I have gone the mod's route in recent years, and never been disappointed. Most recently, I used the Unico with a modified Pioneer DV-45A universal player, it si SUPERB (I ended up with about $1300 total invested, though; you can do many mods for less). The pioneers, the Philips 963SA, the Denon's, all are good mod material so I've heard.
I ended up seling the Unico because I do more headphone listening now, but my mod'd Pioneer isn't going anywhere !
www.tweakaudio.com, www.partsconnexion.com (along with www.underwoodhifi.com), www.modwright.com - three that pop right into my mind. Worht looking into, IMO you get more for your money.