Esoteric D-05 dac and Oracle transport

ha-hah!!!! congrats! Please post when you have more time!!! And pls post in comparison to other units, for those of us who may not be as familiar with your specific dac. enjoy.

Personally, i have found that execution of whatever technology is more important than whether it has upsampling, no upsampling, etc. I have been fortunate to listen to some of the world's great names in digital...DCS SCarlatti full stack, Stahl-Tek full stack, Zanden full stack (own Zanden myself), Metronome Kalista, various Esoterics, Krells, ARC, etc.

I have not been impressed by many of the upsampling transports vs the "simple, old fashioned" but exceptionally solidly built transports.

Transports do make a difference, but not necessarily only from upsampling...quality of transport mechanism, how low they keep the noise in transfering the digital signal over to the DAC, quality of the output contacts (to avoide impedance related reflections, etc)...all make a difference. Your Oracle fits that category...so you may find you like it quite a bit.

While Esoterics can sound better with their own transports (like many manufacturers whose components have synergy)...i will also say that you may find, given the very, very good quality of your oracle, that you elect to keep the oracle and spend a bit on a world class digital cable and save the rest or invest it elsewhere.

Be curious to know what you decide...good luck and pls keep us posted.

Hi Audiofeil,

actually, i was basically recommending that Valves consider keeping his Oracle CD player use it as a transport into his Esoteric D-05 DAC...instead of spending 5 figures on a P-05 Transport. And use a world class digital cable which could probably be bought for at most several hundred s/hand.

Hi V&V,

I would say you might find a lot of positive improvements in the digital cable (cannot speak to the Orchid not having heard it or read about it)...but there are some out there which really made a dramatic improvement over my original Cardas Neutral REference (Nordost Valhalla...BNC termination). Also, isolation products have definitely improved over time that help with reducing transport vibration. Some find power cable can help as well.

As you can see, i am (personally) a proponent of seeing how far you can stretch your transport before you splash out 5 figures on a transport where CD availability is still good but generally dwindling. good luck.

V&V,

i think your transport & D-05 are going to be great. Save your money and spend (a bit) on digital cable upgrade if you wish.