I actually have been very happy with my Bluesound as a unit since buying it five years ago. It wasn't a big expense then, which was great, but I found it worked really well with my combination of two Apogee Duetta Signatures, two Vandersteen 2 CEs and two Vandersteen 2Ws that are part of my system. I certainly didn't feel "conned" by any stretch then, and don't feel so now, either.
Had my CD player not needed a repair at the time, would I have made the switch then? That's a tough call. The time investment to burn 600-plus CDs isn't something that is done in a couple of hours. Once I did that, though, the tough lifting was done. I also love the functionality to control the Vault from your phone or desktop computer, and interface on both is so much more advanced than just a typical CD player. Then when I upgraded from my 2012 Camry to a new Corolla this year, the car CD player I had in my old car went bye-bye, with the new car having none. Having already made FLAC files of all my music, I simply copied the library onto a massive USB thumb drive, and now have access to my full library in the car at all times, which was a rather seamless switch.
But if the combo of the X-03SE and the D-03 DAC seem to tease me as a nice combination, to where I ask myself if it is worth the time and money to repair the X-03SE. I certainly think pairing them would work. The DAC has a pair of XLR inputs that aren't being used with the current configuration, and the X-03SE has its pair of XLR "Audio Out" connections. I'll just need to invest in a second pair of new XLRs (not just one pair, as is the case).
Right now, I have a coaxial connection being used with the Vault and the DAC, which is working very well. I certainly can tell an added floor and ceiling in terms of the range of the heights and depths of the lows and highs in my music, using the DAC, instead of just the Bluesound.
So far, I hadn't used the Vault for any streaming, only having used the CD-created library to play from. But adding on streaming is something that I am considering to add as a feature with my Vault in the near future.
I recently purchased a Mark Levinson 333 as my main amp (an amp I had for four years a number of years ago, before it got damaged so significantly, that the cost and risk to repair caused me to sell it as-is, for a little $ back, and replaced it then with a new Classe CA-2200. In terms of a slight step down, I felt that happened to a certain degree when I made at switch, but couldn't find a 333 on the fly to switch to then. I've had the Classe for 13 years. For the last couple years, I increasingly was looking to buy another 333. Just purchased one a few months ago. The Classe now serves to amp my Vandersteen 2CEs, with the 333 amping my Duetta Signatures and 2Ws. Hearing that combination again was a noticeable enjoyable bump up, to where I was like, "Ahh, this is familiar..." with a smile on my face.
I hadn't really been thinking of fixing the X-03SE at first, until I came upon the used D-03 DAC. If the sound with it makes for an impressively even nicer package, with that part of my system, that is what makes me curious.
Is the "tray error" issue on an Esoteric X-03 CD player worth fixing?
I have a Esoteric X-03SE CD player that is still in my system that I loved for many years. I purchased the unit in 2011. Then late in 2017, it started slipping with its belt and started giving me the dreaded "tray error."
I took it to a place to be repaired, and got the belt replaced. A couple years later, the error started to appear again. With the suggestion of a longtime and trusted audio local salesperson, instead of trying to repair the X-03SE again, I instead turned my 600-plus CD collection into a Bluesound digital library with the purchase of a Vault 2i. For the last five years, I had thought I was pretty much set using the Bluesound, and the X-03 largely sat idle over that time.
Recently, at his store, I saw a used Esoteric DAC unit for sale. I was curious if adding it to my system would be an improvement to my system’s overall sound, and he assured me it would, saying the Esoteric DAC is miles above of what is inside of the Bluesound for a DAC.
In just the couple hours I have been test driving the Esoteric DAC unit at home, and it certainly makes my system sound better when listening the Bluesound library. I think I’ve pretty much decided on adding that unit to my system.
What does all that have to do with the X-03SE? As a side note, he said that the DAC would also make my X-03SE CD player that I still have in my system sound better, if I opted to get the X-03SE repaired.
Since I still have it, I wonder if there’s much value to fixing it, getting back to sometimes using the X-03 (since I still have my physical CDs), versus always listening to the Bluesound. Or do you think the Bluesound/Esoteric DAC combo simply stands as worthwhile on its own, without the added expense and hassle of repairing the Esoteric X-03?
Thoughts?
And then the question becomes who still would take on such a repair, as comments about the "tray error" and repair issues for an X-03 I saw on one comment thread here that date back seven years, with many comments largely talking about how hard it was to find someone to repair the unit back then. Usually with used gear, it only gets harder with time, but maybe I’m wrong in this instance? Curious ...