Esoteric dv 60 vs Lexicon RT10 informed opinions?


Hey all,
My father and I are working on his system and considering upgrade from his Lexicon RT10 to the Esoteric DV60, I know the Lexicon RT20 is out there aswell but from talking to a source I trust the RT20 only offers the advantage of DVI and HDMI but no real improovement in its performance in strictly musical use, so I feel no need for the RT20... but as for a DVD player the RT10 has always been good and has also served well for 2 channel red-book and 2 Channel SACD.
My question is if the Esoteric is better then how much better....by a wide margin, moderate or narrow? I have listened to a Esoteric player and it was really nice although I cant recall the model as we were enjoying music not equipment that day, so please offer your thoughts on these 2 units.
I would prefer educated real world experience in your posting, "drive by" Postings that simply claim one is great or one isnt is a waste of both of our time, we have never found the Lexicon to be a poor performer so we are hoping to really improove his gear or not mess with changes and expense, associated gear is Lexicon HT pre (MC8), Audio Research SP16 tube pre, Classe C-150 Mono blocked, Panasonic TH58PX600U Plasma and Legacy Focus 20/20 speakers.
I should add that 12-15 hours a week of music and only maybe 2 movies are watched and his library is roughly 6,000 CD and SACD and 95% of his music is Classical/Opera.
As always thanks for your time and experience.
chadnliz

Showing 2 responses by dbld

I used to own the RT-10 and still feel it is horribly under-rated. Too many people dismiss it as a Pioneer knock-off when in my system it was clearly a better player than most.

Chadnliz - you have a great system, and one that will no doubt make differences in players more noticeable than many folks will ever realize. I used to own the Focus 20/20s [you have posted in my virtual system thread - I now have Whispers] and with a variety of amps and certainly never a pre-amp as good as your ARC, so I feel I know where you are coming from.

When I did my “real “ cdp evaluation, I wanted a universal with stellar video too. In the end, I found my demands to be impossible to meet, and went with an external video processor to handle the video side, and an Esoteric DV-50 player for the audio. I had in my system [either owning or demo-ing] the RT-10, a Denon 3910, a Modwright 3910, a Krell Showcase, a Simaudio Orbiter, an Integra DPS 10.5, and a Meridian G-something-or-other (98?). There may have been others, I just cannot remember. Some were good with video, but not audio and visa-versa. Some weren’t good at either…

The Meridian [a transport] was a real surprise to me as to how good it was with CD playback only. The Orbiter was a little “easier” sounding than the DV-50, but the DV-50 has the required multi-channel level controls I need(ed).

I definitely preferred the DV-50 over the Lexicon though, but I really can’t remember why. I don’t know how the DV-50 compares in audio to the DV-60, but the DV-60 video is said to be a big improvement…which was badly needed.

Another option might be to have Dave Schulte at the Upgrade Company work on your RT-10. He transformed my DV-50 into clearly the best player I ever had in my system.

Where are you located? Is there any chance you can demo the DV-60? I would strongly encourage to do so rather than taking anyone’s word one way or the other…
HDMI/DVI vs Component...it depends IMO…

I think it depends not only on the particular player's output, but the display too, and what is doing all the processing [de-interlacing and scaling] for whatever kind of display [CRT, LCD, DLP...].

For example; I tried the DV-50S briefly thinking the DVI output would obviously be superior. However, I went right back to the standard DV-50 because the image from my DLP projector onto a 9' screen was better via component.

However, now my image IS better via DVI since I have added an iScan video processor in between the player and the projector. The DV-50 would output a 480i signal from its component outputs to feed the video processor. The image quality then was second to none. Now I use an SDI output, but I am not so sure the hefty fee to add the SDI was worth it.

It's never simple...

Regarding audio, I listen to just about everything...not much polka or rap, but most anything else. I still like the DV-50 as an all around performer, but I also really enjoyed the RT-10 while I had it. Since The Upgrade Company has worked on my player, I can’t imagine, or afford, anything that would better it. It now sounds totally different/better. This is why I made the suggestion above.

Again...all this is just my opinion/experience...