Doe's anyone have a Esoteric XO-3 cd player?

I have one as well and it is the best digital I have ever heard. I'm thrilled with it. Awesome redbood and sacd playback. Balanced out is the way to go so hope you have balanced input on preamp. Also needs a ton of break in so be patient. best player under $10k and you will need to spend considerably more to get a better player. Wel recorded cd's (and sacd) rival my vinyl rig.

Irishaudioboy, you gotta hear it. The 05 is sweet, but the 03SE is special, L o w level retrievel of the most minute details..., detail, depth, no edgyness or digititis... its a sweet rig. No fatigue-very fussy as it wants only great recordings as it is soo revealing and doesn't know forgiveness. I did need 1,000 hrs breakin. Great cables (PC/IC) bring it to a new level.

You gotta hear it.

Congradulations, Irishboy. Please be very patient with break in as it doesn't sound very good out of the box. It's still winter (not sure where you're located) so if it's cold where you are, let the machine settle indoors for 24 hours before you plug it in and turn it on. Leave a CD in on repeat for a long, long time (Esoteric website says 250 hours and if you call them, they say 400 hours but it can take a 1000 hours depending on system so please be patient. Balanced out is the way to play this baby (single ended not a slouch but it loves balanced). Get some good footers (I use walker audio valid points which I prefer over cera pucs on tis player), good IC and good PC. Small investment to get to some of the best digital out there. Good luck and reach out if you have any questions.