Esoteric DV-50s,X-03 Vs Musical Fidelity Trivista

I've been usng the Audio Aero Capitole mk2 with SE upgrade for the past year or so. Recently I auditioned the Esoteric X-03 with my current system. I found the X-03 more textured with better octave to ovtave performance. As much as I liked the AA, the Esoteric was the better perfomer in my system. I'll be sending the X-03 to Esoteric to receive the SE upgrade next week.

I love the name "TRI VISTA" man it must sound good.

There is one player who is superior to all these players. Listen to a Meridian 808i or the latest Meridian 800 dax v4. Listen and you understand why it is that much better. I know the Tri-Vista very well. I sold 3 of there players, I recently heard the Esoteric X-O1. We compared it with the Meridian 808. The Meridian was playing in an other leage. I hope you have a change to listen to it. When you can, bring your own player with you. You will be impressed.

It isn't possible to generalize about a line. I own an Esoteric DV-50 and an X-01 recently upgraded to a Limited. They are totally different machines. The 50 is a far better DVD-A player than an SACD player, the X-01 was far superior in SACD to the 50 but had a tendency to sound a bit strident (what I presume "mechanical" is supposed to mean) on certain material (e.g. massed or baroque strings), and the Limited has none of these negative qualities, is absolutely superb in SACD, and is, if anything, a bit on the laid-back side. Mine has a thousand hours on it, which helps a great deal.

I own both the DV-50S and the Nu-Vista player. They go into a Tri-Vista amp. I like the Esoteric a lot, but I was a bit disappointed with it on SACD. This improved a bit when I moved my speakers around, but I suspect I would prefer the Tri-Vista SACD assuming I had more rack space. The Esoteric is very detailed and superb on most formats, especially redbook and DVD Audio. It is a bit clinical at times. What I do is use the Esoteric for most electronic works--composition and improvisation, where the detail is important, and use the Nu-Vista on acoustic music, where the warmth is more important to me than the detail. The Esoteric is a great machine, but I'm seriously wondering where a mod would take it. If you use the TriVista with SACDs, then I would seriously keep it. On the other hand, if you don't listen to SACDs much, you might consider adding or replacing with the Esoteric. For me, I've been considering adding a Marantz into the mix just to enjoy SACDs only since I'm building a library of them.

Thanks Audiooracle for your comments. Actually I am not looking to change my Trivista(For Now that Is). I just wanted to try a different player of more or less the same level just to see how they will fair against my Trivista. You happen to be right, I love the warm/natural sound of my Trivista. It has such a warm/natural and neutral sound. I could not get that warm/Natural sound from any of the "high end " players I had mentioned before. Even from the Shanling which is a tube/solid state CD player.I don't like players that have the tendency of sounding mechanical. I think I should just continue enjoying the heavenly sound of my Musical Fidelity Trivista SACD/CD Player. I have my TriVista connected to my Parasound Halo C1 Processor using a 1m. pair of Acoustic Zen Silver Reference II Interconnects and a 2m. Balanced pair of Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II connected from the C1 Processor to each of my Parasound Halo JC1 Monoblocks and from each Monoblock I have a 10ft. Acoustic Zen Satori Shotgun to my Tyler Acoustics Lynbrook Signature Series Full range Speakers and the sound its Remarkable. This is a match made in heaven. I have tried many amplfiers before but I have found that Parasound Halo Amplifiers sound very Natural and for cables I use only Acoustic Zen cables. I feel that this system brings out the best of my Musical Fidelity Trivista.
One thing I know for sure and that is that I may try another CD Players down the road but the Musical Fidelity TriVista is here to Stay.
Thanks again Audiooracle for your comments.
Regards,

Carlos.

If you want something that will sound like your Trivista but be even better sounding, then I would recommend you try two possible players, the Bel Canto PL 1A is one of the finest souding universal players out there and when set up correctly, good power cords and isolation base, is shocking how good it can sound! I heard the Modwright Denon 3910 in my system and it sounded almost as good as the PL 1A and it costs only $4,000.00! This is one of the best deals in audio.

The Modright combines the great video quality of the Denon with a high end tube output stage, and an massive outboard power supply.

I used to sell the Esoterics and they are extemely well built but in my opinion they have a tendency to sound mechanical. Players like the Bel Canto and the Mod Wright are warmer and I think you would find them more to your taste.

There is also the amazing Audio Aero players which are extemely good but expenisve and although it is not tube the Remiyo Dac is amazing and very analog like.

But here is the other part of the question, why are you looking to change the Tri Vista? Perhaps there are other things you may need to address.