Hi all I have been changing my gears a bit now. I am in final step in finishing my set up. Now I am down to decide on a good high end streamer/dac. My system is aerial acoustics 7T, with 2 REL S5/SHOs, Luxman 590axii, Lumin T2, acoustic zen absolute speaker cables, Harmonic technology power cords and cards cross XLR inter-connects. I primarily listen streaming on roon using tidal and Quboz. Lumin T2 was actually purchased recently. I like it but want to step up. I wish I had decided to go higher dac before purchasing lumin T2, but now I want to get an end game streamer/dac lasting at least for 3-5 yrs. After reviewing and hearing from people, I am considering esoteric n-01xd and dcs bartok. I have heard esoteric n-01 but not the xd version and they sounded great. My dealer says xd sounds awesome. Saw the specs and they use grandioso’s 64 bit dac and better clock and power supply compared to n-01. I have not heard dcs bartok but have seen rave reviews. I don’t care music being very analytical but like more musical, non-fatiguing with good 3D-soundstage. Is it worth going up the price to this level. I have heard lumin x1 but they are not my taste. Has any body listened these gears ? What are your thoughts and suggestions ? Appreciate your inputs. Other option I am considering is to use my lumin t2 as streamer and connect to dac like chord Dave or Bricasti. M1SE. Thanks in advance. On a lower price range, I am considering Naim ndx-2 or esoteric n-05.
Hello Romney- I have recently gone through a similar situation and purchased Bricasti DAC (M12). I did listen to DCS Bartok and a few other DACs like DCS Rossini, Chord Dave, etc during this evaluation process. Although all of these DACs were really very good sounding, Bricasti turned out to be relatively better and musical at-least to my ears... So you should give it a try if that's a feasible option for you. I have the same floor-standing loudspeakers that you have, Aerials Model 7T. This Bricasti unit, M12, being a source controller allows me to connect my turntable to it by-passing the existing pre-amplifier Parasound Halo JC2. It greatly helped simplify my two channel set-up. That was another big reason why I opted for this Bricasti model instead of their dedicated DAC M21. Hope that helps. Thanks.
Can I ask why you did not like the Lumin X1? To my ears, the X1 is amongst the most musical, non-fatiguing dacs I have heard, so I'm interested in your thoughts.
If you prefer a musical sounding dac to one that is analytical, I would also cross the Chord DAVE off your list. The Mytek Manhattan II is also worth a listen.
@rossb Don’t get me wrong, lumin x1 was very good. It had very good sound stage, layering of tones and also dynamic. But I liked esoteric n-01 much more. Found this very musical even though it was not dynamic with big sound stage. @indranilsen Yes, I definitely have Bricasti m1-se in my list to audition. How did dcs bartok sound to you. Have heard from people to be a good balance between being dynamic and tonal. Wanted to hear thoughts on esoteric n-01xd too.
@romney- I listened to both DCS Bartok and Rossini. They were very good, providing enough details and balance over the entire frequency range to capture your attention. I listened to them at a local dealer’s showroom with a different set of electronics and speakers than what I have in my music room. If I didn’t listened to Bricasti I would have had no hesitation selecting the Bartok. Rossini is more expensive but I didn’t think that the difference was huge.
I listened to the Bricasti unit in my music room with their power amplifier M25 and the combination did sound really special. It was much detailed without being harsh, cleaner and the music evolved effortlessly in my two channel system. At this level both of these products are really good and it would come down to your personal preference when making that final decision. Good luck for the upcoming audition and let me have your feedback on both of these units. Thanks.
Hi Romney. I just purchased the Bartok w the class A headphone amp, after some negotiations with the dealer I was able to get his demo for around $12,500.00. Not chump change for a small part of your setup. I'm still scratching my head or maybe examining it on why I picked such an expensive pastime. Hopefully, with the gate arrays that DCS uses, I won't need to buy another unit because they are continually upgrading the software. I haven't heard the Esoteric N-01. However I traded the PS Audio DSD w network bridge. I was excited to set this unit up having heard it at several dealers and also having read rave reviews in TAS and other respected publications. It takes some tweaking to set up properly with your system so be patient. After several interconnect and ethernet attachments I got it to play and immediately noticed how much more musical it was compared to the PS Audio. A much wider sound stage and timber. Let me say that after listening for a few minutes, I had to shut it down, it was really killing my ears with brightness. After some research, I adjusted the output to 2 volts instead of 6 volts to match my BAT 53-Se tube preamp. I also noticed by letting the unit achieve it's proper operating temp, which takes about an hour from the stand by mode, this unit really opens up an sings. Make sure you leave this unit ON. I heard nuances in my test tracks that I'd never heard before and was highly impressed. I called DCS America and they were very helpful with helping me fine tune the unit and getting the app to work with all of my networked music. The DCS app is really much better than the PS Audio M-Connect, which was the big reason I switched to Bartok in the first place. Making playlists are a snap with all of my networked music, not just what's on Tidal.
