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EVS modded Oppo 95

Recently, while looking for mods for my new Oppo 95 player, I ran across tweakaudio.com. After reading a bit and viewing some basic photos, I followed up with Ric Schultz at EVS to discuss his mods for the 95. After several calls and discussion about what Ric had achieved with the basic 95, I decided to send him my unit; just a couple of weeks prior to Christmas. For reference, I had about 125 to 150 hours of play time on my machine so I had a good reference point for my system. Burn-in for the stock unit, from my experience, was about 50 hours of playing time. Two weeks later I had my 95 back from EVS, and immediately out of the box the sound was better. I left the unit on 24/7 for break-in and listened every couple of days to the same source disks for sonic change. After a couple of weeks, I called Ric and told him I was blown away... pure and simple. I've had numerous modded, tubed players and this was by far the most dramatic result I have encountered. Fast forward to six weeks later and the sound just keeps getting larger, cleaner and more dynamic. The musical range continues to expand and the sound stage is even more lifelike. All I can say is that I haven't heard anything, at any price, that compares with this unit. For $1000 the Oppo 95 is a great machine, for another $1200 bucks, Ric has transformed this beast into an incredible machine. I will also note the video portion of the 95 improved modestly as well. I have made numerous tweaks to my system as well as source material and listen to a variety of music genres.

My system:
EVS modded Oppo 95 digital player
Jud Barber, Joule Electra LA-150 Signature Edition (SE) Line Stage Pre-Amplifier
Spectron Musican III Mk2 fully modded Bybee MONOBLOCKS
Martin Logan / Spire Speakers, modded
Remote Sense RS Mk2 Signature Loudspeaker cable
Harmonic Technology MAGIC Link Two, interconnects
Dedicated circuits, power conditioner, premium receptacles and power cords.

D.C.
Kennesaw, GA
dclevr
ivan_nosnibor's avatar
ivan_nosnibor
1,047 posts
 
I'm never surprised at just how surprised people are when they have something modded by Ric. I've come to think he's simply the best modder out there, bar none...and to top it all off, he's also the lowest priced...! How ya gonna beat that??
goatwuss
877 posts
 
EVS vs Modwright? Who makes the better player?

Looks like Modwright goes a bit more heavy duty into the analog mods (ie. adding tubes and a new power supply), whereas EVS can do some digital stuff too. (ie. clock)

I'm planning on mostly running from the HDMI out into my Anthem D2, so maybe the EVS clock upgrade would be the way to go for me?
jannweiss
2 posts
 
I have since 4 weeks an Oppo 95 modded (stereo and multichannel) by Ric and I am very pleased with it. I was struck from the beginning by the huge soundstage , very lifelike, with incredible deepness that it offers. Sound is also very detailed and dynamic without compromising musicality. ItÂ’s a real pleasure to savor the richness of the timbre of each instrument.

I haven't heard the player in its original state. I am living in Switzerland, so it was nonsense to send it several times through the ocean. I bought the player somewhere in the States where they sent it to Ric.

The only direct comparison I can make is with my Sony scd-xa333 (little brother of the 777, only available in Europa) modded by TRL which I always found very good, and I can only note the enormous gain in music reproduction that the Oppo offer.

Since I have the Oppo I am listening not only to SACD like before, but also to normal CD with some real pleasure and to downloaded music files in high resolution which is new for me, but very interesting.
simes
13 posts
 
I, too, have a modded Oppo 95 from Ric at EVS. Mine is not the full $1200 mod (its the cheaper mod for around $500), but like those above I had a whole 'nother player when I got it back. Previous to the mod, I had it burned in for about 300 hours and had played it enough to get a sense of the basic sound. The EVS mod delivered copious musical detail, better dynamics, and great, wide soundstaging. I previously had a Modwright modified Sony EX-5400 ES and this modded Oppo kills that player in terms of additional musical information,i.e. the usual audiophile checklist (to be fair, how much of that is due to the mod and how much to the basic player I can't say). I will be sending my Oppo back to Ric for the full mod.

I would also second the above comments about the quality and value that EVS provides--its second to none in my experience.
metralla
945 posts
 
02-21-12: Goatwuss writes:

Looks like Modwright goes a bit more heavy duty into the analog mods (ie. adding tubes and a new power supply), whereas EVS can do some digital stuff too. (ie. clock)

Actually, Ric's background is in analogue amplifiers. The analogue stage he implements on the full modification is where the magic happens. It's not done with valves, but neither is Allen Wright's board for the 5400. Allen would have put valves in there if he thought that was optimum. After all - he was VSE.

Regards,
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