NuForce Testimonials

Unsolicited Customer Testimonials - Every client has paid The Upgrade Company LLC in full.   No kickbacks, no commissions, no fees of any kind for recommending our products and services.

November 2011

I contacted The Upgrade Company to purchase a new upgraded Oppo 95.  Once home with about 48 hrs of running in on repeat I found it to be leaps and bounds above my very well burned in NuForce NX-93 player. I did not expect this level of improvement.  Prior to the NuForce I had a stock McIntosh MVP-861 and I've demo'd my share of high end CD/SACD players in my system.  None of these players are even in the same ballpark with the Upgrade Co. Oppo 95.  Enough said.

After hearing what Upgrade Co. did with the Oppo 95, my skepticism was gone.  I called them back up to discuss the rest of my system, to see what they could offer.  Upgrade Co. advised me to take the plunge to upgrade my $12,000 Linn Kisto surround preamp and my $7,000 Nuforce MCH 300-SE top of their line  amplifier. David explained how the final sound is only as good as the worst sounding component, never the best. Think of a fire hose: if you run it through a garden hose, the amount of water will be reduced. This is what happens when you run an Upgrade Co. maxxed-out upgraded player through stock electronics: half the upgrade or better is gone.  The stock equipment simply cannot keep up.  Sounded convincing, but both the Kisto and NuForce amp were already sounding great I thought. However after hearing what they did to the Oppo 95 I took the plunge and had my Linn Kisto and top of the line NuForce MCH-300SE amplifier upgraded.

I got both back in about 2 weeks.  Hooked them up, let the system run for an hour or so while I did some work.  Entering the room I could hear immediately:  the sound quality had been transformed.  I sat down in the middle seat...My jaw literally hit the floor!

There's so much more bass weight & slam. Backgrounds are now a deep black.  There's dead silence between notes with far greater musicality and dynamics, higher resolution, the highs are sweeter than grandma's apple pie, and most important the midrange finally has that "live" presence.

Prior to having the Kisto and NuForce MCH-300SE upgraded, I was ready to dump my Martin Logan Ascent speakers:  the sound was always too forward and shy in the bass and highs, and spatially flat, despite lots of burn-in: probably well in excess of 1,000hrs.  I've never heard any Martin Logan's sound like this at the stores.  The sound stage my Ascent's throw is now wide open and deep.  They now have a strong low and extended top end, and good depth, not so forward at all.

The new stock preamps, prepro's and amps I've demo'd barely made a difference.

The Upgrade Co. "SE" upgrade is truly "Night and Day" superior.

Doing business with The Upgrade Company is a no brainer.

Oneil B.
Chicago, Illinois

Brand new NuForce Edition Oppo 93 Signature Edition upgraded player

I have now been playing for 3 weeks with my new NuForce Edition Oppo 93 Signature Edition upgraded player and I must say that this is my best buy I have ever done.  Yes I am very VERY happy with it and everything you said turns out to be true.

I am hearing more music and more information than ever before and the whole sound is up to a new level over anything I have tried.  Big improvement to my system.

Heidar Gislason

 October 2010

 Classe SSP-800 Prepro, McIntosh MCD-205 CD Changer & NuForce 83SE with Signature Edition Upgrade

Hi David,

Here is a long overdue update:

The Classe SSP-800 prepro upgrade exceeded my expectations. The naturalness, the ease of the music, the accuracy of the midrange and highs and the clean, tight bass is quite apparent.  The NuForce 83SE with your Signature Edition upgrade also exceeded my expectations: it's now got a pristine picture and hits way above it price point on music discs. The noise reduction techniques you focus on in your upgrades are readily apparent to me over everything else I've tried.  Do not let the crap on the internet from wanna-be competitors posting on forums as consumers dissuade you. You are really onto something here.

The upgraded McIntosh MCD-205 CD changer sounds superb.  Some of the cleanest, blackest, most transparent sound I have heard from CD's.  I can just imagine a new upgraded McIntosh 881...

My system sings a very musical, accurate and detailed presentation of a live event. I've also been venturing into NYC HiFi showrooms and the trade shows for years and I'm telling you I'm not missing anything now.

