Esoteric DV50S, Any Plans to Discontinue?

Excellent question. I have had this player home for an audition. It is very detailed, and although I am not sure the detail it presents is always musical, I thought the SACD playback was particularly good. I think these are a great buy at a price point below $3000, which I have started to see fairly regularly - provided of course they are to your taste. I also have wondered why so many are for sale.

Well the UZ universal is coming out now and is a two channel with single-ended inputs, and priced much higher than the DV-50S currently is. It's also built better from the looks of things. Don't know what this means for the DV50, but I'm guessing that Esoteric is marketing a range of products at various prices.

From the CES report on StereoPhile's website, Esoteric is still showing it as available. But where are all the Uni-Players going with BluRay on the way. I just bought the Denon DVD-5910 and didn't buy the DV50S to save the 1200.00 because I think the format is coming to a close.

I am wondering the same thing. I get the feeling that blu-ray software (especially for music) might be hard to come by for quite a while after the hardware is available, so to enjoy things now, there is still a need for the DV-50. Not to mention the ability to play all the software we already own.

Nevertheless, even certified dealers seem to be discounting this machine. Perhaps because they need to compete with AudiogoN since it seems there is always at least one available here, and they are so reliable, that buying one pre-owned is relatively low risk.

Esoteric was showing a DV-60, I think a prototype, at CES, saying it will be out later this year.

If you want to upgrade, look into the $8,000 Esoteric UX-3 Universal Player instead of the $6,000 DV-50S. For a couple thousand more, the UX-3 is light years ahead of the DV-50S in quality of construction, and sound. Today the ML-39 equivalent is the ML-390S which goes for $6,700 and specializes only in CDs. To get the same quality CD playback in a universal player, you would have to spend at least $8000. Remember that a universal player has SACD, DVD, DVD-A, as well as 2 channel redbook CD.

An alternative plan would be to upgrade the ML-39 to the ML-390S for $6700, and buy a cheap Universal Player for $1,300. Personally, I think the first idea makes much more sense.

But the UX-3 does not do multi-channel DVD-A/SACD...FWTW. I have a lot of DVD-A and SACD and still find myself mostly listening to them in two-channel.

any thoughts on how the UX3 compares to the X0-3? i know the latter doesn't play any DVD formats, but does that mean its substantially better for CD & SACD?

rhyno

Dbld I didn't know that . Thanks for the headsup. My plan is to use the Logic 7 in the Lexicon MC-4 Digital Processor to create the multichannels from 2 channels on the DVD-A, and SACD discs. I've ben told that the MC-4 does a better job in most cases than what is on the original disc. For example, some multichannel discs have musical instruments coming out the rear speakers; whereas the MC-4 uses the back speakers for ambience only. This is the correct procedure in my opinion.

I agree about the rear channels for ambience. As soon as you hear a lead guitar behind you, you tend to want to turn around and look.