@bubinga,
Have you had a bad experience with Esoteric? I note both here and the N-01XD SE thread in this forum that you seem down on Esoteric. In reading from users that have compared Esoteric sound of the discontinued AKM chip DAC units to the now Master Sound Discrete DAC, a ladder DAC with FPGA Delta-Sigma modulator, there is a difference in sound quality presentation reported as beneficially less clinical to a warmer, yet still detailed presentation.