.

But it will be completed this week, and in the USA at least, Bill Thalmann has the Terra Firma Clocks, and the Analog Modules in stock ready for instant installation.

This is why there hasn't been any further reports.

Regards, Allen (Vacuum State)

Analog Modules, posted on October 7, 2009 at 15:47:22
Metralla Audiophile Posts: 6417 Location: San Jose, California Joined: January 30, 2001	Allen, is the balanced version available? Regards, Geoff

Not yet..., posted on October 8, 2009 at 09:10:57
Allen Wright Manufacturer Posts: 4737 Location: Schaffhausen Joined: January 31, 2002	...maybe in about two weeks. Regards, Allen (Vacuum State)

Didn't mean to hijack... I too am interested in the original question. nt, posted on October 6, 2009 at 21:28:35
Jim Stoneburner Reviewer Posts: 417 Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica Joined: June 3, 2003	. -- Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

RE: Didn't mean to hijack... I too am interested in the original question. nt, posted on October 6, 2009 at 21:45:21
rich121 Audiophile Posts: 4050 Location: WA State, USA Joined: March 8, 2003 Contributor Since: May 28, 2003	No hijacking that I see.. I am intersted in all you have posted about also. I am wanting to purchase the XA5400, but $$ are so tight...I want to make sure this will equal or surpass my SCD-1 both after full mods. Rick It's all about the music!

I'll be getting a mod if the stock unit doesn't break in significantly (sibilant right now at 40 hours) nt., posted on October 6, 2009 at 19:21:03
Jim Stoneburner Reviewer Posts: 417 Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica Joined: June 3, 2003	. -- Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

RE: I'll be getting a mod if the stock unit doesn't break in significantly (sibilant right now at 40 hours) nt., posted on October 6, 2009 at 21:36:36
jazz1 Audiophile Posts: 959 Joined: October 30, 2000	I would say at least 300 hours is required.I have zero problems with sibilance anylonger. I love the machine.

Hang in there, posted on October 6, 2009 at 20:48:42
Metralla Audiophile Posts: 6417 Location: San Jose, California Joined: January 30, 2001	I noticed a bit of that early on with CD. SACD was pretty good from the start, but CD lacked bass weight. It is very articulate at this point in time - I guess I have a couple of hundred hours combined on SACD and CD. Can you name a disc you have that is particularly sibilant - maybe I have it and can compare. Regards, Geoff

Far better now, spooky improvement. Seems to be a combination of factors..., posted on October 8, 2009 at 00:43:23

Jim Stoneburner
Reviewer

Posts: 417
Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica
Joined: June 3, 2003

I'm still sorting out what I'm hearing in different setups:

Warmup time is a factor when swapping power cables.
Break-in of the new unit seems to be a factor.
Swapping power cables makes a difference.
Swapping inputs on my passive preamp (some are "premium" parts) makes a difference.

Some results weren't reproducible, as if powering the player back up after a power cable swap made a big difference. Or, could it be that jostling power cables or interconnects requires some settling in time? I've experienced that once in the past, very obvious (an extreme case: 30' of Shotgun not used in months required some hours to shed brightness).

Still have to try swapping interconnects, bypassing my preamp, using different power conditioner outputs, and some other things that really ought not make a difference but sometimes do.

The sibilance seems more related to recordings than to the player at this point. Treble is far more natural than the SCD-XA777ES, with no more "furrowed brow" from the slight stress induced by the slightly unnatural treble. A bit less exciting but clearly closer to live reality. Bass is also more controlled and deeper. Top-to-bottom improvement with better coherency across the spectrum, more easily identified after years of familiarity with the previous player. You notice a flaw more once it's finally removed.

Speaking of real music, I heard over the weekend Chris Botti play the trumpet straight at me from 5 feet away with no microphone. THAT'S the Absolute Sound!

--

Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

trumpet!!, posted on October 8, 2009 at 09:31:31
jazz1 Audiophile Posts: 959 Joined: October 30, 2000	"Speaking of real music, I heard over the weekend Chris Botti play the trumpet straight at me from 5 feet away with no microphone. THAT'S the Absolute Sound!" Could you take it?? I've beeb in this situation a few times and I did not take it for long, I had to move back.

Wore molded earplugs most of the time. (learned the hard way.) nt, posted on October 8, 2009 at 18:09:34
Jim Stoneburner Reviewer Posts: 417 Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica Joined: June 3, 2003	. -- Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

Pretty much every SACD and CD I'm trying has a bit of sibilance..., posted on October 6, 2009 at 21:20:20

Jim Stoneburner
Reviewer

Posts: 417
Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica
Joined: June 3, 2003

There is a coherence in the spatial image from my Yamaha S-1800, whereas the Sony pushes details in the sibilance range forward, disembodying images a bit. Also, vocals have emphasized sibilance in comparison to the Yamaha.

