Looking for a CD / SACD player. Also, tell me about Esoteric

I highly recommend a used Cary CD 306 SACD player (professional version) if you can find a used one which is rare today. This is an older and statement flagship CD/SACD player from Cary Audio circa 2008 thru 2015/2016. It did retail for $8k when it was first released in 2007/2008 and was in the same price range as other high end units from Esotetic, EMM Labs, DCS from the same era. This is a professional version or the upgraded version of the highly acclaimed CD 306 SACD player back then. Sonically it’s a highly musical sounding player with its natural organic analog like sound. I AB compared this player to a new current model Marantz Reference SA-10 CD/SACD player (current retail $7500 new) and this Cary is better sounding in all areas than the SA-10. No contest. 

This player was superbly built and was built like a tank weighing in at around 45 to 50 pounds. It can also be used as a standalone DAC it has digital inputs : AES EBU digital, coax digital RCA & optical digital. This unit runs warm though - I mean temperature wise since the analog output stage runs in class A design. It is a class A design player and a fully balanced design internally. It’s equipped with 4 separate transformers power supplies with oversized large numbers of power supply capacitors reserve and windings. Got separate power supplies each feeding power to disc drive mechanism (disc transport), DAC, analog output stage and control circuitry. It has 8 DAC chips : 4 is for DSD or SACD playbacks and the other 4 is for PCM (CD or hi res PCM when used as a DAC) playbacks. It’s configured as 4 DAC chips per channel for the total of 8 for both channels.

Again this unit runs very warm cause it is a class A design circuitry - its output stage runs in class A, not some cheap op amps. Make sure that you leave a lot of space around. Cary Audio is still supporting this model, so if you need a new laser assembly for the disc drive you can send it in to Cary for a new laser assembly or for any issues you may have. I sent mine in to Cary last year to get a new laser.

Marantz and Esoteric players aren’t in the same league. Marantz is great at their asking price or is great for the money and most of Marantz CD/SACD players can be had for $3k and under with the exception of their Reference series SA-10 player.

Esoteric players are in completely different league and completely different price points. Esoteric’s entry level CD/SACD player one box machine starts at least around $10k ++ or more. Their flagship models are well into six digit figure $$ such as the Esotetic Grandioso stacks : CD/SACD transport, master clock, mono DACs.

So no comparison between Marantz and Esotetic. Esoteric units are comparable to those offerings from DCS, MSB, EMM Labs, Ypsilon and other ultra high end brands. Even Luxman and Accuphase players are way superior compared to those of Marantz players. They are also not in the same leagues. Higher end Luxman and Accuphase models are comparable to Esoteric, EMM Labs, Bricasti, DCS.

Also highly consider the latest PS Audio DirectStream Mkii DAC (new model) and its CD/SACD transport combo. They are phenomenal. PS Audio also has the Airlens, which is a streamer or sort of network bridge that is meant to be connected to Roon to stream Tidal and Qobuz because the Airlens itself doesn’t have built-in streaming apps. You can also connect the Airlens to their DirectStream Mkii DAC for streaming. They are all awesome sounding combos.