The Upgrade Company - The Upgrade Company - Leader in High Performance Audio Video Upgrades

30 Day Return Period + 5 Year Warranty

Why settle for compromised "For Profit Built" Hi-Fi when for a slightly greater investment, you can have a brand new SE upgraded version that performs FAR BETTER then non-upgraded cost-is-no-object models currently reviewed by the magazines. This is an established fact, not a claim. High End audio (and video) electronics are not shielded like telecom, aerospace, military and critical medical equipment are. Consumer electronics spend most of their time amplifying RFI & EMI which humans cannot hear, however the effects of all this constantly amplified and back-fed radiation is a premature draining of all power supplies, excess heat, poor performance when compared to the fully shielded version. Hundred's of millions of US Federal tax dollars have been spent on RFI/EMI shielding/attenuated/dissipation/dampening for the U.S. Military and NASA already for decades...find out what's missing in consumer electronics...

Massive untapped potential in all brands

Judge for yourself in your own system

A testament to our claims being met is the sheer number of upgrades that are placed into the systems of enthusiastic music lovers every year. To attempt to convince you or others of the merits of our upgrades we can claim many things, but nothing speaks louder than the appreciation our customers have, our 100% refund policy unmatched in the modification industry, and our monthly A+ rating by the BBB. The only way you or anyone else will know if our upgrades elevate a component to State of the Art is to hear it with one's own ears in one's own system

Doubting the veracity of our claims is foolish. Judge our upgrades for yourself in your system. Always take with a grain of salt any online comments as those are completely anonymous, and disregard any advice given by dealers & salesman who have no interest in your finding out that there is an entirely better level of performance available through upgrading & modifying. Our "Signature Edition upgraded" versions are for real or we would not be selling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of SE upgraded new models year after year. Nor would we continue to maintain a 30 DAY IN HOME 100% Buy Back Guarantee and A+ BBB rating for many years now.

To learn more read our "WHY UPGRADE?" tabbed webpage from the Menu bar at the top of our website.

When High-End audio or video components are still in their unshielded/unattenuated/undissipated/undampened factory form, the wiring and circuitry and electronic parts collect radio frequencies right out of the airwaves from both outside the unit and from clocks and power supplies inside the unit, which drains the main and local power supplies rapidly. This is because all electronic parts, chipsets and wiring contain METAL. Doubt this? Try replacing your AM or FM tuner's antenna with a piece of string or fish line. Only a length of wire or metallized antenna will collect the radio station. All DAC's, Video scalers, DSP chipsets, Op-Amps, all active and passive electronic parts contain metal. Printed circuit boards wiring and flat ribbon type conductors contain metal, all of which constantly collect radio frequencies out of the air hundreds of thousands to millions of times per second. RF & EM contamination also reduces the effectiveness in the audio bandwidth by having to reproduce radio frequency and low frequency bandwidths and the music at the same time.

The Upgrade Company is the only audio aftermarket company able to maintain a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee with an unparalleled 30 Day In Home Refund Period

There is no specification or measurement set that has been devised anywhere in the world that can be taken to indicate wether or not a product will sound good. Only you can decide for yourself. If there was a measurement for good sound, magazine reviewers would simply take and publish these measurements and rank the results in order of best to worst. The fact remains that Mid-Fi low cost brands measure the same as Hi-Fi expensive brands. Hence the need for reviewers to opine on what sounds good.

The Upgrade Company provides you the very highest performance. Far higher sound and video quality over both all brands of audio video gear, including top of the line cost is no object models from AYON, Esoteric, Audio Research, McIntosh, Krell, Ayre, Bryston, Anthem, Classe, Burmester, Mark Levinson, MBL, etc ALL brands of audio & video gear. Why? #1 their chipsets, power supplies, electronic parts and wiring are never shielded/attenuated/dissipated/dampened. #2 their electronic parts and wiring were chosen "For Profit" not the worlds best. Alarmingly even in top of the line models. Our clients have determined that our upgrade was a much wiser investment then investing more money on a different model that's still in it's factory mass produced "For Profit Built" internally naked condition.

Every component in your system that has not been upgraded with The Upgrade Company's RFI & EMI treatment technologies will reduce the final system performance by a minimum of $10,000 in MSRP, per non-upgraded component. Substantial audio & video performance capability is lost and remains un-tapped within each stock non-upgraded model. The Upgrade Company SE upgraded Oppo BDP-105D Universal player for example surpasses both the lab measurements and the perceived performance of the most expensive stock non-upgraded CD or SACD players costing as much as $70,000 in direct side by side double blind comparison.