Raymond Sarno, NY

September 2010

NuForce Oppo BDP-83SE w/Signature Edition Upgrade

Your upgraded NuForce Edition Oppo 83SE has got to be one of the biggest bargains in the high-end industry. It is so much better then my Wadia 861 it replaced, the Wadia sounds really old fashioned next to it, bloated and grainy.  Your upgraded NuForce works really well as a transport also, it bested my friends Mark Levinson 31 hands down:  much more musical, fuller more colorful mids, more soundstage depth. However since these are older machines, I borrowed an 8,100 euro new model Audio Aero Capitole Reference from my dealer modded with the latest Audiocom Superclock 4+PSU, V-Cap TFT coupling cap upgrades, and a built in preamp.  Your upgraded NuForce 83SE creams it, even when I connect the NuForce to the Audio Aero's own internal pre-amp (it has analogue inputs next to digital). Much more detail, way bigger soundstage, stronger tighter bass, it's really quite sick how much better your upgraded NuForce is.

Emile, London UK

NuForce Oppo BDP-83SE Signature Edition upgrade UPDATE Only shielding was added this 2nd time, huge increase in performance

David,

The NuForce came a couple of days ago. This update to your original upgrade is truly remarkable!
think the SACD might be as good as vinyl now. I have been listening to "Someday My Prince Will Come" on SACD by Miles Davis just released by AP- a great recording that I have on both SACD and 45 rpm vinyl.

I am amazed at this recent update in the Nuforce Oppo. For under a small fraction of the original SE upgrade you performed, it is a huge increase in quality. Beyond what I thought digital was capable of. You are truly gifted and now that you are getting so much business I'll be waiting in line for you to upgrade more of my gear.

Thanks, Bret Miller, ILLINOIS  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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April 2010

Oppo 83 Special Edition and NuForce Oppo 83 Special Edition

David,

I'm writing this and including pictures we took.  I'm still flat-out amazed.

I made an appointment with David  Schulte of The Upgrade Company to trek 5 hours  north up to Harbor Springs to compare the stock versus upgraded Oppo 83 Special Edition and stock vs upgraded NuForce Oppo 83 Special Edition players.  I was contemplating purchasing one if I liked what I heard.

David first put on a new OPPO 83 Special Edition player he'd just upgraded. We double blind A-B compared it against an entire Esoteric P-03/D-03/G-0Rb 3 box digital CD/SACD system worth about $45,000 MSRP.  The "upgraded" Oppo beat it bad. Right off the bat. Since I'd just met David an hour earlier I was in disbelief and had to literally pull the interconnect cables from each one as it was playing to believe it.

When I arrived I'd offered to help David unbox the heavy Esoteric P03/D03/G0Rb set that had just been delivered earlier that day. I helped him carry it inside and set it on the demo rack. The P03 transport weighed about 70 lbs alone, the D03 dac not far behind. The 3 Esoteric boxes were all still sealed, I actually broke all the tape myself with the box cutters. Each box had his customers shipping labels on them, so I asked David to track the shipments and show me when they arrived. UPS.com showed all 3 boxes had just been delivered less then 2 hrs ago that day. I had David pull the tops off all 3 Esoteric pieces to see if they were indeed still stock, and they all looked original, and the screws showed no signs of prior removal, and I looked close.

I think anyone would agree with me that the upgraded Oppo creamed the Esoteric P03/D03/G0Rb set. My girlfriend sure did. Not only did we both find the sound of the upgraded Oppo to be far larger and more open and more musical with higher resolution, the Oppo's bass was real quick and deep and just slammed. The Esoteric had very weak bass, a small soundstage and it sounded aggressive, forward and harsh sounding. When we switched to the OPPO 83SE, the treble and mids were clear as a bell, intelligible and detailed. I checked behind everything to see if there were different power cords or analog interconnects. Everything looked the same. David offered to switch the power cords and interconnects on the OPPO and D-03 dac around just to further eliminate variables. He did so, I heard the exact same results. We then switched duplicate discs back and forth, same results. We swapped various power cords and interconnects, still the upgraded OPPO always was way ahead sonically. Volumes were level matched as to within 0.1dB using a digital tripod mounted SPL level meter.

We let both the Esoteric and OPPO play on repeat using identical discs, power cords and interconnects for a couple of hours on that demo system while we hung out and checked out his place and the other systems. Couple of hours later, the OPPO ended up pulling even farther ahead as it warmed up. The Esoteric set was reported to be 2 years old and well used, so it had plenty of burn-in on it. David said the Oppo was brand new & shipping out to it's new owner shortly. So clearly the Oppo had a disadvantage being brand new. The Esoteric's Transparent Reference AES-EBU and MIT BNC-BNC clock cables were reported to be 4 years old, so in my eyes the cables were not holding the Esoteric back at all. Switching to the upgraded OPPO was like letting the dog off the leash. Woosh!

