Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

I decided to go away from disc players, in general in 2020. I used to own a Marantz SA-8260 way back in 2005. The laser is a big issue in Marantz players. I had considered getting a SA10 and use it as a DAC, just in case I needed to play a disc once in a while. But I found that I did not spin a single disc from July 2020 till date. So I decided to go with a stand alone DAC.

@audphile1 , I have not read a single bad or ‘just ok’ review of the SA-10 player. It might just be that, it did not suite your system or preference.

@milpai could be.
If it works for you, that’s great! 

Thanks to everyone for the information.

@goose I had read the other Esoteric players had a bit of an exaggerated high-end , but was fixed on the newer XD models since they are using their own house made DAC (not from AKM). But the XD models starting at the K-05XD at around $10K is far from by price range, and there is no 07XD. That's why I was looking at the previous generation XS (K-07XS/K-05XS). My system is fairly revealing. The 804S speakers (not diamond) are about 12-14 years old, so they are fully broken in and I don't have any ear fatigue when using the Oppo BDP-95 as by disc player. But I've been wanting "better sound" for my large collection of standard CD and couple dozen SACD (99% classical/orchestral).

@jayctoy I wasn't aware that Marantz had a common issue with the laser assembly going bad after a couple years. How do you locate an original laser assembly? Is the player easy to replace the part?

@phillyb Thank you for the information about your SA-10. I had read though the PDF manual a few weeks ago, and saw mention about the different settings (filter, dither, etc) but the explanations were slightly lacking and figured it would have to be heard to tell the difference. Since you had a much earlier Esoteric player, have you listened to the models since then (X, XS, XD)?

@audphile1 I had looked at PS Audio and everything thing make is separate, the Transport and DAC have to use I2S over HDMI connection for SACD DSD playback. Both units are pushing $8-10K from what I saw.

@fauguy no you do not “have to” use i2s. My Aurender N200 into PS Audio DSD via USB comfortably beat SA10 playing high res from Qobuz or Tidal and DSD files from my local library on SSD. If you have to spin a physical SACD just get a transport with I2s out or a good SACD player like one of the Luxman units. Marantz in my opinion is just not good. By the way PS Audio DSD MkI is around $1200-$1400 now used without network card. Hard to beat for the money

@audphile1 ,

I do not own this player.