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Esoteric K-01/K-03 Owners

Spoke today with the local Esoteric rep to get information on plans to upgrade existing K-01/K-03 users to the "X" model which is only sold overseas at this time. Here is the scoop. (Dates/$$ are only close estimates)

- Upgrades will be available in October 2014
- The upgrade will include the USB input mechanism to support 2.8 MHz DSD (Native Playback) and 384 MHz (PCM).
- There are several other upgrades to the K-01x/K-03x that are not included. (i.e. Upgrades to the DAC, Transport, etc that are direct descendants of the
Grandioso Model).
- Approx. cost is $1,000 (Not including 2-way shipping)
- The Upgrades will be provided in California

Info. on K-03x: http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/k03x/indexe.html

Beats having to buy a new DSD Dac in the meantime if patient.

Ciao
gocubs999

Showing 12 responses by guidocorona

guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
And if you uninstall the Esoteric driver, I suggest you also cleanup the registry after that... If the driver has installed with some broken pieces, detritus might be left in the registry after uninstallation... And the junk will be around after a fresh install. G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Information on its even heftier K-01X single box
brother is at:

http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/k01x/indexe.html

Furthermore, Esoteric has a free HR Audio Player that can be downloaded at:

http://www.esoteric.jp/products/esoteric/hr_audio/indexe.html
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi John, is the HR Audio Player able to play redbook material, or only High Resolution files?

Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Thank you Mark, while my nostalgic inclinations made me hope invane that K-03 remained superior as an all-in-one over its partial use with a computer front end, your findings do not surprise me. I wonder if applying the new blazingly fast and superliable Samsung 850 Pro SSd would give your MacMini an edge over the K-03 transport. See this detailed review of the device:

http://www.anandtech.com/print/8216/samsung-ssd-850-pro-128gb-256gb-1tb-review-enter-the-3d-era

I conjecture that the Samsung 850 Pros series blazing speed might reduce jitter even further.

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
That is fascinating Mark... I wonder if there will be always a sonic advantage in playing redbooks from the K-01X spinner, or there will exist some setup from a PC/Mac such that playback of redbook files from computer will be superior.

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Jon... Fascinating!

What could account for the K-01 transport advantage? ...

* Inherent jitter of the hard drive? ... Perhaps try a new Samsung 850 Pro SSD?
* Jitter introduced by the connection to K-01?
* Stray noise originating in the computer?
* other?

Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Agh... Did not realize that replacing a drive in MacMini was this exciting... I appreciate your lack of enthusiasm with the idea of repeating the thrillsome experience G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi John, what size / model of flash drive do you use?

Guido
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Does the Marantz player support large SSDs formatted as NTFS inside USB enclosures? E.g. The Samsung 850 Pro 1TB?
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
Hi John, I hope that at some point Esoteric will see it fit to add a mass storage bay to its players... Imagine a hypothetical K-01Y, similar to K-01 and K-01X, but with a user accessible slot where an arbitrarely large SSD can be inserted.... Redbook would be loaded onto the SSD from this player's own transport, while Hi Resolution material would be loaded from an external source via USB, SPDIF, Ethernet, or something else.

G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
See the Integra product support page with all sorts of info:

http://integrahometheater.com/prod_support.cfm

email address for Esoteric support:
Esoteric-Service@integrahometheater.com

And here is the 24/7 phone support line:
800-225-1946

Yes... Google is a marvellous institution. G.
guidocorona
4,298 posts
 
You should call Esoteric technical support at:
323.727.7617

G.
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