He makes different options"Bashing" and "hostility" is a little strong...I'm being a bit cynical, yes...but I think sometimes that is healthy...
FWIW, I don't think your post came across as "a bit cynical" at all, I felt it came across downright hostile - so, bashing, yes. Todd R obviously shares my sentiments, and I suspect others do as well. Cynicism is difficult to convey in this medium, perhaps you should practice "a bit" more.
I think Oades business is perfectly legit...but I also think it is just that - a business - he wants to make money. You dont think he does all this to be a nice guy, or just for the intrinsic value...?
Of course it's a business, and of course there are financial incentives for him to offer the mods. But Doug has proven over and over again his ability and willingness to impart detailed knowledge to the taper community as a whole - on both self-modding the UA5 and all other taping related activities - and clearly has motivations other than purely cash.
In the case of the UA5 - he is offering a decidely average piece of discontinued gear, with mods that double it's (retail) price.
Do you have substantial experiences using the stock UA5 ? Digi-mod UA5? W/P/T mods? What criteria are you using in defining the UA5 as a decidedly "average" piece of gear? Based on your current and past posts, I suspect you define "average" by the specs. But by real-life cost/value accounts, the UA5 is
far above average (and if you disagree, please point me to a piece of gear that offers the same sound quality / feature set at a similar price point), and Doug simply builds on that cost/value - including selling mods at a price point at which there is very little (if any) competition. I know of no other piece of gear that offers the same (or even remotely close) strong cost/value as the UA5, digi-mod UA5, or P/T/W-mod UA5s. Perhaps we simply have different ideas about what makes a gear "average".
Oade is genius!
Indeed. But not for the reasons you insinuate.
Mr Oade has apparently discovered that he can create 3 different(note: different...not better) sounds from this device by swapping various sets of parts out.
Yes, different. And to most people's ears, better - not strictly in "flavor" - but in difficult to measure but easy to hear categories like detail, soundstage, etc.
Pretty slick...epsecially when there are few specs available for this device (for comparison) and he publishes no specs to support the advantages of his mods.
Your continued reference of specs as the indicator for "quality" gear, and to "prove" advantages to the mods, clearly indicates you've not actually heard the stock/digi/W/P/T mods. As Todd R has properly pointed out - and others have pointed out to you previously, including myself - specs do not tell you how the gear will
sound.
Oade must have gotten a sweet deal on a raft of UA5s when they were discontinued...(no wonder he wont work on units he didn't sell)
FWIW, Doug offered the UA5 mods looooong before Edirol / Roland discontinued the unit. The Oade Bros is a small operation, and I suspect some of the reasons Doug mods UA5s only bought through Oade Bros:
[1] minimize bench-time with his back troubles
[2] ensure availabilty of a very limited staff for other projects
[3] to maintain a sufficient profit margin - the Oade Bros aren't making gobs and gobs of money selling modded UA5s (based purely on volume of sales), and any additional profit they can get out of the sale makes it more worth their while.
Now he is pumping them out like no tomorrow...thanks in no small part to the cheering section here at TS.com.
If you bothered to
listen to the various mods, you might better undertand all the cheering. We don't cheer blindly based on useless information like specs, we cheer because we're thrilled with the sound of the results.
Topic: Transparent Mod UA-5 (Read 16350 times)