Additionally, the low frequency magnetic fields radiated outward from transformers, switch mode power supplies, high voltage AC and DC wiring, induces a magnetic flux in the XLR & RCA input wiring, all signal conductors, all circuitry, and all parts unless they are all very well shielded and attenuated, painstakingly, by hand with the right materials & techniques.

Unless The Upgrade Company's internal RFI & EMI attenuation and shielding technology have been installed over all of the internal wiring and conductors and the parts themselves, the performance of the very highest cost models remains average at best with plenty of room for "new" models.

The fact remains, the same generic electronic part brands are being used by almost all high end audio manufacturers in their lowest cost models to the highest cost models to save costs from bulk ordering. Tremendous untapped potential resides in all models.

For your convenience, The Upgrade Company provides a selection of brand new "A" stock "Signature Edition" upgraded models for Online Shopping

30 Day Return Period.
5 Year Warranty

SEE PHOTOS

No other modification firm nor manufacturer is allowed to install our shielding into production models, modifications, updates or upgrades, by law.

In order to achieve a super high performance level, the latest models all require the finest electronic parts, wiring, shielding and dampening that technology affords but is missing due to cost & time needed to manufacture constraints. There really is no other way to reap all of the original performance the recording contains. Buying new cables or speakers is fine, but it's still a fraction of what The Upgrade Company can provide you with an upgrade to one or more of your components, including your CD player, universal player, CD transport, DAC, Blu Ray player, preamplifier, power amplifier, surround pre pro, tuner, electronic crossover, or passive speaker crossover. Manufacturer's are in business to profit, they simply cannot afford to use expensive parts, wiring, shielding and dampening. It's too labor intensive and time consuming. Automated mass produced manufacturing is the norm today unfortunately.

There is no specification or measurement testing that has been devised anywhere in the world that can indicate wether or not a product will sound good. If there was a measurement for "good sound", magazine reviewers would simply take and publish these measurements and rank the results in order of best to worst. The fact remains that Mid-Fi measures the same as Hi-Fi. Hence the need for reviewers to opine on what sounds good. It's what drove Stereo Review magazine out of print years ago.

There is no specification or measurement correlated with transparency. There is no specification or measurement correlated with soundstage depth, height or width. There is no specification for bass speed, heft, or slam or tightness. There is no specification or measurement correlated with how clean and defined the midrange and high end is. There is no specification or measurement correlated with musicality. There is no specification or measurement correlated with forwardness, or digital "irritation". There is no specification or measurment correlated with perceived resolution. Some of the worlds best stock players and stand-alone dac's use ca. 1988 Philips TDA1541S1 dac's with just 16 bits of mathematical resolution: Zanden and AMR high cost brands are both examples. Yet both of these brands are dramatically improved by high cost replacement parts and RFI & EMI shielding, just as Esoteric's $25,000pr D-01 VU 24 bit monoblock dac's & $25,000 P-01 VU transport are.

High-End audio manufacturers continue to get by giving consumers just 5-10 pieces of audiophile grade parts in a typical unit while stuffing roughly 100-300 "For Profit" low cost generic parts that do not belong in a high end stereo or high end video unit. The use of widespread generic dirt cheap parts is not only found in audio equipment sold at the Walmart and Best Buy type stores of the world, the fact is these same parts are also found inside your expensive supposedly "Latest & Greatest" purchase. We'll show you some of this to you over on our PHOTOS page. There is so much to show from all of the manufacturer's today. We could fill a book with explanations & photographic evidence of "For Profit Built" practices employed by all manufacturers today.

The typical audiophile model contains 50-300 dirt cheap .05-10 cent surface mount capacitors instead of proven high-performance (high cost) types that require a human to insert into the circuit board, align and hand solder. Instead, manufacturers greedy to profiteer rely on automated assembly devices to insert, align and solder the parts onto each circuit board. The only parts these machines accept are generic parts that are used in everything from remote controls to your laptop computer. The finest most expensive best measuring parts must be installed by hand by a human being. This takes at least 50 times longer then the automated assembly machines take, and therefore costs the manufacturer too much money. Manufacturers simply cannot afford to use the best parts and hand applied shielding.

