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Here's a preview; it blows away the stock Oppo 981HD.

Whew!

I was worried.

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Last Saturday my Pioneer Elite DV-58V universal player arrived after receiving full-boat mods from Ric Schultz.

Did you listen to it before the mods? Did you compare it to the Oppo before the mods?

Kal (who just got one, too)

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Last Saturday my Pioneer Elite DV-58V universal player arrived after receiving full-boat mods from Ric Schultz.

Did you listen to it before the mods? Did you compare it to the Oppo before the mods?

Kal (who just got one, too)

I had it shipped direct to Ric; however, my Oppo is not modded. Ric's working on a 32-bit DAC mod for the Oppo, but he's saying that, so far, the Pioneer still sounds better to him.

Unfortunately, unless I borrow something, I have no great references to compare to. My PS Audio Lambda crapped out last summer and that would have been 15-year old technology. Maybe Soundings will loan me something this Sunday.

Kal, did Ric mod yours or is yours stock? Anyone in the Denver area got a stock Pioneer DV-58AV????

Dave

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I had it shipped direct to Ric; however, my Oppo is not modded.

Apples to oranges. Not an informative comparison.

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Kal, did Ric mod yours or is yours stock?

Stock and still sealed in shipping carton. I cannot imagine having something modified until finding out what it does unmodified. You have to take everything on faith if you do.

As JA has called me,

(skepti)Kal

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I had it shipped direct to Ric; however, my Oppo is not modded.

Apples to oranges. Not an informative comparison.

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Kal, did Ric mod yours or is yours stock?

Stock and still sealed in shipping carton. I cannot imagine having something modified until finding out what it does unmodified. You have to take everything on faith if you do.

Well, duh. Yes I have faith. My objective was to get a really great universal player for my system for under $1500. I've used Ric before and I trust him. My objective was not to write a comparative review of a stock Pioneer to a modded Pioneer.

I bought it intending to mod it. I was considering modding the Oppo, but I called Ric first to ask him which he thought ended up being a better product and he steered me to the Pioneer. I would have done full-boat mods on the Oppo if he said that sounded best and the profit to him would have made little difference.

I referenced my stock Oppo for two reasons; one, it's got a good reputation and has had excellent reviews in Stereophile and other mags and, two, it's what I have on hand.

Since the Oppo is another universal player, I'd say it's not apples to oranges, but more like Granny Smith apples to Golden Delicious.

In stock form, both the Pioneer and Oppo are incredible values. Sorry if my review doesn't meet your criteria, but I'm still going to do it, because I can. Who knows, someone might find it useful.

Dave

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Stock and still sealed in shipping carton.

Well Kal, get on the stick, pull it out, burn it in and tell us what you think.

Dave

I like both methods and am waiting to hear from both of you.

I am personally more aligned with Kal in that I would listen carefully to the unmodded first, record the output on my Tascam DV-RA100, make some notes, and then send it off.

I would do the same on return and would also compare the recordings.

Not because I don't trust the modder, but because I would want to know what the differences are and am insatiably curious. I know, it's a fault.

Well, I DO have the Korg MR1000 5.6 MHz DSD, harddrive recorder which excels at such things. So that makes me both too lazy and too cheap to route the unit to me first.

I knew I'd be modding it, no matter what, so I was just avoiding the step and extra few days that it'd keep me from my improved music.

Now, if Stereophile paid me, then...

Dave

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Since the Oppo is another universal player, I'd say it's not apples to oranges, but more like Granny Smith apples to Golden Delicious.

Well, to me, the more appropriate analogy would be that it was like comparing a Granny Smith to a candy-coated Golden Delicious. Too many variables tells you little about the apples or the value of the candy-coating.

Kal

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Since the Oppo is another universal player, I'd say it's not apples to oranges, but more like Granny Smith apples to Golden Delicious.

Well, to me, the more appropriate analogy would be that it was like comparing a Granny Smith to a candy-coated Golden Delicious. Too many variables tells you little about the apples or the value of the candy-coating.

You're looking at it all wrong, IMHO. All I'm doing is comparing a $1500 deck to a $220 deck that receives a lot of good press and lots of people use. (Ok, maybe that's more like Fuji apples vs. Golden Delicious).

The Oppo's the reference I had so I referred to it. If I had a Rega or a Emm I'd have compared it to that. If someone knows the Oppo reference, then they'll have a better idea about the modded Pioneer after my comparison. That's the whole point of using and referring to a reference.

I won't be reviewing a stock Pioneer, so the readers will have to go down to Best Buy and listen for themselves if they're interested in that. Down the road I'm sure I'll be able the Pioneer to more expensive units and I'll update the review when that happens. The more references the more useful the review, IMHO.

Dave

Ok, I now have over 150-hours on my modded Pioneer Elite DV-58AV, so it's time for a review.

Delivered, a new, stock 58AV will set you back around $400, give or take 40-bucks or so. As modder Ric Schultz describes, this new player has a separate power supply section for the analog stages, tons of Rubycon low impedance caps, Elna Audio caps, latest generation current out Burr-Brown DAC, super short digital path, extra plate underneath the chassis, good video picture, a "Pure Audio" button that turns off all video, digital outs and displays for better sound.

One thing that impressed me is the focus on two-channel audio and ease of use as a two-channel source, which I