The full article is here:
http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/mutton_in_wolfs_clothing
"...all high-end audio companies are small—it makes sense either to base the design of a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray player on a kit of parts from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), on which most of the license fees will already have been paid—or even to base its product on another manufacturer's complete player, buy it in bulk, and discard any unused parts."
Instances of this have been reported on various AVS forums and other forums over the years, often with air-tight evidence including photographs.
For example:
"Then, this past January, the Audioholics website reviewed Lexicon's BD-30 Blu-ray player and revealed that, under the skin, the $3500 BD-30 was the $500 Oppo BDP-83. "
and
"For example, our review of the McIntosh MS750 media server, where we both made it clear that the MS750 was an Escient under the skin, and concluded that McIntosh hadn't done enough to improve the audio performance of the Escient platform. And back in November 1991, we indicated from the outset of our review that Theta's Data CD transport was, in fact, a Philips laserdisc player to which Theta had added a reclocking circuit before dropping the complete player into a new chassis."
I'll leave it to the reader to speculate on the outcome of a careful listening comparison of the pre- and post- mods players. ;-)
