I was reading the following FAQ entry:
http://www.riocar.org/modules.php?op=mod...;faqent=237#237

And also the one about the stereo seperation. I'm rather thinking that my MK2 is probably plagued by both issues, I have always suspected something was wrong with the output. Has anyone here successfully done this operation and had positive results? I read something that the EMC capacitor was designed to filter out engine noise and such. Does this become an issue when removing the capacitor? What if I just bump up the EQ in certain frequencies..will that more or less compensate?

Both of those FAQ entries describe ways to check and see if your player is one of the affected ones without heating up the soldering gun. In each case, you can look for the presence of the "incorrect" components by looking at the mainboard (magnification might be required).

The quickest check is this: Does it say "EMPEG" on the case, or does it say "RIO CAR" on the case?

If the latter, you definitely do *not* have either of those issues; they were corrected before the Mk2a release.

If the former, then follow the instructions carefully to look at the components pictured.

I personally have performed both of those surgeries on my early-model MK2 player with no ill effects, but my ears are not golden enough (nor my amps and speakers good enough) to have noticed any improvement.

Also keep in mind that the two things that those components affect (stereo separation and high frequency rolloff) are also the two things that MP3 encoding tends to mangle the worst. As both of those FAQ entries say: You might not notice a difference because your MP3s probably already have those issues to begin with.

Thanks for the feedback. Mine is definitely not the Rio.

I will check the board of course.

I also encode all of my MP3's with lame -k option to have no roll off and I always use -ms option for the better stereo separation than most people get with -mj. Anyways, the MP3's sound substantially better on my PC as they do using the same speakers with the Empeg. But I'm a critical listener.