Marantz SA-10 Vs Esoteric K-05Xs

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.

@audphile1 I had read that Luxman is high quality, not sure how they compare with the Esoteric K-07XS or Marantz SA-10. But I looked at the D-06u model and it appears you can only find used ones from 2014-2018 from Japan at 100v. Currently no US 120v ones are on sale on here on eBay.

@milpai nice and well thought out system you have there. If you want to try the SA-10 like I said if you find a killer deal on it you can flip it if you don’t like it. Use your oppo until you can try luxman or esoteric is what I’d recommend. I didn’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade here but I did want to offer my thoughts on the SA-10 based on the experience I had with it.