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Esoteric N-05XD opinions please

Hi all,

I’ve been considering the esoteric N-05XD as a streamer cum dac. I don’t want to go with seperates. Will probably add a melco or innuos server down the line for local storage. And will run the esoteric off the ethernet player port of these servers.

I currently have a esoteric K-01 Sacd player. I plan on connecting it to the N-05XD via coaxial. And sync them both with a Teac CG-10M master clock. This might bring the sonics of my aging cd section to date.

 

I always found the dac section of K-01 to be a detail hound. And leaning onto the analysis side in my system. I believe esoteric have moved away from that sound signature with their master discrete dac implementation. Thus, wanted opinions from folks who own one or have auditioned one. Thanks in advance for your time.

 

Thanks and best regards

Mike Y

wrxsti
wrxsti OP
15 posts
 

Thanks a ton again @thyname

Esoteric it is then :)

 

Thanks and best regards

Mike Y

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doboree
4 posts
 

Hi All, i am also considering to buy Esoteric N-05xd, but i also have the possibility to get the previous generation N 05 with a very good deal. I own Sopra no 2 & Accuphase E-480 and Naim ND5 Xs2, but i would like to upgrade Naim to Esoteric, because i am looking for more detailed sound and it is an old DAC/streamer, which doese not support MQA etc.

Do you think that N 05dx would make a big difference? specially in compare to N 05? I listened N 05 and my Naim one after another, but do not have that chance for N05xd.

wrxsti OP
15 posts
 

Hi @doboree

The N-05 was launched sometime in 2015 if my memory serves me right. Today's dac's are almost a few decades, if not a generation ahead in technical advancements. Thus, the N-05 XD should be improvement over the older N-05 by a considerable margin I would presume. I have their K-01, which has a similar dac implementation to the N-05 with AKM chips. The newer N-05 XD is a completely newer implementation of their in house developed dac and a different sound completely.

 

Going for a N-05 today, will be a step back in time in my honest opinion. All the best. 

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