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Esoteric K-03 or Luxman D-03x

I'm looking for a new/used player and I have an opportunity to buy a used Esoteric K-03 at a reasonable price and close to what a new Luxman D-03x would cost. My system is set up primarily to play vinyl and cd's. I recently owed an older Esoteric X-03se, which I really enjoyed, until it developed a transport issue so I ended up literally giving it away because of the difficulty getting it repaired at a reasonable cost. Whatever player I ultimately buy will be run through my Aesthetix Janus preamp even though I understand that the X-03 has some type of volume attenuator while the Luxman does not. New technology vs old, excellent build quality vs very good, manufacturer's warranty vs "if it breaks I pay to repair it". I don't own any sacd's but might consider buying a few of the better titles. Don't own any. MQA cd's but might buy a few to hear what they're all about. Help a brother out! No right or wrong answer but I'm just looking for other members honest opinions if you have owned and used either of these two players or which one you night chose and why. Thanks, Skip      
ucmgr
ucmgr OP
173 posts
 
trebor32,
In your opinion, after owning the D-05u, how does the D-03X compare? I've heard some say the the D-03x is better than the D-05U and compares favorably to the D-06U. I only play Red Book cd's and really don't miss not having SACD capability now. I don't stream and might consider attempting it in the future, but currently not a deal breaker. Thanks, 
Skip  
ucmgr OP
173 posts
 
mountainsong402,
I appreciate your input. I don't think I've heard or read anything negative about Luxman players. You have a very, very nice group of Luxman players so I'm guessing your experience with Luxman would be far better than most others. I suppose there are always going to be players that will be better than others in certain respects, but I'm trying to buy a reliable player that has relatively current technology without paying an arm and a leg. In the perfect world, I guess my first choice would be an Esoteric unit of some level only because I really thought the X-03SE that I had previously owned was a very nice player. It was very well built and sounded good and I am curious as to how the newer mid-level players would be in comparison. I recently had a Marantz SA-10 that I just sold that while a very nice player in its' own right, didn't do anything special in my opinion. So here I am again!
Thanks,
Skip
ucmgr OP
173 posts
 
68pete,
Thanks for your reply. I had an older Esoteric K-03 that I was close to buying but things just didn't work out for a few reasons. I'm sure it would have been an excellent player but I was so afraid of buying an older player because of the difficulty getting it repaired if there had been an issue. I understand TAP does a good job but when you live across country(SC to CA)from the repair facility, it can get expensive just to ship it let alone the cost of repairs if they can be done there.  You obviously have been more than satisfied with your K-03X, which would work for me not having any volume attenuation capacity, because I run my player into a preamp. Maybe I'll keep on the lookout for a "newer" K-(x) player that might have been a demo unit or the like. 
Thanks,
Skip  
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,602 posts
 
ucmgr
may all of these companies continue to produce CD/SACD spinners in 2021.
Happy New Year!
ucmgr OP
173 posts
 
Happy New Year to everyone. Thanks to all those Goners who graciously offered their experience and advise
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