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Esoteric K-01X or K-03X??

I just sold my 6 years old Esoteric X-03SE CD player and 2 years old G-03X Master Clock today. So it’s time for me to decide which is my next CDP: Esoteric K-01X or K-03X?

 I have a friend who bought a K-01X four months ago, he listen to it about 2 months but not happy with the sound (He said not musical and lack of emotion…), then he put it into the box and continue enjoy his Vinyl. Because of our close relationship and this guy is rich, I can get his K-01X around USD 9400 only. If I buy a brand new K-03X, I pay around USD 7500. I know this is a very good deal, and I know many of you will say just go to get this K-01X. Yes, I saw hundred of posts about the good thing of K-01X, but I never have chance to compare it side by side with K-03X. Does K-01X really sound much better than K-03X? 

I’m thinking if we can use quantization to measure these CDP, if you give K-01X 100 scores, then score you give K-03X? 95? 90? 85? ....

So what about compare to K-03X and the my old X-03SE? If you give K-03X 100 scores, then what score you give X-03SE?

I’m thinking maybe I can save some money to buy other things like a 4K color new TV if I choose K-=03X. BTW, I’m not interested in CAS, so DSD has no meaning to me. I just use my CDP to pay my normal Red Book audio CD and SACD. Thanks a lot and have a nice weekend!




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mmbl622

Showing 2 responses by georgehifi

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

R2R multibit is the magic, for "bit perfect" Redbook replay, as Delta Sigma (bitstream) is just a facsimile (approximation) of PCM conversion process.

You just have to take a look what the latest high end flagship dac’s like MSB, Trinity, AMR, Schitt, and many others are going back to R2R ladder now to get Redbook right.

But the OP wants to be able to do SACD as well, so he’s stuck using Delta Sigma conversion, even though it’s a step down from R2R for Redbook conversion.

Cheers George

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 

These are what's inside both, pick your poison.

ESOTERIC K-01 8 x AK4399EQ

VRDS-NEO VMK-3.5-20S- SPU3162


ESOTERIC K-03 4 x AK4399EQ

VRDS-NEO VMK-3.5-10 – SPU3162


If your only doing Redbook I would say neither, as they both use Delta Sigma dacs (AK4399EQ), and for "bit perfect" Redbook conversion a R2R ladder Multibit dac is the way to go.

But seeing you want to do sacd as well, then I would choose the K-01 as it uses 8 x AK's and they did that for a reason. 


Cheers George

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