Thanks. I am strongly considering going for esoteric N-01 (not XD). I am trying to limit my budget and N-01 is available for good discount. DCS guys do not budge for deals. Looks like there is lot of demand for Bartok and the price of Bartok is going to go up from sep 1st. As I have already fallen in love with N-01, I will go with N-01 for now. If I need, I will consider adding a G-01/G-03 clock.
@thyname. Yes, I agree with you, "just buy the best and be done with it".
I made up my mind for Esoteric n-01xd and was talking to my dealer guy. He is talking about Luxman d-10x having excellent new DAC and is advising to go for it. He has listened to both and thinks it is way better than esoteric n-01 xd (he is esoteric dealer too). I am reviewing it and lots of buzz about it. Could not audition it, as they are very new and only on back order. I love all Luxman products and trust them to be very good, especially D-10X being their flagship. Looks like I might go for D-10x or N-01XD.
Hi @romney80 You and me are looking at the same thing. I assume you already know the Luxman D-10x does NOT have a streamer (network card / bridge), whereas the Esoteric N-01xd does have one built in. And of course N-01xd does not have any transport
@thyname Yes, Luxman D-10X has no streamer. It is a SACD player with DAC which has DSD/MQA and has USB (and few other digital) input, which I can use for a streamer. I will have to buy a separate streamer if I have to go for Luxman. That is something I have to decide (if I need to go that route). My dealer is really swearing on it, as one of the best DAC (apparently it is totally new DAC) and sounds remarkable. He has sold 10 in few weeks and have a bunch in back order. If I end up buying, I have to start researching on a good streamer with this.
Wow, after a long wait for more than 2 months, the Luxman D-10x finally arrived today. Just plugged in and played MQA CDs and also streamed using antipodes CX with roon. I see all the hype and why this is player is amazing. I understand there is always a "new gadget" feeling that will bias, but regardless, I have found this DAC to be extremely musical, organic, laidback but detailed. Soundstage is big and no harshness with any genre of music. Hoping that once I play this > 100 hrs and it is fully broken, there will be more to come. I am loving this and has been worth the wait. This will stay with me for many years to come. I am still waiting on Antipodes S30 to come and once I complete my system, I am in for treat for long.
Well I feel Bricasti DAC is really like a playback design MPD 5 except the lacking depth and height. Bricasti has higher resolution and microdetails than most dacs while containing analogue sound without being harsh as Wavedream Rockna which also lacks depth and height but with probably the highest level of resolution.
I pulled the trigger for N05XD because it has the best three dimensionality, stage width and depth (Macro-details) while maintaining equally top level of imaging and Macro-details which DCS and May KTE lack.
N-01XD more analogue with fuller body and better details than N05XD. Yet my system is all black and unfortunately N01XD doesn't have black color. I am hesitant and thinking of investing an Aurrender as streamer to enhance the body and analogueness as well as a Mutec master clock ( other brands of master clock are all silver) to enhance the details, which will add the price even above N01XD lol. Maybe I should just buy playback Designs but then it doesn't have black color neither, and the MSP5 is half black and half white while the dream dac is dark blue.
Sonically the competitors of Esoteric NO1XD should be Playback Designs and/or Soulnote. I feel playback designs and MSB Discrete are both more analogue with better body, bass and weight note than Esoteric Discrete dac but they are not as big in three dimensionality as Esoteric, even though in terms of stage they are already top notch and better than most flagships. Esoteric has probably the best 3d sound that makes Lumin X1 sound as 2D noticably lacking depth and height in my ab comparison.
But man don't you think the Esoteric N05XD looks sooooo sexy?
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