stan warren dvd[pioneer333]player mod?

I have one. I am impressed. In a direct comparison with a high end player, the high end player will have a little more "Heft" in the lower frequencies and slightly better focus. But without the two players sitting together, it is hard to find fault with the focus of the Stan/Pioneer. The Stan/Pioneer has excellent tonal balance, lots of detail from top to bottem while remaining musical. Very open and very good 3D. The Pioneer is a very light and cheap player build wise. Stan will also Mod the next Pioneer up the line with "progressive scan" video and the Pioneer 5 disk DVD changer. He can also do the same Mod to the Onkyo DVD Players that have the same Burr Brown 24/96 chip. The Onkyo's are more solid (and more $$$).

I have a Stan Warren modified D/A. This unit is the next step up from his single player mod. I have not personnaly compared it to the Meridian, but it has beaten up a Sony, Parasound and Audio Research in direct comparison A/B tests.
(Each of the above aforementioned units were between three and five hundred percent more in cost!)

FYI, The Pioneer DV-333 is available on the web at for $199 at Crutfield and Audio Advisor. Stan's mods are in two parts. The main Mod is $200. He has an additional Mod, I think it's to the output stage, that is another $50. Anyway the second Mod while an improvement also lowers the output, so you need to turn the volume up more. Some may not want this second Mod. I got the full Mod $250. He also charges a flat $17 return shipping. There is a third Mod he just did that was thought up and requested by some person after my player was done. I cannot remember what it is, but it's another $50. He said this third Mod and other things like a new power cord can be done, but the cost of the final player is getting up there and the improvement is much smaller than the the main two Mods.

Stan other Mod is to a $79 Aiwa 5 Disk CD Changer. It makes a pretty good DAC Transport out of the box unmodified, but Stan can make it into a "Killer" transport. The Aiwa was discovered by someone at the Chicago Audio Society. Stan uses one in his shop, so he can play music all day without having to stop to change disks. I do not know the cost, but probably $200 or so. The Aiwa is available at Best Buy.

The last thing to consider is what could transpire if the player breaks mechanically, or a problem with the video stage . Stan warrants his work, but of course not the player itself. No one can predict what will happen if you try to get warranty service on a player that has been modified.