I'm trying Jennifer Warnes' The Well, Tierney Sutton's Something Cool, Dire Straits' On Every Street (a familiar test CD), McCoy Tyner's New York Reunion. Steely Dan's Gaucho is rather uncomfortable with all the treble percussion.

Even so, the 5400 is already better than my SCD-XA777ES on which Genesis reissues are hard to listen to. For example, with the Yamaha, what image solidity and midrange body there was in Peter's voice on Selling England by the Pound was lost with the 777, the treble sounding forced and flattened. With the 5400, I can stand it, but it's a bit bright still. On the Yamaha, it is quite listenable and has a reasonable tonal balance with some sense of dimensionality or at least wholeness. Most importantly, the Yamaha allows my forehead to relax... ever notice tension in your brow? Not a good sign. The 5400 is better than the 777 to be sure in these regards, at least. Lots of detail and space, particularly compared to the Yamaha which is a bit smoothed and boring.

I'll give it a couple of weeks solid break-in on SACD.

--

Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

RE: Pretty much every SACD and CD I'm trying has a bit of sibilance..., posted on October 23, 2009 at 00:29:17
Disbeliever	I can hear absolutely no sibilance with my XA5400ES used with the pre-out of the DA5400ES receiver into my stereo amplifier. Absolutely best value CD/SACD player on the market

Every Sony SACD player I've owned or tried exhibited some sibilance, posted on October 8, 2009 at 08:03:13
racerguy	I found that using a noise-reduction Shunyata power cord helped tame it, but it never went away completely. The SCD-1 was the worst of the bunch with stock power cord and single-ended interconnects. Using the Shunyata cord and balanced interconnects really helped that player, but for me the ultimate solution was to buy a player from another manufacturer.

I'm finding the 5400 much more relaxed than the SCD-XA777ES at this point., posted on October 8, 2009 at 18:13:03
Jim Stoneburner Reviewer Posts: 417 Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica Joined: June 3, 2003	I hear some sibilance on certain recordings, but not all. And those recordings also have sibilance on my Yamaha, just attenuated due to it's dark character. -- Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

RE: Pretty much every SACD and CD I'm trying has a bit of sibilance..., posted on October 7, 2009 at 06:00:23

barondla
Audiophile

Posts: 310
Location: midwest usa
Joined: May 26, 2007

Have the same Yamaha. Very relaxing to listen to. Love its natural (slightly warm) tonal balance. On SACD it doesn't sound digital at all. The midrange just sounds right. Just wish it was more transparent and had a little more controlled bottom.

Have been considering the Sony. Afraid it will sound bright. Other problem is the Yamaha has dvd/a capability that I use for many rock albums. Wonder how the Yamaha modified would sound vs the Sony modified?
thanks
barondla

To tighten the bass, try this adapter and a good power cable..., posted on October 8, 2009 at 00:34:37
Jim Stoneburner Reviewer Posts: 417 Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica Joined: June 3, 2003	Worked wonders for my Yamaha. Still sounds dark and full, but bass definition is much improved, no doubt remains on first listening. That stock cord is very poor. IEC-DVD Adapter Polarized $19.99 1 Polarized IEC-DVD Adapter http://www.vhaudio.com/acplugadapters.html -- Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

RE: To tighten the bass, try this adapter and a good power cable..., posted on October 9, 2009 at 13:42:12
barondla Audiophile Posts: 310 Location: midwest usa Joined: May 26, 2007	Ordered the adapter. Will be interesting to try different ac cables. Thanks for the tip. barondla

You nailed the Yamaha. Perfect for digiphobes & those with aversion to brightness who can live with the veil., posted on October 7, 2009 at 09:46:45
Jim Stoneburner Reviewer Posts: 417 Location: Silicon Valley and Santa Monica Joined: June 3, 2003	, -- Keep your ears honest: Listen to live, unamplified music every week.

Neutral would be a good description., posted on October 7, 2009 at 09:31:17

jazz1
Audiophile

Posts: 959
Joined: October 30, 2000

I can assure you that the Sony is not bright, it is very neutral.
It is not warm either.
I had the opportunity to compare it to players like the Ayon CD2, the Mimetism, Ancient audio, Pathos Endorphin, Primare, Audio Analogue,etc all good players in the 3000-7000$ price bracket, the Sony compares well with all of them, and sounds good on every typpe of music.
None of the above players are bright sounding.

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Any other XA5400 owners get Vacuum State or ModWright mods to your player?

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