Last CD player?

I have thought about buying a DAC, but I am somewhat confused about if it is necessary to couple that with an expensive transport once the Meridian dies.

I agree the warranty should be longer; if I buy the Esoteric, and it packs up after 13 months, I would find it difficult to buy another one, financially speaking.

68pete: did you compare the K03x with the K05x?  If so, did you notice a huge improvement?

I am reluctant to consider the Meridian as I would also be paying for a pre-amp.

I have never owned a hifi component with valves.  Do they need replacing regularly?  I have read that the supply of Nuvistors is limited.  Is it so that the Nuvista's output only uses the valves in the non-balanced oujtput?

I'll have a look at the Rega, thanks.  There is a stockist not too far away.

The Bricasti indeed has excellent reviews, and I like the fact that they do upgrades at a reasonable cost.  Hopefully, that would also be the case here in Britain.  Coupled with an OK transport, it looks like a possible way to go.  Even if the transport needs replacing or fixing once in a while, that would be affordable.  Does a transport make a big difference to sound quality?

From what I read, the Esoteric players are solidly built (the K03x weighs 28 kg), and have an excellent DAC, as well a sufficiency of digital inputs.  One would hope it would last for a very long time.  It amounts to putting all the digital eggs in one basket though.

Thanks.  I was having a look at the Melco for when I decide to download and store tracks, rather than listen just to cds.  Good to hear you're happy with it.

My local hi-fi shop is getting the Bricasti in soon, and I hope to be able to listen to it in my own system.  The guy was also recommending the A + T PDP 3000HV cd player, which would be quite a bit more expensive.

My speakers are PMC fact 12, which are supposed to be quite detailed.

I am looking for a significant improvement over the Meridian 588, and I hope the Bricasti will be able to provide that.

Due to the £ falling against other currencies, the price of the Bricasti shot up by about 15%.  I've put that idea on the back boiler for now.

I tried out the T + A PDP 3000 HV for a week.  That was very interesting.  This machine oozes quality.  It is very meticulously built, and has all manner of unexpected enhancements over other machines, such as two power supplies, and therefore two power leads.

To my surprise, to my ageing hearing anyway, it only sounded marginally better than the Meridian 588.  The sound was certainly a bit smoother.  I decided not to buy it for a few reasons: I could hear the transport whir during quiet parts of music, the remote only worked when I stood directly in front of the machine, and not at an angle from my listening position, but mostly because I felt I could not justify the price in view of only a marginal improvement in perceived sound quality.

In the near future, I hope to compare a MacIntosh MCD 550 with the Esoteric K 03x.  I will also listen to the Moon 650D.

I am still hoping that by buying an expensive, modern cd player, I will achieve a big improvement over a relatively cheap, 13-year old machine. 

Today, I listened to the Esoteric K03x at a dealer about 40 miles away.  I was impressed by the sound stage and the separation of the individual instruments.

The dealer said there isn't a K05x in Britain just now I could listen to.  Has anyone compared the K05x with the K03x?  Is the latter substantially better than the former?

Hi,

Since Monday, I have been trying out the Esoteric K05x, and I am very impressed.  I hear things I never heard before; the level of detail is amazing.  Also, the sound stage is large and very precise; I can hear where the different drums are in a drum kit for example.

The only mild disadvantage is this: with some older recordings (the Crosby, Stills and Nash album for example), there is some harshness about the voices.  I spoke with the dealer, who said that Esoteric cd players need about 200 hours to run in, and that this harshness will disappear.  He said also that there is some compromise involved here: the level of detail the player can produce has some disadvantages with poor recordings.

Has anyone had any experience with the running in of Esoteric cd players?  Does anyone have any views or the settings for filters and oversampling when it comes to playing poor recordings?

Hi,

I am certainly very happy with the Esoteric K05x, which can also function as a DAC.  I found a distinct improvement over the Meridian 588 in sound stage and detail.  Some people might find it a little too detailed I suppose; one could not describe its sound as "sweet".

A friend of mine burned all his CDs to a hard-drive, and spent a fair bit on expensive gear to play the files.  He said that he did not notice an improvement in sound quality, but liked the increased convenience.

Best of luck with your explorations.