Esoteric P-03/D-03 or Esoteric K-03

OK. Some helpful discussion here on this topic: http://www.head-fi.org/t/533409/new-esoteric-players-k-01-k-03-anyone-has-seen-or-heard/15

One note on something written above, P-03 and D-03 do maintain full DSD for SACD all the way from transport through DAC decoding and playback. There is an option to convert DSD->PCM and PCM->DSD however you need not choose this. The DAC chips in the D-03 are 'dual-mode' in that they can accept DSD or PCM signal inputs; they are unique from what I see in the industry in that regard.

As far as the P-03 and D-03 sounding clinical, lean and bright, I've found that this is often a function of the cabling, power cords and other equipment that are involved in the system. With my current setup, the P-03 and D-03 do not ever sound clinical, lean or bright. Choice of decoding, upsampling/clocking, etc...also figures in.

This may start a healthy debate however from some units I've heard, 32-bit DAC chips are not always better just because they are 32-bit. I've heard units that use them that don't sound as good as what comes out of the D-03 and a very few that equal or better it in some ways. I'd say forget the technical stats (32 versus 24, etc..) and let your ears be the judge!

heres my 2cents worth :
i have had the P3-D3 for a few years and recently bought the K-01. i kept the P3-D3 for some tiome so i could do a side-by-side test.
the K-01 needed a few hundred hours break-in but once that was done it beat the P3-D3 combo in every category, often by a good margin. i really liked the P3-D3 so that was somewhat of a suprise
more dynamic, better soundstage, more precise instrument location, less edgy, etc etc.
i also highly recommend the G-ORb word clock - i used it with both players and it adds the magical touch that digital sometimes lacks.
the K-01 is good - with the clock its excellent.

I heard the K-03 both with and without the G-0Rb clock at Axpona 2011; the unit was amazing. The K-03 was playing straight through to an Esoteric amp; they later added the C-03 pre-amp to the circuit and the performance took another big leap. Esoteric has done an amazing job packing performance, musicality and their usual excellent build quality into the K-01 and K-03 units....I don't suffer from the clinical, bright and edgy sound that some P3/D3 users have reported but if I did not have the system I have I would definitely give the K-01 serious consideration. Having all that performance in a single box does simplify life (cabling, power, etc....)...

Thanks for the replies. Zephyr, how did the P-03/C-03 combination that you have compare to the K-03? How close is the K-03 to the separates? I don't think I can go up to the K-01 due to price unless I wait a few years until more used ones come on the market and in my voltage, so I might go with a K-03, but I recently found the separates on sale locally for about a thousand dollars more than the K-03. Consequently, this question is a bit more significant for me now. Thanks in advance.