No experience here but have come close to purchasing a few different Esoteric players on Audiogon before. I find your post interesting. Wouldn't it be great to have the ability to audition various pre-owned players in our systems, so we would know what to buy and what not to buy? It's such a crapshoot unless you buy from a dealer that allows auditions. But, to save money we buy here at the Gon and pay the cost of sometimes shuffling and reselling components in and out of the house.
A Tale Of 3 Esoteric Players
Two months ago, I bought a used Esoteric DV 50 Universal player. I liked it a lot but like most of us, I kept thinking "what if". The what if turned into me selling the DV 50 3 weeks later (already regretting it) and buying a new Esoteric SA 10. I didn't like the SA 10 at all, as even after breaking the player in for 300+ hours, it sounded too uninvolving and too smooth with not too much dynamics.
So, as insanity started to creep in, I brought the SA 10 back to the dealer and exchanged it (with more money) for an Esoteric UX-3 Universal Player that was an "exhibition stock" and still carried the full manufacturers warranty. This player had retailed for $8500.00 and was being offered for $3995.00. The difference is like a peanut butter sandwich to a steak dinner, simply amazing. As this is a unit that was used at shows, I would guess it is pretty broken in already and it is making some really nice music, cold out of the box.
So, as insanity started to creep in, I brought the SA 10 back to the dealer and exchanged it (with more money) for an Esoteric UX-3 Universal Player that was an "exhibition stock" and still carried the full manufacturers warranty. This player had retailed for $8500.00 and was being offered for $3995.00. The difference is like a peanut butter sandwich to a steak dinner, simply amazing. As this is a unit that was used at shows, I would guess it is pretty broken in already and it is making some really nice music, cold out of the box.
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