I was just reminded why I enjoy this hobby.....changed one resistor in the audio path and I have a whole new pre-amp. I am sure the neighbors are getting sick of tonights experiment.

I've modded a few CD players in my time. Upgraded clocks, removed offensive muting trannies, improved isolation and damping inside and out, upgraded power cords, capacitors and so on.

It's a blast. When the results are positive it's a satisfying hobby.

I finally bought a decend CD player and the doors have opened up again. Still using tube pre-amp amp tho.

I have a tube DAC which makes a big difference. Makes CD sound a lot less metallic and mechanical.

I used to have a Project Tube Phono stage (Tube Box SE). It was smooth enough, but fell quite a way short of the phono stage built into the Plinius 9200 I bought a year or so ago.

is really not audio phile