I received my Modwright Transporter about two weeks ago and have run it continuously for about five days with the stock tubes. For now I have it connected directly to a Cary C5 multichannel amp via XLRs, with a Goldpoint passive pre in the middle to adjust the gain. Previously I was getting hum when the unmodded Transporter was connected directly to the amp, but the Goldpoint solved the problem. And with the modded Transporter in this system the background is dead silent -- quieter than before, I believe. My front speakers are Paradigm Studio 60s, and I'm awaiting the new Cary pre-pro to complete the package (at which time I will probably remove the Goldpoint).
I've had several high-end disk players in this system, but I gotta say that the Modwright is quite impressive. The soundstage is much bigger, with more depth, than I've heard before. And in my first listening session I had the amazing experience of being able to visualize, for the first time, what the musicians were doing in several complex songs that I know well. I'm on a Wilco and Radiohead kick, and both bands have a proclivity for experimenting with layers of strange sounds in their songs. Well, with the Modwright I was able to understand exactly what they were doing for the first time. (I'm a guitar player, so I often spend time in listening sessions thinking about what the musicians are doing. But until now several Wilco and Radiohead tunes had me stumpted.) The only other time I've had this experience was with a $2k tube headphone amp and a high-end universal player. But that system didn't have anything like the soundstage this has.
I've ripped several DVD-As at 24/96, so in the next few days I'll see how those sound. I also just rolled some NOS tubes. So far the Modwright has easily surpassed expectations. I might have to my other Transporter, in my main system, modded as well...
