DVD-3910 Mods Explained

Continuing on my series of disc-player reviews, I wanted to incorporate at least one "modded" unit. I am of the opinion that to extract the final ounces of fidelityacomponent has to be thoroughly tweaked; beef up a power supply here, change a connector there, upgradeacapacitor elsewhere, etc. Each change in itself may not yield an audible improvement or change, but layer on several changes and you can yield a substantial improvement. This pursuit is certainly as much art as it is science, and is also replete with snake-oil and dubious claims. In the end the only thing that matters is what a component sounds like, and that is what I intend to find out here.

Here is the basic jist of the high-end disc player market. The basic innards (drive, DAC, etc) are made by a handful of multi-nationals. Most high-end manufacturers then take these innards and add-on the rest of the componentry to their bent. That secondary effort (and cost) usually focuses on the power supply, output stage, connectors, chassis and cosmetics.

Without the benefit of having data to test my hypothesis, I would hazard a guess that the modded route would be more cost-effective for the consumer. This is mostly because the stock unit benefits from lower cost forassembly (due to high volumes and mass production) and cosmetics (since stock players usually do not feature expensive finishes). The added costs for a modded unit likely are; the minimal cost of the replaced (and discarded) parts, the labor to install the modsand maybe shipping to/from the mod shop. Again, I am just guessing, but I would estimate that a modded unit with the same components would cost a fair bit less than the same unit from a high-end manufacturer.

This review focuses on the quality of the two-channel audio playback of this player. Follow this link for an excellent assessment of the DVD-3910 stock unit, including video performance.

The Mod Shop

These mods are marketed in North America by Underwood HiFi and the modifications are done by Parts ConneXion.

The principal of the Parts ConneXion is Chris Johnson. Yes, the very same who founded Sonic Frontiers (in 1988). Sonic Frontiers operated three lines of business; high-end electronics under the Sonic Frontiers badge, mid-tier equipment under the Anthem label and a DIY business under the Parts Connection name. In 1998 the Paradigm Group purchased Sonic Frontiers, and since then Sonic Frontiers menu has been limited to solid-state home theater products under the Anthem badge.

In 2002 Chris Johnson and Victoria Switzer cut outand found Parts ConneXion,and took with them several of the design team from Sonic Frontiers. This new outfit offersaparts catalog for the DIY market,and after-market mods for a variety of product.

Eager to test out my theory on the economic efficiency of after-market mods, Iasked Chris why he choose to do mods when his team is fully capable of manufacturing disc players in-house. Especially considering this team in the past had produced many highly acclaimed models such as the Transport3, Processor3, SFD-2 mkIIand SFT-1. Chris' response confirmed my theory, and to my wife's chagrin gave my delusions of being a self-proclaimed economist more credence. Here is his take on mods.

Chris parted company from other modders I have talked with, when he says that not every product and every component is a candidate for modifications. Mods should only be made when the result yields significant sonic improvements for a cost that can be justified to the consumer. Specifically, he felt that to match the video performance and technology of the current stream of universal players (like this Denon), would require an investment so massive that only the large Japanese players have the sales volume to play that game. These huge investments include industrializing (bringing to production) DVI, HDMI, video upscaling, DVD-A and SACD licenses (an unverified source has quoted $80,000 annually for an SACD license). Unfortunately, these mass-produced units also save money by skimping on design and components in the power-supply, the analog output stage and analog output connectors. This is where the mod-house steps in, and augments only the analog audio performance, in this case. And who better to do this than a design team that has delivered much acclaimed products in the past, I cannot second that acclaim since I have not had first hand experience of those units.

According to Chris, in the case of this specific model, Denon is using the most advanced DAC on the market, but that is not what is significant, since the DAC is more advanced than the formats it is converting. So he focused his efforts on the areas of this player that he felt would yield the most improvements. Details of the mod are listed above, they can be summarized as upgrades to the chassis damping, linear power-supply for analog audio sections and numerous upgrades to components in the analogaudio output path after the DAC, including the all important op amp.