I have a K03 and recently stopped using it preampless and now added an Ayre K5xe-MP preamp and have an awesome improvement. Im not buying the esoteric extra dacs and bits making up for the one bit of loss for every 6db of attenuation. I can easilly hear it. What caught my ear was the FM; I can play it at moderate volume levels and still have awesome resolution. The Esoteric needed to play at near full throttle to have the same amount of resolution (thats the digital volume control losing the bits-even if they are extra bits...I think the bits thye are losing are still too important). Just my ears with the player and my thoughts...
How much better is Esoteric K-03 vs K-05?
Was about to pull trigger on K-05, but keep reading how incredible the K-03 is. This may be a function of less press/reviews/purchases of the K-05, but I really would like to know if the K-03 provides a small incremental improvement in SQ, or it's major. And if major, how so? If you've heard both, or know someone who has, can you please provide opinions and comments? Thanks much...