Sony ns9100es mod'ed or Esoteric Sa-60

I had my DVPNC555es dvd player modded by SACDmods. Actually I have 2 of them now after hearing the first mod. I also like having a player. I just heard the Esoteric multi-audio SA-60 unit on a friends system. Esoteric looked to be a premium heavy duty single player. For the money thought it did not wow me sonically. I could not a/b it to mine;but I felt pretty darn good for just paying 200 used for the NC555es and then paying SACDmods. 436.00 and I have a player to boot. Putting a good powercord like Richard Gray HTW and a good nordost heimdall interconnect and selecting "smooth" for the digital filter brought more to the table. if you go to the sacdmods site it says the 9100es is a great player to mod/can even add balanced outputs. So its Super Sony vs Super Teac. $$$ it all adds up. used 9100es ~500.00 + 900.00 mod = 1400 vs 3500 used for an Esoteric.

I've had a chance to compare an Esoteric SA-60 with a fully modded (to tube stage) Sony NS999ES, and preferred the SA-60 for its deeper sound stage and smooth yet detailed treble.

Incidentally, I prefer my Sony DVP-9000ES to my 9100ES for audio, though the 9100ES is superior for video and has HDMI output. I now use a Sony PlayStation 3-80 for video.

db