I stumbled across a few interesting things I thought I would share with my fellow Outlaws. I have no affiliation with the products, services, web sites, etc. mentioned below. I offer this for public consumption only in the interest of making you all aware of some stuff, that I, at least, found intriguing on the A/V front and may scratch an itch for those of you with a bad case of upgrade-itis.

Oppo Digital Modifications: Did you know there’s an outfit that mods’ Oppo digital DVD players? Neither did I until I found this company mentioned in a message thread: http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Mercha...roduct_Count=39 The upgrades look pretty substantial, but definitely do not come cheap ($625). They claim the investment results in superior audio AND video performance. Personally, I don’t see myself ever going this route, as for the money you’re getting into HD DVD player territory. On the other hand, I haven’t seen or heard one of these modded units, so maybe I don’t know what I’m missing.

Chinese DACs: Evidently, there’s a growing market for cheap, audiophile DACs and the Chinese, no big surprise, are leading the way. This company seems to offer several brands: http://www.pacificvalve.us/. Notice the category of non-oversampling CD players. Never heard of such a beast until about a week ago. One noteworthy omission from Pacific Valve's offerings was Zhaolu, which has earned a reputation as being a real giant killer. Based on a few posts about Zhaolu, DIYEDEN, Lite, etc. and there seems to be widespread consensus that many of these units, especially if modified with better op-amps and other parts, outperform DACs several times their price (e.g. Benchmark DAC-1). Base price for most is in the range of $200-$300. Hmmmm… now this is an upgrade I could see myself doing.

Head Phone Enthusiast Message Board: This is a web page devoted to people who are really, really into headphones: http://www.head-fi.org/. I, for one, am not in that camp, but if headphones do it for you, these guys are pretty hardcore. The members also have a keen interest in other components that may be useful to Outlaws as well as a strong DIY mentality, so there’s definitely some useful information out there for those who do not fear the soldering iron. Want to know how to modify that new Chinese DAC? Look no further.

Superbit DVDs: Okay, this may not be new to anyone, but if you’re willing to forgo special features on DVD, consider a release from the Superbit Collection. In lieu of adding bonus materials and other fluff, the available disc space is devoted to higher bit-rate video and a DTS surround track (on top of the usual DD 5.1). For those of us who have not made the jump to HD DVD or Blu-Ray, this may offer the best non- high-def’ DVD video and audio material out there. For more information, including some grading of Superbit releases, check out this site: http://www.timefordvd.com/feature/Superbit.shtml

That’s it for now… Enjoy!

- VD