Pioneer Blu-ray 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.

August 2011

Onkyo Pro 5508 processor & Pioneer Bluray player upgrade

Hi David,

I've been a customer of yours for a couple of years, and I've been quietly enjoying my upgrades.  I think it's time for me to provide you with an honest history - both the good and the bad - which will hopefully help others who may be considering The Upgrade Company.

One upon a time...
I was extremely happy with my expensive Arcam AV8 processor and Arcam DV27A DVD player, until Blu Ray and HDMI arrived on the scene.  At that time, my local dealer felt the Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD Blu Ray player would work well for my system.  It had good video for the component outputs, which I needed for my beloved Pioneer Elite tubed rear projection TV, which lacked HDMI inputs.  I soon learned that the Pioneer BDP-F05's audio/video performance was not as good as my much more expensive Arcam DV27A player.  Unfortunately, my dealer had to close down, after being in business for 20 years.  I was ready to scrap the whole Blu Ray idea and just stick with my Arcam equipment and purchase DVD's - if anything, it would be less expensive.  I went looking for any online forums discussing Pioneer Blu Ray players to see what other folks thought of theirs. That's when I found out that some folks had their Pioneer players successfully upgraded by The Upgrade Company.

I then looked for posts about The Upgrade Company.  I found mostly good ones and a couple of negatives.  The negatives were just anonymous posts who put down the upgrades out of pure speculation and lack of measurement data, having never even seen or heard your work.  I called you and found out all about your upgrades and decided to give it a shot.

Unfortunately, the Pioneer did not perform as well as I would have liked.  You mentioned that something must have become damaged in shipping so I sent it back per your request.  It did get damaged during shipping, so you replaced it with a brand new unit with your SE upgrade.  I knew about Upgrade Company's "100% Satisfaction Guarantee", but I was quite surprised when you mentioned that you would quickly be sending me a brand new upgraded Pioneer BDP-F-05 - after all, I had sent in a used unit I'd purchased from my local dealer.  The new unit took some time to settle in being brand new with no burn-in time, but WOW, what a difference.  I then compared it to my Arcam DV27A, and I was very happy with the picture improvements the new Pioneer showed.  The sound had also improved over the Arcam player.  The less expensive upgraded Pioneer player performs much better on everything including regular DVD's, CD's, and of course Bluray's over the much more expensive Arcam.

As time went on, I wondered if I should get a more updated processor - one with HDMI.  At that time, you had an upgraded Marantz AV8003 processor for sale, so I bought it.  I'm very picky and have desired a highly refined sound and with burn-in, it got there.

During this time, I was considering some consolidation by going the receiver route, so I wanted to try the Arcam AVR600 and bought one.  I absolutely loved this receiver and I thought that it's better than several of the pre/pro configurations I've had in my system.  Kudos to Arcam.  However, the fan was noisy and came on a lot, so I decided not to go that route.  The Marantz processor was clearer than the new Arcam, and even though it was not bright or brittle, I liked the Arcam AVR600 bass and midbass quality a little better when used as a prepro.  I called you to discuss this, and you mentioned that the Onkyo PR-SC5508 processor would be perfect for my preferences, in part due to Onkyo's over built transformer based power supplies the Marantz AV-7005 and AV-8003 are weak on.  You indicated that in your experience when directly A-B'g upgraded Onkyo Pro 5508's against a wide variety of highest cost prepro's that are out now, that it held it's own for pennies on the dollar.  No point in spending more on a prepro.

Well, I've had some time with this processor, and WOW (again) - this one is definitely a home run!  It's like I have all the great qualities of the expensive Arcam AVR-888 prepro (which I've had in my system) combined with the great qualities of the upgraded Marantz AV8003, with all the latest features and HDMI 1.4. For a price that's about 1/3 the cost of the Arcam AVR888 processor.

You had always mentioned that with the Onkyo Pro 5508 in my system, I would then need to focus on the other weak parts of the system to witness what it can truly deliver- and you were right.  Every time I make a improvement to cabling or isolation or another component, I can immediately tell the difference.  For me, the sound is the most important thing, and this processor has the bass, midbass, detail/clarity, black background, refinement/smoothness, musicality, ease - everything I've been looking for.

The bottom line David is that I'm very satisfied and very happy with the products that I've purchased from you.  Your customer support and customer service are top notch - in fact, I don't know of anyone that does as much for their customers as you do.  Thanks for making my home theater journey a great experience. It's really nice to go home from work and be excited to sit down with my family and enjoy our home theater system - it's a lot of fun! 

I was very hesitant to jump in and do these upgrades, but I can now say that I'm really glad that I did.

Thanks again,
David Prazak

Pioneer Elite BDP-09 SE Upgrade

David,

I just wanted to let you know that my Pioneer Elite BDP-09 is sounding sweet after your Signature Edition upgrade. I was very skeptical at first to have any mods done to my audio equipment. Turns out it's one of the best things I have ever done to my sound system. Before the upgrade the stock BDP-09 sounded thin and on the bright side. I tried several different tweaks, mainly power cords and interconnects, but not one of them has made as big an improvement as your Signature Edition upgrade. I have never heard my speakers sound this good. Veils have been lifted and now my B&W speakers have tight accurate bass slam, better separation and balance, with a deeper & wider soundstage. By far the best I have ever heard in three years of owning these speakers. This much improvement in sound quality just by having the source upgraded was not expected. Keep up the great work Dave!

