Stan Warren mod of 9000es and 333es

Thanks to Simon and Ehider. Exactly the kind of information I was looking for. The player sounds intriguing, as I used to be very familiar with the Timbre products, and found them very good. As I said about Stan, there doesn't seem to be many who come in contact with him who aren't left impressed.

Trelja: very good question and Ehider gave excellent answer. I will allow to ellaborate here,briefly describing Stan Warren credentials: Hi is "S" in PS Audio and Paul Mcgowen is the "P". Lately, Stan choose to modify other units rather to manufacter his own. (He, of course can build pre/power amp speakers). I love tube equipment. Two non-tube amps are as good as tubes, in my personal limited opinion. One is digital amp Bel Canto EV0 (a bit lean) and... ADCOM modified by Stan, It has - no signature of transistors at all. Price: $250 for 2-3 months labor? There is no guarantee that it will bring him new customers, and also there is long waiting list. I waited 6-7 weeks before Stan could looked into my 9000es. Well, now results: I have 9000es for about a week, sound changes every day. However, even today, I can state its the best CD sound I ever had in my life ( comparison with CEC TL1 Transport, Timbre Technology jitter reduction box and DAC, Electraglide digital cords). In SACD mode its easy outperforms Sony 777es I had before. I am extremely thankful to Stan. In general, if your "modifier" knoes ehat he is doing bying enexpensive electronics and modifying its power supplies and analog stage is the best cost-effective way to improve your system. Good luck. Simon

In response to Trelja's question of value on Stan Warren's mods; Lets think about what Simontju got for $250:
An improved output stage, improved wiring, an output impedence reduction and modifications to the power supply and signal path using Black Gate capacitors. All of this for $250? Trelja wonders if this is a good value? Are you kidding? Its a steal...Not so sure?... lets look and compare the topologies of some of the big names in digital; Does Theta use the expensive Black Gate Caps?....nope. What about Levinson and Krell?...no, no , no. (Surprisingly, the Gates are either too expensive - or these companies are just too damn arrogant to do the research about the sonic improvements which are yielded by the implementation of Black Gates). Please note that none of these companies uses capacitors as expensive as Black Gate caps in their units, so I suspect that my first statement is probably the more accurate. The use of Black Gate capacitors by Stan Warren is proof enough that he is offering an INCREDIBLE bang for the buck. I wish we had MORE people like Stan in this business. Trelja was right about questioning the value of modification guys. More than a couple of the mod guys out there are not qualified to be modding anyone's digital unit. How many of these guys have the vast experience and backround of Stan Warren? None that I know of. And guess what, almost all charge much more for their so called mods, yet they give us far, far less. I have nothing but praise for Stan Warren. Because of him, I have an extremely refined-world class sounding digital front end for peanuts!.

From everything I have heard of about Stan Warren, his reputation is impeccable. However, the cost of the mods to these players seems excessive. The modifications seem to be minimal; most of the benefit will be brought about by the insertion of the Black Gate capacitors. While I am sure there will be an improvement, I am left wondering... Not trying to ruffle any feathers, just questioning the answers. To accept things without questioning eventually leads to being taken advantage of. I do not mind at all in being proven wrong here.

Hello Mike:
My computer crushed and I could not read your message until now. My e-mail is SimonTJU@aol.com. I am afraid to confuse in relaying messages. I feel that it would be much better if you cll Stan direct (541/344 - 3696, EST). He is extremely nice guy and he will help you with advise even if you will not give him job at the moment. I will receive my 9000es only today. In a few days/weeks I will post my observations of this mod. ALSO, I lost phone number of MagiCoat you gave me due to the computer crush. If you can please e-mail me this info. Thanks. Simon

Simon,

Was wondering what wire did Stan use as a replacement and which wires (all internal, power supply, analog output). I think the rcas are directly soldered to the analog board like in the 777ES. Was also wondering what Stan did to reduce the output impedance. Can you ask Stan what op amps he used? Regards, Mike