I can only concur with Lawyerman. I purchased the X01 LE shortly after hearing it at CES and received one out of the first shipment to the US. It is still breaking in but is already extremely good after about three wekks of continuous play. Suggest that for the money that you would spend on the separates, you might want to do the LE with a really good power cord, some mechanical isolation and possibly an external clock later.
Esoteric X-01 Limited or new D-03/P-03
I’m torn between a new X-01 Limited or the new D-03/P-03 combo. If I went with the D-03/P-03 combo, I would start off with the D-03 and add the P-03 later on. The X-01 uses the tried and true Burr Brown 1704 Dacs and converts DSD to 88.2 kHz PCM. The D-03 on the other hand uses Analog Devices AD1955 Dacs and can do the following: DSD>DSD, PCM>DSD, and PCM>PCM (upsampled) and not sure about DSD>PCM. The P-03 utilizes the latest VRDS-Neo transport although there are probably not many differences to the one used in the X-01 Limited.
Even though the X-01 was just updated to “Limited” status, it is still an older based product, whereas the D-03/P-03 was just released to the U.S. market at CES 2006 where it received some very positive press.
Any thoughts, comments, or more information are welcome.
Thank you.
Even though the X-01 was just updated to “Limited” status, it is still an older based product, whereas the D-03/P-03 was just released to the U.S. market at CES 2006 where it received some very positive press.
Any thoughts, comments, or more information are welcome.
Thank you.