Mass produced & stock ultra-high end Hi Fi sounds dull, flat and boring: weak bass, ill-defined mids and highs, simply not musical, simply not "live", simply not satisfying or your would not be reading this. Performers and instruments sound reproduced and small, not like they're right in front of you. Video that looks mildly washed out, lacking in depth and immediacy, grainy in comparison to film or real life. Whites that glow. Blacks that blend together. Digital and analog audio and video signals, as well as power supplies, are all highly susceptible to radio-frequency and electromagnetic influences and interference which originates both within the component and from external sources including what travels in along connecting cabling and power cords, which always function like antenna's, collecting RFI and EMI right out of the airwaves. Metal wire and metal circuit board traces collect radio frequencies. All circuit board traces collect RFI and EMI wether they are analog, AC or DC power supply wiring, the power supplies themselves, digital circuits, analog circuits, video, control, etc. You wouldn't hang a piece of string or fish line as an antenna for AM, FM or digital domain tuner reception would you? Of course not. Only a wire or metallic antenna will collect radio frequencies out of the air. Every wire and circuit trace inside your components is doing the same thing, severely compromising the delicate audio and video signals, wether they originated in the analog or digital domain. A modern digitally based surround prepro has typically 5 clocks inside radiating RF energy into the circuitry through-out the unit. A standard CD player has 1 or 2 clocks, a universal player like the Oppo, 6 clocks. With all that RF energy radiated inside digital equipment including prepro's, CD/SACD players, DVD/Bluray players, transports, digital amplifiers, dac's etc, proper RF and EM shielding is of paramount importance. Transformers and power delivery wiring radiate out of band energy into delicate audio and video circuits, both analog and digital circuits, in the low frequency domain mainly through magnetic influences. The high frequency RF energy radiated outward from every digital clock in the circuit induces jitter and out of band energy in all nearby clocks and all circuits. For years the first digital alarm clocks had to be registered during manufacture with the Federal Communications Commission, because they broadcast their beat frequency out into the airwaves. All digital devices broadcast their beat frequency. The Upgrade Company's unique RFI and EMI treatment solutions result in the very lowest jitter and highest overall performance in the high end audio and video industry. No manufacturer or other modifier can match our results because....

There is no consumer electronic manufacturer or aftermarket modifier installing the upgrades The Upgrade Company performs. By law.

Unshielded power supply delivery wiring and unshielded analog or digital signal conductors are the single largest cause of noise in all brands. Manufacturer's simply do not have the time it takes to install the shielding, even though they are indeed aware of the great benefits of shielding all power supply and signal conductors. Rarely a high end manufacturer will install a minor amount of shielding only in cost-is-no-object models, at best only 1 or 2 pieces of partial largely ineffective shielding material in their most expensive models, again, due to time to manufacture constraints. For example, on the PHOTOS page you can see for yourself how Esoteric installed flimsy resonant non-adhesive aluminized mylar foil shielding (not the heavy adhesive lined silver shielding/dampening product we use) over some of the power supply wiring runs in their $25,000pr flagship D-01 Monoblock DAC's, but not in any of their lower priced models. One would presume that for $25,000 the manufacturer would install shielding over all of the wiring and conductors to drop signal to noise levels to the absolute best, correct? The S/N ratio, clarity, black background and overall resolution and musicality are all greatly improved with treatment to the rest of the unshielded wiring in the D-01 flagship dac's, before we even start to upgrade the "For Profit" generic parts the manufacturer installed.

The RF & EM noise we shield out is created inside every model and brand regardless of cost or prestige: For example, there are typically 3-6 clocks radiating strong RF (radio frequency radiation and interference) and power transformers radiating EM (electromagnetic radiation and interference) inside all CD/SACD/DVD players, surround prepro's, computers, dac's & switching power amplifiers for example.

