The Toshiba SD4960 (or rebadged Samsung HD841) sounds pretty decent in stock form. A little compressed and a little grunge, but nice tonality and suprisingly good sound. The 4960 is available for about $119 (at J&R and Amazon last I checked). The Samsung has one advantage over the Toshiba if you're looking for video out's, otherwise they are the same - and the Samsung sells for about $189.

Here's a link to the mods that I've done to the 4960. It truly brings this player's sound quality up quite a bit for less than $100 in parts. Yes, it's still cheap plastic inside and the remote and user interface leave a lot to be desired, but the sound is damn fine now.

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/v...ic.php?t=12613

Enjoy,
Bob

Quote:



I think in Stock form it isn't really that bad. But i guess it's unfair because I was using a modded toshiba 3960 before trying the stock 4960. But I do think that the 4960 sounds better than the 3960 in stock form in terms of red book, but i can't be 100% sure because of the time gap between hearing them.

Quote:



Thx alot for the mod plan Bob. That's the one we have been following

some one can confirm the samsung hd841 and thte Tosh 4960 are the same ?

I'm asking because this part of the ocean I seem to find only the Samsung unit , when i wonted to buy the Tosh .. so if they are THE SAME ( component / sound wise ) I'll get the Samsung unit .... this only if I will be able to apply the same mods .

and also ..
anyone could please confirm they're also good when it comes to SACD quality ?

Thanks for answers given

Yes, the Toshiba SD4960 and the Samsung HD841 are the same unit. The Samsung has one extra option for its video out. No difference in the audio realm between them.

I principally bought the unit for its Redbook playback, with the added SADC and DVD-A playback options as added bonuses. After mods the Redbook is damn fine souonding (it replaced my modded Cal Labs DX2 transport and modded ART DI/O DAC combo).

For SACD and DVD-A I don't really have any direct comparisons, but I can say that, for the same disk, the SACD layers beat the CD layers on playback. The mods that I've specified should benefit all playback formats on the player (power supply, output caps and such).

Enjoy, and let us know your impressions after the mods.

Bob

Did someone notice any sonic differences between
3950 - 3990?
4900 - 4990?

I can't put my hand on either the 3950 or the 4900 but many stores sell 3990 and 4990 nearby.

the 3990 can be found for 75 CAD (67 US) and the 4990 for 125 CAD (110 US).

Quote:



this thread is like 2 years old....

Quote:



interesting...
even though its old, it might be helpful.
Still, I saw on some threads posts telling differences seen between 3950-3960-3980, if anyone had a "recent" version of the 3950, please let me know.

Quote:



clicks for me!