Some comments from our satisfied customers :-

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...on the EAM Ultimate clock installed in his Denon DVD1920 Player

Just a quick note to say "Thankyou" for the fast and efficient work you did on modding my Denon 1920 DVD player. You collected the player from me on Monday night and I was very surprised when you called me Tuesday afternoon to say the player was ready for collection! I watch alot of DVDs and certainly the picture quality has definitely improved alot. Listening to my CDs is also alot more enjoyable as the vocals appear crisp and clear.

Dear James,
 
Things are going well. The player is greatly improved: your mod smashed the noise floor and now is far more easier to follow the music.

LF are greatly improved: they have now weight, details and speed. Before last octave was muddy and confused. The improvement here has been dramatic. I would say 150% more. Like I had bought another player. 

Midrange is more detailed, thanks to lower noise floor, and harmonically richer. I would say 60% better. HF has remained analytical and a bit forward but there is a less fatigue thanks to noticeable higher extension. 

HF were rolled off before and I have to readjust myself. Here it gets almost 50% better. The overall presentation has become polished and precise. The player was a bit "romantic sounding" (due to HF attenuation) before mod, now I would say is precise and analytical (not over-analytical) with a far improved authority and more rhythm 

Thank you very much

Following are my feedback.

The audio performance is fantastic and dynamic. I listened over and over many times to vocals by Cai Chien, Teresa Teng, Huang Hung Ying, the vocals are so much clearer and cleaner, the drums/strings are very much tighter and refine. Both the highs and low are tight and very smoothing. I really have great fun listening. 

Cheers, Ric

As for video, picture quality have improved too. Images are 
sharper and have nicer and more natural colors and the black is really blacker than before. Improvements on this area not as much as stereo, maybe because I'm using low end plasma display, with cheapo component cables. hehe...

It was really a nice experience dealing with you. Thanks.

For pop/rock, the improvement in bass is most significant -- very much tighter, even the highs seemed better controlled on some of these lesser-quality discs. IMHO, the playback of these non-audiophile pop discs is quite comparable to the expensive-looking setup I heard in a CD shop in Adelphi recently.

For vocals, my favorite, the improvements are what amazed me most. The voice is very detailed but extremely life-like. Just yesterday evening, I played "The Look of Love by Jeanette Lindstrom" and was overwhelmed by the realism.. I had actually mistaken that it was sang by my wife who sat nearby.. even wondered why she sounded so different.. :)

Last but not least, the playback of piano is now I would described as "what it is supposed to be". Dugged out an ancient AAD Richard Claderman piano compilation disc (bought in the mid 80s!) and was well rewarded with clarity of the notes and excellent sound staging. This is the music I should have enjoyed a decade ago!

Thanks again for the mod to the CD player. I hope you can even further improve my amp while fixing it after your heavy schedule!

Cheers, Shong

Associated equipment : Cayin HA-1A SET in triode mode, Tesla ECC802, Tesla ECC803S long plate, JJ EL84. VDH D-102 III HYBRID and Sennheiser HD650, Belden 83830 powercord.

Got the chance to own an EAM Philips 963sa extremely modded (ie fully speced) from James. Just only opted out of the PSCAN board as video is not important to me (21" TV nia, bedroom system ?)

First of all, must say that James is a very nice guy. Very flexible and not rushing you to do close the deal. Always say no problem no problem no problem.....heh. Next time must ask him to give 20% discount, then that also no problem. ? This is important to me, I am not rich and I do not wish to spend my money on products with stuck up dealers. Also he gives good after sales support, very important for modded stuff. The warranty period for this is even longer than my car! This area, surely no problem.

Ok, the important part, sound. My previous player is a humble Marantz DV6400. After getting the 963, i spun a vocal CD one last time on the DV6400 and proceeded to change to the new player. My feeling is that the 963 is substantial. Nope, the cover is not your Sony SCD-1 standard, it is actually not that diff from my DV6400, but the thing is pretty heavy, probably at about
7kg? With all the additional transformers inside, it's gotta be heavy.

Just 5 seconds after the music came on from the 963, I already can tell that the difference is big, you-don't-need-to-listen-more-also-can-tell kinda thing. Even without burning in. Yes, it's that big a difference, feeling is something like comparing a $299 Enzer HT system with a $1999 HT system. There main areas which really struck me is ?1) bass, 963 is much much well defined in bass, not only heavier but also gives you all the tone and definition. I never knew what i was missing until i heard THIS. (2) Sheer details/resolution - in the midrange and treble.  Midrange/voices now got texture one. Treble is more extended and the important thing is it's very much smoother (especially noted on female sibilance). Absolutely no roughness at all. (3) Leading edge transient - very telling for this, each and every note is well separated and the leading edge is very well accentuated. Last time it was a complete blur. 

Very important thing is, overall the sound is very musical, it sounds "correct", just nicely balanced. Sometimes you know when you are hearing certain demo high-end systems in shops or shows, while it sounds really good but it is not enjoyable. I certainly enjoy the new sound, there is coherence and nothing sticks out to "attack" me. For eg, while i heard a Stax SR-4040 electrostatic headphone system on an 20K Esoteric player and it's really very good, it's not musical, cannot really put it down though. It's good but I cannot enjoy and relax with the sound. Of course this really depends on your preference, your mileage may vary.

I wish I could have on-hand a high-end SACD player like at least a SA8400 or Sony 777ES to compared with this. It could be better, or it could be the same, that  I am not sure. SACDs is a bit tricky, there are numerous SACDs out there which are not good, and some are just remasters of resolution-limited 16-bit material (documented). So you compare SACD  is something like comparing CDs like that, the potential is not realized. Need to thread carefully here. Compared to
DV6400, as expected, big big difference, there is no need to waste time here.

I asked my friend to bring over a consonance 2.2 cdp for comparison. Compared to the 963, the 2.2 is warmer and more laid back while the 963 has more zing for the highs. Also a bit sweeter too for the 963. Listening at high vols the 963 is noticeably more dynamic too. Details retrieval/resolution, the 963 is quite noticeably better. Both players have no problem with "digititis". Both players are musical, no problems in this area, just that the 963 sounds noticeably better as in comparing both side by side my preference is the 963. Again, no contest here, my preference is with the 963. My friend also preferred the 963, so much so that he wanted to sell his 2.2 (simple reason, the 963 is cheaper so he will even get money back). Maybe mod the consonance 2.2? But no matter what with regards to its competition in the market, i feel the 2.2 is still an excellent player for the money in the price bracket (1.5-2k).

It's very difficult to describe everything in detail and all. You just have to suck it up and take the plunge for a modded unit be it from Philips or Denon or any decent player. To sum it all up, the fully spected 963 just sounds very very good. After i burnt it in for about 24-hours, i listened to it on Friday nite. Do you know how late I slept? 5AM! In my 13 years of playing with audio/hifi I have never done this for a piece of equipment before! With more burning in, it very well could be be better.

On my headphone system, there are certain things which i cannot tell, like the traditional kind of soundstaging and imaging for speakers. So cannot help out here. 

Let me add this in, i thought of an apt analogy. I was/am a car nut, and I think I can say this honestly. You can get a Mitsubishi Evo IX for $150k now and throw 100k worth of mod into it. What you get is a car that can lap faster at Sepang International Circuit than a 1 mil lamborghini murcielago. Of course, the murc is still a car to die for, you get more attention esp from chicks. But I like lap times better. It's just me, bang for the buck..

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