The typical Universal player from Oppo, Marantz, Denon, McIntosh, Krell etc contains as many as 8 clocks and many power transformers. One power transformer is typically a very noisy switching mode power supply type which radiates it's switching radio frequency strongly into the delicate audio and video signal circuitry nearby. The voltages many circuit chips operate at is only 1-5 volts or less. Some analog chipsets are powered by 12-18v DC. HDMI and digital circuits operate on as little as 1 volt, the same level as the radio frequency contamination being spewed into the chipsets from clocks located just millimeters away on the circuit boards. The actual video and digital audio signals are being contaminated severely. Analog signals are also typically 2 volts or less usually in the hundredths of a single volt. These are very delicate signals that are easily influenced by extraneous voltages in the vicinity. Airborne RF radiation put out by all clocks and radio & TV stations and anything digital in the room is always collected right out of the air by anything metallic: this includes all of the signal traces and the chips themselves. RF radiation is also collected by the power supply traces and voltage regulators themselves, again right out of the airwaves. This is measurable and found in every brand and model regardless of retail cost. There are many clocks mounted directly on all HDMI and SPDIF circuit boards regardless of cost or brand, which radiate high magnitude RF noise directly into adjacent analog, digital and power supply wiring and circuitry. It's really incredible how much the clock radiation degrades signal integrity, of both digital & analog audio and video performance. We shield this nasty RFI and EMI radiation out of the parts, wiring and circuit boards to the best that technology can accomplish. The improvements are absolutely tremendous.

As you can see it is a huge compromise to purchase stock unshielded "For Profit Built" high end audio & video.

Our RFI & EMI RIDDANCE Technology is installed in addition to the very best hand selected and performance matched electronic parts.

Each electronic part and wire in the signal path can be thought of as an interconnect, and every part and wire in the power supply can be thought of as a power cord. Why not replace hundreds of these parts through our upgrades instead of a just one or more pairs of interconnects or power cords between your components at a high price? Buying better interconnects for $500.00 - $10,000 does not provide as good a return on your investment as one of our $699-$2000 SE upgrades. Through upgrading, The Upgrade Company replaces essentially hundreds of interconnects and power cords, all for one low price, with 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

The level of total transformation The Upgrade Company provides is far greater then purchasing the most expensive cables or new models top rated by magazine reviewers.

For pennies on the dollar over supposed "State of the Art" new models that are built by large corporations,"For Profit", and then talked up by the major HiFi magazines around the world.

A TRUE STATE OF THE ART level of performance is waiting for you....

Read more about The Upgrade Company

The Upgrade Company has reverse engineered the most expensive high end brands for decades. Even today, no matter how much we spend on the latest & greatest new model, performance and build quality are always lacking. The latest magazine "Class A" "Editors Choices" "Top Picks" sound dull, flat, hazy, grainy, one dimensional next to the same model that has been upgraded. This is not difficult to understand. Like so many audiophiles today, we too were once caught up in the "Merry-Go-Round" of buying and selling one model for another, never achieving the level of performance we were after, and knew technology could provide.

Manufacturers want you to believe that their highest priced models automatically equate to "State of the Art" performance. Magazine reviewers want you to believe their top recommended models are night and day better then the lower ranked recommended models, or models they failed to "review". This is simply not evident when listening. Reason being: both the low priced and high priced models from the same manufacturer nearly always contain the same supplier for the wiring, printed circuit board material and electronic parts! They buy in bulk. There's simply more of the same brands of parts in the more expensive component with a more expensive outer casework and remote. In both instances, the high priced and low priced models greatly benefit from upgrading to the highest end parts, shielding dampening and wiring.

For top-of-the-line models to be profitable in the market place, reviewers have to promote them and talk them up. Basic economics, you do not establish profitability by selling 5 or 6 pieces per year. Nor are the magazines themselves profitable unless they earn well over fifteen thousand dollars month for advertising and their reviewers compensated somehow, typically in free or "loaned" gear for their high words of praise. The inner cover ad in a major high end audio publication is said to be a minimum $6000 a month, or free gear, and a review is generally not granted until at least several months of advertising have been paid for, or other arrangement has been made. No one works nor publishes a magazine for free.

Every electronic part and wire in the signal path can be thought of as an interconnect, and every electronic part and wire in the power supply can be thought of as a power cord. Our upgrades essentially replace a high number of interconnects and power cords within your components. The effects are truly remarkable.

The Upgrade Company would not be selling LOTS of our SE upgraded gear year after year and still continue to maintain a 100% Buy Back Guarantee

Who are you going to trust? A salesman? A magazine reviewer or your own ears & eyes backed up with a 100% Buy Back Guarantee?

Our clients trust their own ears and eyes, backed up with our 100% Buy Back Guarantee and hundreds of client testimonials. Our clients are happy with our results and out of the Merry-Go-Round of constantly buying & selling one model for another, trying in vain to achieve a musically satisfying system.

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