David switched, I listened. I switched and listened. David paused each player to show which one was playing after I had voiced my preference as to which sound I Iiked better. This way it was truly double blind.

We also put in and double blind A-B'd an Upgrade Co. upgraded NuForce 83SE that had about 40 hours of burn-in on it, and we double blind AB-'d some other "modded" players, some older Upgrade Co. upgraded players, and yet more stock expensive players including an $11,500 EMM LABS CDSA player which I expected would easily surpass the upgraded Oppo 83SE, but it did not, not in any way whatsoever. However when David pulled out his upgraded EMM LABS CDSA it creamed the NuForce, as would be expected out of an upgraded $11,500 player with a pricey upgrade.

I'd heard about Denon 5910's being popular to mod so I asked to hear one. David had on hand a 2 year old SE upgraded Denon 5910 that was traded in, and it too was also better then the stock P-03/D-03/G0Rb and all of the other players we tried including the stock EMM LABS CDSA and the other modded & stock players. I got the sense that Upgrade Co. has improved a whole lot over the years, because the 5910 was clearly not in the league of the Oppo/NuForce 83SE's that were upgraded.

I wanted to demo the upgraded McIntosh MVP-881, but unfortunately they did not have one in stock the day I was there. David claims the upgraded McIntosh 881 player is even better sounding then the NuForce 83SE. They did have a new stock Denon DVD-A1UDCi, but not an upgraded one on hand. The Denon didn't sound very good at all stock, rather poor.

Overall I liked the NuForce Oppo 83SE with the Signature Edition upgrade the best of all the players I heard that day because it was the only upgraded player within my budget.  It beat all the stock players, but clearly the upgraded $12,500 EMM LABS CDSA and upgraded Esoteric DV-60 players were better then the upgraded NuForce 83SE but out of my budget. 

I heard clear and utterly convincing sonic variations between each and every player. Some were clearly worse and some were clearly better. There was not one stock player that I could live with after hearing the upgraded players.

Only when heard next to an upgraded player did I find that stock players have a characteristic "whitish" hazy background and overall lack of clarity, lack of bass weight, veiled ill-defined mids and scratchy/screechy highs and mids, a characteristic lack of musicality, lack of dimensionality, generally flat, small, rolled off, and boring sounding. I don't want to slam manufacturer's or other modders, but I can tell you it was a real eye opener. I can now see why Upgrade Company is the only one who can provide a 100% Buy-Back Guarantee and still stay in business after all these years. They had lots of customer's stuff in there waiting to be upgraded.

The work you do at The Upgrade Company stands alone and is unmatched. It's  impressive to see you take a stock $899 Oppo 83 Special Edition and surpass the stock $45,000 Esoteric P-03/D-03/G-0Rb 3-box CD/SACD player.

Some audiophiles do not believe in upgrades/mods. I too was skeptical and did not believe Upgrade Co's claims until I performed live double blind A-B comparisons myself and checked all the wiring and eliminated every possible variable I could. 

The Upgrade Company is providing audiophile's a huge "bang for the buck" option.

Anthony B.
Michigan

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April 2008

Nuforce/Denon Upgrades

Been a while since I've written you.  I visited a Hi-End store here in Texas.  Had the chance to hear a $200,000 stereo system, latest top of the line all McIntosh.  Huge speakers with huge three piece power amps per channel to drive them. McIntosh transport and DAC, and their beautiful top of the line C-1000 tubed preamp. It sure looked awesome, the sound was incredibly loud, loud enough to drive a football stadium, but my system around a pair of your upgraded Nuforce REF9.02V2 monoblock amps, matching upgraded Nuforce P-8S preamp and your upgraded Denon 3910 from way back, played through my Wilson Watt Puppy 5.1's or my B&W 802N's, sounds a lot better. Much more realistic, better separation between the instruments, blacker background, far less haze and noise, much more musical.

I would not change the sound of my system for the sound of the $200,000 top of the line McIntosh one I heard.

Thanks a lot.

Sincerely,
Alfredo Piñeyro-Garza, Texas

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