Okay, I did this on my player (the resistor on mine said "1000" when I looked) and have lived with it for a few days.

Because there's a circuit trace running beneath this resistor, I didn't want to take the chance of accidentally shorting it, so I left the "1000" resistor in place and just solder-bridged over the top of it (with the help of a small bit of wire). Only took a couple of minutes. The most time-consuming part of the job was disassembling and reassembling the player.

I did not perform any empirical tests either before or after the modification. I could have pumped it through SpectraLAB just for detailed info, but I didn't bother. I figured, regardless of any testing, I would be doing the mod anyway, so what's the point.

Now that it's done, I believe that I can hear a significant improvement in the overall sound of the player. It could just be my imagination, but it feels like there's more than just better stereo separation. The music just seems to have more presence and punch.

Has anyone else done this yet? Any comments on perceived improvement?

Thanks again, David and Hugo, for the information.