Thanks!

Ralph Lyons

August 2008

I got into audio as a hobby about 12 years ago, and one of the first pieces of equipment that fascinated me was the Pioneer PD-65 CD player. Built like a tank, with a stable platter transport, and wooden sides like the amps and receivers of old. When the PD-65 was in production, I purchased (and returned) it twice as I didn’t find its sound quality as compelling as its cosmetics and construction.

Fast forward to 2009. My main system was an Upgrade Company-modified Denon 2930 DVD/CD/SACD player, Arcam integrated amp, and Quad 22L speakers. I’ve been happy with the upgraded Denon, as its sonics were comparable to some ultra expensive players I’d heard at a local audio retailer. I began putting together a “vintage” system in my study composed of a McIntosh MAC-4100 receiver and Quad 12L speakers — and a Pioneer PD-65 (again) for my CD source. Then it occurs to me — why not send the PD-65 to the Upgrade Company, and see what it’s really capable of?

A couple of weeks later, the PD-65 comes back, and the improvement is significant. Playing into my Arcam integrated, I am reminded of a very expensive Wadia player (into an ARC/Vandersteen setup) I’d heard at a store in Denver. Lots of detail but a little bright for my taste. So I leave the player powered on for 6 weeks, playing CDs for 1-2 hours each day.

Now that break-in is complete, that last little bit of edginess is gone. Now the PD-65 has the resolution and hyper-detail of the Wadia I’d recently heard in the showroom — but with the silky-smoothness of the best tubed players (Sonic Frontiers, BAT, etc.). At last, the Pioneer Elite PD-65 — upgraded by The Upgrade Company — is the CD player I’d dreamed of. Stable platter transport, built like a tank, wood sides, and enough sound quality to run with a $10K player. It’s staying with the “big” system downstairs — so I’ll need another player for the vintage system (eventually).

Jonathan Dunn
Audiogon ID: jonathan_dunn
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March 2008

Hi David,

As promised, I want to give you my feedback on the modified DBP-94HD. I wanted to wait for the player to burn in before making any comments. Like most people in this hi-end audio hobby, I have been interested in setting up a digital front-end system without getting over the edge on the diminished return on investment curve where the ratio of dollars invested to improved audio quality is out of proportion.

First let me state that I purchases the player mainly for audio performance. For video performance, I did not have a State of the Art reference other than the former top of the line Denon DVD-5900 which was, of course, one of the better players in Standard Definition DVD. The improvements in video quality were easy to see on Blu-ray, however even on Standard Definition, the Pioneer Elite BDP-94HD’s colors were simply much deeper, e.g. blacker black, greener green, redder red etc., and the picture is much smoother and sharper, more 3D looking.

I have asked myself the question of "what makes a good front-end"? I realized that the challenge in reproducing music through a stereo system is similar to the challenge a painter faces when he/ she must reproduce a 3-dimensional visual image as close to reality as possibly on a 2-dimensional painting: how does the painter show the 3rd dimension or "depth" on a painting? Similarly, how does the stereo recreate 3-dimensional sound through only a set of R and L speakers? In my mind, the ability of a player to reproduce "live" sound - which is closest to reality - depends on the ability of the player to do well in depth of field, the 3rd dimension.

I look for a player to excel in the following 3 main areas:

• (A) Detail: can a player read/ reproduce all details as recorded? Even though, a listener can choose what he/ she wants to focus on particular parts/ voices of a recoding, all details must be reproduced - unbiased - as intended by the recording engineer.
• (B) Dynamics: can a player distinctly reproduce the different voices? The dynamics in a player is key to the ability of the player to reproduce the 3rd dimension: depth. Just like in a painting, where objects further in the distant - from the viewer - are shown as smaller and in faded colors, a sound further in back is very slightly softer and less details. Reproducing the (minor) nuances of the different voices are important to producing depth and creating a realistic soundstage.
• (C) Voice: is every sound smoothly reproduced, not too warm, not too bright and without grain as intended? Just like a singer who can do everything right and controls every technique but if his/ her voice is not easy on the ear, he or she not be a great singer that will be loved by many, many people.

State of the Art players must excel above all others in all 3 areas above. I have listened to my new Upgrade Co. SE upgraded Pioneer Elite BDP-94HD Blu-ray player at length. I can say that the player does reproduce a live sound to my ears, much more than I have ever heard in my (~25K) audio setup. I hear more details, more 3-dimensionality and weight, both in instrument and human voices, and I hear voices that are reproduced w/o any grain. Separation of different voices is outstanding. I also hear a much larger soundstage but that is, again, a result of much better detail and dynamics to me. In summary, I am very impressed and quite happy with the BDP-94HD. I'm keeping it! Many thanks.

Regards,
Lance Huynh, Texas